Visayasella, Ohmomo, Sadahiro, 2011

Ohmomo, Sadahiro, 2011, One new genus and six new species of Coraebini Bedel, 1921 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from the Philippines, Zootaxa 3058, pp. 22-34 : 31

Genus Visayasella , gen. nov.

Type species: Visayasella superba , sp. nov. (fixed by present designation).

Description. Body subcylindrical, flattened dorsoventrally; integument with simple punctures, slight transverse rugae; dorsal surface glabrous, ventral surface with sparse vestiture. Head: frons between eyes projecting beyond outline of eye margin, longitudinally sulcate; inner margins of eyes diverging dorsally; supra-ocular grooves not entire; antennal cavities large, separated by distance slightly less than width of cavity; supra-antennal groove entire; frontoclypeus narrowed between antennal cavities before diverging to emarginate distal margin; gena depressed for basal antennomeres in repose, genal tooth feeble, elongate; antennae with expanded triangular distal portion from antennomere 5. Pronotum: disc entire, strongly latitudinally convex in anterior half, flattened in posterior half; anterior margin strongly arcuate; posterior margin biarcuate; lateral margin with lateroposterior angles rectangular, then widening to before midpoint, subparallel before narrowing slightly and lateroanterior angles subacute. Scutellum: triangular. Elytra: noticeably wider opposite humeri than widest part of pronotum; lateral margins subparallel before middle, then widening to widest point near posterior 2/5 before narrowing to separately rounded serrulate margins; epipleuron relatively short, stout, not extending beyond point opposite mesepimeron; lateral aspect of proximal abdominal tergites visible from above; pygidium invisible; Ventral side: anterior margin of prosternum with wide bilobed median projection; prosternum with disc laterally convex, process quite broad, narrowing to broadly attenuate apex from opposite procoxae; abdominal ventrites subequal in length, sutures evenly transverse; anal ventrite broad, evenly transverse distally. Legs: femora fusiform; pro-, mesofemora strongly arcuate; metafemora nearly straight, with dense setal comb on external face; tarsi with tarsomeres 1–4 each with ventral pulvillus, claws appendiculate.

Etymology. With two new species included, this new feminine genus is named to reflect the regional geography of the central Philippine islands known collectively as the Visayas region.

Visayasella Obenbergerula Sibuyanella Remarks. Superficially this new genus comes nearest to Obenbergerula Strand 1932 (a replacement name for the preoccupied Böttcheria Hoscheck 1931 ) and Sibuyanella Obenberger 1942 , but with further elucidation of relationships in Coraebini (s. lat.), it may actually prove to be closer to Philippscelus Bellamy 1998 and Lumawigia Bellamy 2005 . This new genus can be distinguished from Obenbergerula and Sibuyanella as outlined in Table 1 of character states. This will allow others to compare various taxa based on externally-visible perceived synapomorphies than to be constrained to the apparently fundamentally-significant internal differences used by Majer (in KubáÁ, et al. 2001) to differentiate the 10 coraebine subtribes proposed in that work. It would be interesting to speculate about what might be the model for this possibly mimetic species, but that will be left to others who might know other parts of the Philippine insect fauna and who might recognize the resemblance. Or it may be nothing more than a warning color advertising chemical unpalatability.