Anthaxia (Cratomerus) meda, Baiocchi, Daniele, 2011

Baiocchi, Daniele, 2011, Three new species of Anthaxia Eschscholtz, 1829 from Iran (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), Zootaxa 2932, pp. 1-23 : 10-22

Anthaxia (Cratomerus) meda n. sp.

(Figs. 9,11,12,25,26,27,35,43,49,55,59,62)

Description of holotype 3 (Fig. 9). Body subparallel, rather flat dorsally; length: 5.3 mm., maximum width at mid pronotum: 1.9 mm., length/width ratio: 2.8 times longer than wide.

Head ( Fig. 25 ) slightly narrower than anterior pronotal margin; vertex flat, very narrow, 0.3 times as wide as width of head; eyes large, slightly projecting beyond outline of head; inner ocular margins moderately converging on the vertex; space between lower ocular margin and antennal fossa extremely reduced; frons ( Fig. 35 ) bilobate with distinct median groove, slightly wider at midlength; sculpture areolate, shallow, irregular on vertex, deeper, more regular on the frons, consisting of cells with smooth, glossy bottom and large flat, eccentric setigerous grain; clypeal process short, moderately prominent, with punctate, deeply triangularly emarginate anterior margin; pubescence of vertex extremely short; frons covered with long, erect, whitish hair, slightly divergent along the central groove, convergent on frontoclypeal angles.

Antennae ( Fig. 43 ) dark green, 1.2 times longer than middle pronotal length; scape long, slender, club-shaped, with gibbous inner margin, straight externally; pedicel pear-shaped, slightly longer than wide, inner margin more convex than the outer one; antennomere 3 weakly triangular, 1.2 times longer than 2; antennomeres 4 – 6 widely triangular, slightly wider than long; antennomeres 7 – 10 subtrapezoidal, wider than long; last antennomere ovoidal, poorly elongate.

Pronotum ( Fig. 25 ) transverse, 1.6 times wider than long, widest at midlength; anterior margin shallowly bisinuate, with barely prominent central lobe; anterior angles slightly obtuse; lateral margins regularly arched at midlength, straight on frontal and basal 1/3; posterior angles slightly obtuse; posterior margin as wide as elytral base, very slightly arched backwards in middle; lateroposterior depressions deep, wide; pronotal sculpture areolate, consisting of large, rather deep, polygonal cells on lateral sides, discal sculpture more shallow, rather confused on the mid-anterior portion, slightly smaller and transversally lengthened on mid-posterior portion; cell bottom smooth, glossy, with small, rounded, setigerous grain, often combined with small comma-shaped crests; pronotal pubescence consisting of transparent, hardly visible, erect setae.

Scutellum ( Fig. 25 ) black, subpentagonal, wider than long, microreticulate, depressed on anterior portion.

Elytra 2.2 times longer than wide, widest at humeri, subparallel at midlength, directly tapered on distal 1/3; humeral swellings well developed; basal transverse depressions deep, complete, reaching the scutellum, irregularly widened at humeral angles; apex slightly protracted and incurved downward, widely, angulately separated; lateral elytral groove smooth, very narrow on basal 2/3, slightly wider at apical 1/3, ending before the deeply serrate apex; lateral margins serrate on apical 1/3; epipleura regular, expiring at the apex; basal 1/2 of elytral surface slightly more convex than pronotum, more coarsely sculptured, distal 1/2 rather flattened, smoother, more brilliant; elytral pubescence transparent, scarcely visible, very short and erect.

Legs. All tibiae strongly flattened, outer margins of pro- and mesotibiae widely, distinctly serrate; all tarsomeres narrow, poorly expanded; distal 1/2 of metatibiae (Fig. 65) slightly bent outwards; meso- and metatibiae ( Fig. 49 ) weakly serrate on inner margin, with one prolonged, slightly crenate apical spur, apparently formed by the fusion of more teeth; protarsomere 1 slightly longer than each of 2 – 4; basal mesotarsomere 1.5 times longer than each of 2 – 4; metatarsomere 1 twice as long as each of 2 – 4; tarsomere 5 slender, longer than tarsomere 1 in anterior legs, shorter in middle and posterior legs; claws moderately long, sharp, slender, slightly enlarged and darker at base.

Ventral surface (Fig. 12) green, with strong golden tinge on abdomen; anterior prosternal margin straight; prosternal process wide, lateral margins strongly incurved, posterior apex wide, short; posterior end of central metasternal suture not divergent; all trochanters smooth; ventral pronotal sculpture areolate; prosternal sculpture irregular, shallow, transversally enlarged along anterior margin, with cell bottom confusedly wrinkled; sculpture on prosternal process denser and deeper; sculpture of proepisternum larger, shallow, more regular, consisting of well defined cells with glossy bottom and eccentric pore; remainder of pronotal underside rather brilliant with regular, very shallow sculpture; ventral abdominal surface brilliant, with very shallow sculpture; first abdominal ventrite with more regularly aerolate sculpture, the following ones with only faint remnants of variolate sculpture; whole ventral surface covered with long, transparent setae, more evident on lateral sides and legs.

Anal ventrite ( Fig. 55 ) slightly wider than long, subrounded, strongly depressed along the apical margin, lateral margins irregularly serrate.

Aedeagus largely subparallel, slightly narrowed at the junction with the phallobasis; apical 1/5 of parameres ( Fig. 26 ) strongly narrowed in a bottleneck shape, with tegument less chitinous and more transparent; setigerous area located upon the narrow preapical area; median lobe ( Fig. 27 ) progressively tapered from base to the acute but not sharp apex; basal apodemes extending for 1/3 of total length.

Variation. Medium-sized species (5.0 – 7.6 mm); dimensions of males range from 5.1 mm x 1.9 mm to 7.6 mm x 2.6 mm (holotype: 5.2 mm x 1.9 mm), while the females vary from 5.0 mm x 1.8 mm to 7.0 mm x 2.6 mm (allotype: 6.6 mm x 2.4 mm). This new species shows an extreme sexual dichromatism: male (Fig. 9) entirely green, with strong golden tinge, two suffused black parallel bands on pronotal disc, space between bands narrow, irregularly shaped, golden to blueish green, legs and antennae deep green, ventral side golden green; female (Fig. 11) with head, pronotum and ventral side crimson-red, black pronotal bands wider than in the male, almost completely fused together, with the mid space reduced to a short, thin, filament, blueish in the posterior portion, elytra deep blue, with base and a short basal tract of the suture narrowly bordered with a lighter greenish tinge; legs and antennae black, tarsi with slight greenish tinge; the female differs from the male also with the following morphological features: body more stout, basal abdominal pleurites distinctly visible from above, last antennomere shorter, more angulated, eyes slightly smaller, not projecting beyond outline of head, anal ventrite notched. Ovipositor of one female paratype illustrated ( Fig. 59 ). Despite the extreme sexual dichromatism, this new species shows little variability; the golden tinge of males is deeper in some specimens, while the smallest female, a wild-caught specimen, has a more greenish elytral colouration.

Anthaxia (Cratomerus) meda n. sp. Anthaxia (Cratomerus) mirabilis Zicharev, 1918

Male (Fig. 9): green with strong golden tinge; pronotal black Male (Fig. 10): green with paler golden tinge; posterior portion bands more parallel, space between bands narrower than of pronotal black bands narrowed, space between the bands width of each band; female: head, pronotum and ventral sur- much wider than width of each band; female: head, pronotum face bright carmin-red; space between pronotal bands and ventral surface more golden-red; space between the pronoextremely reduced; elytra deep blue tal bands much wider; elytra green

Body subparallel; legs and antennae weaker Body more wedge-shaped; legs and antennae stronger

Head ( Fig. 25 ): vertex flat, slightly wider; eyes slightly pro- Head ( Fig. 28 ): vertex feebly depressed, slightly narrower; jecting beyond outline of head; sculpture of frons areolate eyes not projecting beyond outline of head; sculpture of frons ( Fig. 35 ), consisting of cells with thin border and small cen- ( Fig. 36 ) more foveate, consisting of cells rather widely sepatral grain; anterior margin of clypeus punctate, deeply trian- rated, with very large, flat central grain; anterior margin of gularly emarginate clypeus smooth, more roundly emarginate

Pronotum ( Fig. 25 ) more flat on the disc, widest at anterior 1/ Pronotum ( Fig. 28 ) more convex on the disc, widest at poste- 2; anterior margin shallowly bisinuate, with very feeble cen- rior 1/2; anterior margin slightly deeper, with slightly more tral lobe; lateral margins arched in middle, rather straight on pronounced central lobe; lateral margins regularly arched; anterior and posterior 1/3; sculpture irregular, slightly trans- sculpture more strongly lengthened on the disc; sculpture of versally enlarged on the disc; sculpture of lateral sides con- lateral sides consisting of smaller polygonal cells, with large sisting of large polygonal cells with medium-sized central central grains

grain and comma-shaped crests

Scutellum ( Fig. 25 ) black Scutellum ( Fig. 28 ) green

Elytra subparallel, distal portion more flat, directly tapered Elytra more wedge-shaped and convex, more caudiform, on apical 40% of their length; surface more coarsely sculp- tapered on apical 45% of their length; surface more smoothly tured at base sculptured at base

Anal ventrite of male subrounded ( Fig. 55 ) Anal ventrite of male subtruncate ( Fig. 56 )

Legs weaker; tibiae strongly flattened; outer margins of pro- Legs stronger; tibiae thicker; outer margins of pro- and and mesotibiae distinctly, widely dentate; inner margins of mesotibiae very feebly dentate; inner margins of meso- and meso- and metatibiae ( Fig. 49 ) very weakly serrate, with metatibiae ( Fig. 50 ) not serrate, with strong single apical spur, multidentate apical spur prolonged backwards; metatibie oriented inward; metatibiae straight slightly bent outwards

Aedeagus bottle-shaped; apical 1/5 of parameres ( Fig. 26 ) Aedeagus largely subparallel, slightly wider at midlength;

strongly narrowed, hosting wide setigerous areas; median apex of parameres ( Fig. 29 ) strongly flattened, deeply grooved lobe ( Fig. 27 ) progressively tapered from base to the acute along the sharp, finely crenulated lateral margin; setigerous but not sharp apex; lateral edges of phallobasis less emargin- area indistinct, very narrow, situated along the lateroapical

ate margin; median lobe ( Fig. 30 ) more parallel and more sharply pointed; lateral margins of phallobasis strongly emarginate Specimens examined. Holotype, 3: Iran, (Kordestān), 1500 m., 21 – 22 km N Kāmyārān, 34°57’20.6’’N 046°58’38.4’’E, 10 – 11.V.2008, D. Gianasso leg.; allotype, Ƥ: Iran, (Āzarbāyġān-e Ġarbī), Ošnūye, 37°16’N 45°08’E, (S Orūmīye), 1500 m., 27.V.05, D. Baiocchi leg. / ex larva Prunus sp., April 2007; paratypes: same data as holotype (2 3 1 Ƥ); same data as allotype (1 3 3 ƤƤ); Iran, Zanġān, m. 1830, SW of Sorkhed Dizaj, 36°47’08”N 48°51’34”E, 3.VI.2011 D. Baiocchi leg. (1 3 1 Ƥ); Iran, Āzarbāyġān-e Ġarbī, m. 1.400, 40 km. S.

Orūmīye, 15.V.2002, leg. G. Magnani / ex larva Prunus sp., 25.IV.2004 (1 Ƥ); Iran, Kordestān, 1700 m., 15 – 20 km N Kāmyārān, 12.V.2002, leg. G. Magnani (1 3); Iran, (Kordestān), 1500 m., 22 km N Kāmyārān, 34°57’20.6’’N 046°58’38.4’’E, 14 – 15.V.2010, D. Baiocchi leg. (1 3); N Iran, Kordestān, 15 km N Kāmyārān, 25.V.2005, 1700 m., leg. D. Gianasso (1 Ƥ); NW Iran, Āzarbāyġān-e Ġarbī, 40 km S Orūmīye, 27.V.2005, m. 1400, leg. D. Gianasso / ex larva Prunus dulcis , 2.V.2006 (1 Ƥ); Iran, (Kordestān), 1500 m., 21 – 22 km N Kāmyārān, 34°57’20.6’’N 046°58’38.4’’E, 8 – 9.V.2009, D. Gianasso leg. / ex larva Prunus sp. 25.III.2010 (1 Ƥ), 29.III.2011 (1 Ƥ); Iran, (Kordestān), 1500 m., 21 – 22 km N Kāmyārān, 34°57’20.6’’N 046°58’38.4’’E, 8 – 9.V.2009, D. Gianasso leg. / ex larva Prunus sp. 22.IV.2010 (1 3); Iran, (Kordestān), 1500 m., 22 km N Kāmyārān, 34°57’20.6’’N 046°58’38.4’’E, 14 – 15.V.2010, D. Gianasso leg. (1 Ƥ).

The holotype, allotype and some paratypes are deposited in D. Baiocchi coll. (Rome, Italy); paratypes in the following collections: National Musem of Prague (Czech Rep.), D. Gianasso (Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Italy), and G. Magnani (Cesena, Italy).

Comments. According to its overall aspect and morphological features such as antennal shape, pronotal sculpture, presence of parallel bands on pronotum, notched anal ventrite of the female, sexual dichromatism, etc., this new species clearly belongs to the subgenus Cratomerus Solier, 1833 as defined by Bílý (1980).

In sight of an eventual clarification of the taxonomical position of other morphologically similar species from Middle East and Central Asia, for the moment A. meda is tentatively included in the A. nupta species-group; at present its most similar species is A. (Cratomerus) mirabilis Zicharev, 1918 (Fig. 10), a species found in eastern Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and likely to exist also in northwestern Iran. For species comparison, a typical male specimen of A. mirabilis from Armenia (Vayk, Vayots’ Dzor prov.) was used and illustrated.

The characters that allow easily differentiate both species are listed in table 3.

Bionomy and distribution. Anthaxia meda is found mostly in northwestern Iran, in the provinces of Kordestān and Āzarbāyġān-e Ġarbī, close to the border with Turkey and Iraq, countries where this new species is also likely to be found, and it has recently been collected also in the north central province of Zanġān, on the Elburs mountains. Some of the studied specimens were reared from branches of Prunus sp., while the wild caught ones were collected on flowers nearby to plants of Rosaceae with nearly or completely dead branches.

Etymology. Anthaxia meda is named after the Medes, one of the most important ancient Iranian people, that settled in the northwestern part of the country since the second millennium B.C., and founded the Great Median Empire, that extended from eastern Turkey and Iraq, eastwards to Afghanistan and Pakistan; they were famous, among other things, for the elegant and colourful clothes wore by their nobles, comparable to the beautiful habitus of this new species.

Figures

FIGURES 25 – 30. Fig. 25, Anthaxia (Cratomerus) meda n. sp., holotype 3, dorsal aspect of anterior portion of body; Fig. 26, the same, holotype 3, parameres, 1.5 mm; Fig. 27, the same, holotype 3, median lobe, 1.4 mm; Fig. 28, Anthaxia (Cratomerus) mirabilis Zhicharev, 1918, 3, dorsal aspect of anterior portion of body; Fig. 29, the same, parameres, 1.7 mm; Fig. 30, the same, median lobe, 1.6 mm.

FIGURES 31 – 38. Fig. 31, Anthaxia (Anthaxia) magnanii n. sp., holotype 3, frontal view of head; Fig. 32, Anthaxia (Anthaxia) chaerodrys Szallies, 2001, holotype 3, frontal view of head; Fig. 33, Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) mannaea n. sp., holotype 3, frontal view of head; Fig. 34, Anthaxia (Anthaxia) parvula Baiocchi & Magnani, 2006, holotype 3, frontal view of head; Fig. 35, Anthaxia (Cratomerus) meda n. sp., holotype 3, frontal view of head; Fig. 36, Anthaxia (Cratomerus) mirabilis Zhicharev, 1918, 3, frontal view of head; Fig. 37, A. (A.) magnanii n. sp., holotype 3, diagonal view of apical portion of body; Fig. 38, A. (A.) chaerodrys Szallies, 2001, holotype 3, diagonal view of apical portion of body.

FIGURES 39 – 50. Fig. 39, Anthaxia (Anthaxia) magnanii n. sp., holotype 3, left antenna; Fig. 40, Anthaxia (Anthaxia) chaerodrys Szallies, 2001, holotype 3, left antenna; Fig. 41, Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) mannaea n. sp., holotype 3, left antenna; Fig. 42, Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) parvula Baiocchi & Magnani, 2006, holotype 3, left antenna; Fig. 43, Anthaxia (Cratomerus) meda n. sp., holotype 3, left antenna; Fig. 44, Anthaxia (Cratomerus) mirabilis Zhicharev, 1918, 3, left antenna; Fig. 45, A. (A.) magnanii n. sp., holotype 3, right metatibia; Fig. 46, A. (A.) chaerodrys Szallies, 2001, holotype 3, right metatibia; Fig. 47, A. (H.) mannaea n. sp., holotype 3, right metatibia; Fig. 48, A. (H.) parvula Baiocchi & Magnani, 2006, holotype 3, right metatibia; Fig. 49, A. (C.) meda n. sp., holotype 3, right metatibia; Fig. 50, A. (C.) mirabilis Zhicharev, 1918, 3, right metatibia.

FIGURES 51 – 59. Fig. 51, Anthaxia (Anthaxia) magnanii n. sp., holotype 3, anal ventrite; Fig. 52, Anthaxia (Anthaxia) chaerodrys Szallies, 2001, holotype 3, anal ventrite; Fig. 53, Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) mannaea n. sp., paratype 3, anal ventrite; Fig. 54, Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) parvula Baiocchi & Magnani, 2006, holotype 3, anal ventrite; Fig. 55, Anthaxia (Cratomerus) meda n. sp., holotype 3, anal ventrite; Fig. 56, Anthaxia (Cratomerus) mirabilis Zhicharev, 1918, 3, anal ventrite; Fig. 57, A. (A.) magnanii n. sp., allotype Ƥ, dorsal aspect of ovipositor; Fig. 58, A. (H.) mannaea n. sp., allotype Ƥ, dorsal aspect of ovipositor; Fig. 59, A. (C.) meda n. sp., paratype Ƥ, dorsal aspect of ovipositor.