Anthaxia (Anthaxia) kmoniceki, Bílý, Svatopluk, 2015

Bílý, Svatopluk, 2015, Two new species of the genus Anthaxia (Anthaxia Eschscholtz 1829) from China, and notes on the related species (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Anthaxiini), Zootaxa 3964 (4), pp. 482-488 : 483-484

Anthaxia (Anthaxia) kmoniceki sp. nov.

( Figs. 1, 2, 4 )

Type locality. China, north-eastern Sichuan, Nanjiang.

Type specimens. Holotype (male, NMPC): “ China, NE Sichuan, Nanjiang, 1.vi.–5.vi.2014, E. Kučera leg. // reared from Thuja sp.”; allotype (female, NMPC): the same data; paratypes: the same data (5 males, 6 females, NMPC, EKCS).

Diagnosis. Large (5.0– 7.4 mm), subparallel to slightly wedge-shaped, moderately convex, matt with silky lustre ( Figs. 1, 2 ); dorsal surface green with slight golden lustre, pronotum with two, poorly defined, dark, often coalescent stripes; pronotal margins in female with golden lustre; ventral surface of both sexes lustrous, golden green; scutellum bright green, antennae black with strong green tinge; dorsal surface without distinct pubescence, frons with rather long, almost lanuginose, white pubescence; ventral surface with short, sparse, recumbent, white pubescence which is denser on prosternal process.

Description of the male holotype. Head large, as wide as anterior pronotal margin; frons flat to slightly depressed, vertex 0.8 times as wide as width of eye; anterior margin of frontoclypeus very weakly emarginate, frontoclypeus separated from frons only by very shallow, transverse depression; eyes large, reniform, not projecting beyond outline of head; sculpture of frons consisting of small, dense, oval or polygonal cells with large, central grains; antennae relatively long reaching posterior fourth of lateral pronotal margins when laid alongside; scape claviform, 3.5 times as long as wide, pedicel ovoid, 1.5 times as long as wide; third antennomere acutely triangular, 1.3 times as long as wide, fourth antennomere trapezoidal, as long as wide; antennomeres 5–10 obtusely triangular to trapezoidal, slightly longer than wide; terminal antennomere axe-shaped, almost twice as long as wide.

Pronotum weakly convex, twice as wide as long, moderately widening anteriorly, maximum pronotal width at anterior third; lateral margins almost straight in posterior half, posterior angles obtusely-angled; anterior margin rather deeply biarcuate, posterior margin nearly straight; lateroposterior depressions wide but shallow; sculpture almost homogeneous consisting of small, dense, polygonal cells with large, flat, central grains. Scutellum small, subpentagonal, convex, microsculptured.

Elytra very slightly wedge-shaped, regularly convex, twice as long as wide, maximum width at humeri; humeral callosities small, not projecting beyond outline of elytra; basal transverse depressions rather wide, shallow, reaching scutellum; elytral apex without distinct lateral serrations, elytral epipleura rather wide, narrowing posteriorly, not reaching elytral apex; sculpture almost homogeneous, consisting of dense, basal microsculpture and small, nearly regular, dense punctures.

Ventral surface lustrous, prosternum and proepimera with large, coarse, polygonal cells with large central grains, abdominal ventrites with fine, polygonal cellular sculpture, with tiny central grains; prosternal process flat; anal ventrite regularly rounded, without any lateral serrations.

Legs long, slender, mesotibiae straight with regular, coarse, inner serrations, metatibiae slightly flattened and posteriorly widened, with fine serrations at posterior half of inner margin; tarsal claws thin, weakly hook-shaped, only very slightly enlarged at base.

Aedeagus ( Fig. 4 ) rather robust, parameres well-sclerotised, wide and subcylindrical at basal two fifths, strongly narrowed, flattened and subparallel at apical three fifths; median lobe wide, sharply pointed apically, without lateral serrations.

Measurements. Length: 5.0– 7.4 mm (holotype 5.5 mm); width: 1.7–2.6 mm (holotype 1.9 mm).

Sexual dimorphism. The female differs from the male slightly by the somewhat larger and stouter body, more intense golden lustre at lateral, pronotal margins ( Fig. 2 ), wider vertex (twice as wide as width of eye), less trapezoidal antennomeres 9–10 and by the tibiae without serrations.

Variability. Except for the size only very weak variability in the colouration was shown: dark, pronotal stripes are somewhat more distinct in 5 paratypes (1 male, 4 females).

Etymology. The collector of the type specimens (Emil Kučera, Soběslav, Czech Republic) wished to dedicate this species to the former ambassador of the Czech Republic in India, Mr. Hynek Kmoníček, for his great support and help.

Bionomy. All type specimens were reared from the dead branch of the unidentified Coniferous tree ( Cupressaceae ), most probably Thuja sp. This is the first record of a Conifer as the host plant of any species of the A. (A.) nitidula Linnaeus, 1758 species-group. Another record of Conifers as the host plant of a species from this species-group comes from Nanping (Sichuan) where one specimen of A. (A.) nitiduliformis Bílý, 1995 was found under the bark of Pinus sp. ( Pinaceae )—see below.

Differential diagnosis. Anthaxia (A.) kmoniceki sp. nov. belongs to the A. (A.) nitidula species-group as defined by Obenberger (1917) and Richter (1949). Two subgroups (or complexes) can be recognised in this species-group: the western Palaearctic and the eastern Palaearctic complexes which are separated by the thousands of kilometers of the Central Asian deserts. A. (A.) kmoniceki sp. nov. belongs to the eastern Palaearctic species being very similar and most probably related to A. (A.) nitiduliformis ( Fig. 3 ). Both species are sympatric and differ from each other by the characters given in the Table 1.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. 1 — Anthaxia (A.) kmoniceki sp. nov., holotype, 5.5 mm; 2 — the same, allotype, 6.1 mm; 3 — Anthaxia (A.) nitiduliformis Bílý, 1995, 4.8 mm (Sichuan, Nanping); 4 — A. (A.) kmoniceki sp. nov., aedeagus, paratype, 1.7 mm.; 5 — A. (A.) nitiduliformis, aedeagus, 1.5 mm (Sichuan, Nanping, Abazhou).