Toxoscelus acutipennis Fisher 1922

Ohmomo, Sadahiro, 2011, One new genus and six new species of Coraebini Bedel, 1921 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from the Philippines, Zootaxa 3058, pp. 22-34 : 25-26

Toxoscelus acutipennis Fisher 1922

(Fig. 3)

Toxoscelus acutipennis Fisher 1922: 17 ; Obenberger 1934: 805; Bellamy 2008: 1737.

Original description. “Large, rather robust and moderately convex, head and pronotum dull bronzy, with a slight purple tinge, elytra bronzy with irreguarl black and purple markings; beneath of a brighter bronze color than above. Head convex, feebly gibbose on each side of occiput, with a deep longitudinal groove extending from the occiput into a rather deep, round impression on the vertex, the groove becoming obsolete on the front; surface strongly rugose, the rugae becoming somewhat concentrical on the gibbosities, intervals finely granulated; antennae short, reaching a little beyond the apical angles of the pronotum, serrate from the fifth joint; epistoma narrow between the antennae, a narrow, deep groove behind the antennae, extending longitudinally down the epistoma to near the anterior margin, which is narrow and arcuately rounded; cheeks unarmed; antennal cavities large and situated a certain distance from the inner margin of the eyes; eyes rather large, oval, and feebly oblique. Pronotum two times as wide as long, wider in front than behind, widest at the apical third; sides broadly rounded in front to apical third, then converging rapidly in nearly a straight line to the posterior angles, which are broadly rounded; anterior margin arcuately emarginate with a large, broadly rounded median lobe; base strongly bisinuate with a large median lobe feebly concave in front of scutellum; lateral carina short, parallel to sides, and reaching from apical fourth to just behind the middle; surface concentrically rugose, the intervals finely granulated, with a narrow depression between the lateral carina and lateral margin, two round depressions on each side at about the middle, the outer one near the anterior part of the lateral carina, and the inner and deeper one slightly behind the outer one and near the median part, there is also a large, shallow depression in front of the scutellum. Scutellum large, triangular, and acute at apex; surface finely granulated. Elytra much wider than pronotum at base; rather flat, with a shallow depression on each side at base; sides sinuate, nearly parallel anteriorly, feebly expanded behind the middle to partially cover the widely expanded abdomen, then rapidly converging to the tips, which are acuminate and finely dentate at sides; surface strongly rugose anteriorly, becoming finely granulated with a few short rugae intermixed toward the apex, marked with irregular bronze, black, and purplish designs, and with a large, conspicuous, irregular black area along the suture at apical third, this area is smooth, sparsely and finely punctate, and surrounded by a bronze zigzag band. Abdomen densely marked with finely crenulate lines and sparsely clothed with short white hairs; last abdominal segment with three short knifelike projections at the apex; prosternum broadly, arcuately emarginate in front. Length: 7.5 mm; width, 2.6 mm.”

Specimen examined. Holotype (USNM): [ Philippines, Luzon] Baguio, Berruet (?), Baker (p)/18523 (h)/ Type No. (p), 24662 (h), U.S. N.M. (p)/ Toxoscelus acutipennis Fisher (h).

Remarks. The acuminate elytral apices, by themselves, are not enough to disqualify this species for membership in Toxoscelus , and in other character states, at least as far as we can observe from the single dorsal image (Fig. 3), T. acutipennis would appear to be properly placed.