Xenicotela mucheni, Xie & Barclay & Wang, 2023

Xie, Guanglin, Barclay, Maxwell V. L. & Wang, Wenkai, 2023, Review of the genus Xenicotela Bates, 1884 (Cerambycidae, Lamiinae, Lamiini), ZooKeys 1183, pp. 185-204 : 185

Xenicotela mucheni sp. nov.

Fig. 9c-f, h-o

Type material.

Holotype: male, China: Yunnan Province, Ruili (瑞丽), July 29, 2018, coll. local collector, deposited in the Insect Collection, College of Agriculture, Yangtze University (YZU). Paratypes: one male and two females, China: Yunnan Province, Yingjiang County (盈江), Xima (昔马), Alt. 600-1200 m, July 29 to August 10, 2018, coll. by local collector, deposited in the Collection of Mu Chen (MCC, Shanghai, China).

Description.

Male. Body length 16.2-19.0 mm, humeral width 5.1-5.7 mm. Body mostly dark brown; antennae and legs mostly dull reddish brown, clothed with greyish-yellow, greyish-white and black pubescence forming maculations. Head densely clothed with greyish-yellow pubescence, denser and longer on labrum and clypeus, with a long oval black velvet spot behind each upper eye lobe. Antennae clothed with greyish-yellow pubescence; base and extreme apex of antennomeres III-X, basal fifth and apical two-fifths of antennomere XI annulated with sparse greyish-yellow to greyish-white pubescence. Pronotum clothed with greyish-yellow pubescence on the middle and greyish-white pubescence at sides, decorated with a short finger-like black spot on each side of basal half with apex directed obliquely outwards, base broken by a patch of greyish-yellow pubescence on the middle. Scutellum clothed with greyish-yellow pubescence, thinly edged with more light-coloured pubescence. Elytra mostly clothed with greyish-yellow pubescence, interspersed with irregular dark-brown pubescent spots throughout and white spots mainly on basal and apical fourth. Underside clothed with denser pubescence, decorated with irregular dark-brown spots on both sides; ventrites fringed with greyish-yellow pubescence on the apical margin. Legs mostly clothed with greyish-yellow pubescence; tibiae decorated with a dark pubescent ring at middle.

Head finely and sparsely punctate; frons transverse, slightly convex, with a smooth longitudinal median sulcus extending to occiput. Eyes coarsely faceted; lower lobe about as long as gena. Antennae long, about 2.1-2.3 times as long as body; scape robust, thin at base, distinctly constricted before cicatrix; antennomere III distinctly longer than antennomere IV, about 2.7 times as long as scape; antennomere IV longer than antennomere V, antennomeres V-X strongly toothed inwards at apex. Pronotum transverse, anterior and posterior margins subequal in width; lateral spine coniform, with blunt apex; disc slightly convex, finely and sparsely punctate, with a little flat centre. Scutellum lingulate. Elytra elongate, about 2.3 times as long as width across humeri, with subparallel sides and rounded apices; surface punctures a little coarser than those on head and pronotum, gradually becoming finer and sparser towards apex, with basal fourth slightly longitudinally elevated centrally. Underside inconspicuously punctate; apical margin of distal ventrite nearly straight. Legs moderately long, femora slightly clavate, mesotibiae without grooves near external apex, claws divaricate.

Male genitalia. Tergite VIII with both sides subparallel at basal third, then converging straight to apex, apex broadly truncated, clothed with short to medium straight setae along apical and lateral sides. Tegmen about 2.37 mm long, maximum width of ringed part about 0.97 mm. Paramere about 0.39 mm long, base about 0.25 mm wide, length/width ratio about 1.56, rounded apically, clothed with setae of different lengths and thicknesses at apex. Median lobe about as long as tegmen, slightly arcuate in lateral view, apical margin of dorsal plate and ventral plate rounded; median struts relatively broad, about one-half as long as median lobe.

Female. Body length 24.1-27.1 mm, humeral width 7.3-8.5 mm. Similar to male, antennae about 1.8 times as long as body; elytra about 2.2 times as long as width across humeri; antennomeres V-X slightly thickened apically.

Distribution.

China: Yunnan.

Etymology.

The new species is named after Mr Chen Mu, in gratitude for his offering the material of this new species for this study.

Comments.

The new species differs from other species of the genus in the elytra with distinct, small, separate, irregular, white spots and the male antennae with prominent teeth on the apices of antennomeres V-IX.

Figures

Figure 9. Xenicotela spp. a, b, g holotype of Xenicotela griseomaculata, male c-f, h-o Xenicotela mucheni sp. nov. c, d, h male e, f female a, c, e, i, k dorsal view b, d, f, j, m, n ventral view l, o lateral view g, h frontal view i-o male genitalia i, j tergite VIII k-l tegmen + median struts n, o spiculum gastrale. Scale: 0.5 mm.