Anthaxia (Merocratus) priska Bílý & Plachetka 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Bílý, Svatopluk
name: Plachetka, Mikuláš
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Buprestidae
Anthaxia
Anthaxia priska

description: Anthaxia (Merocratus) priska Bílý, sp. nov.
(Figs. 5, 6, 13)
Type locality: Indonesia, Kalimantan, Barat Province, SW Kalimantan, Singkawang region, Mt. Bawang, Madi village env., 1000–1500 m.
Type specimens. Holotype (male, NMPC): “ Indonesia, Kalimantan Barat Pr.[province], SW Kalimantan, Singkawang region, Mt. Bawang, Madi village env., i.2018, 1000–1500 m alt., local collectors leg. ˮ; allotype (female, NMPC): the same data; paratypes (6 males, NMPC, SJPC): the same data.
Diagnosis. Medium-sized (4.0– 4.8 mm), convex, elongate, lustrous, slightly tapering posteriorly (Figs. 5, 6); frons golden green (male) or dark violet (female), dorsal surface bronze-violet, posterior pronotal angles, short, elongate scutellar strip and narrow, lateral, semicircular patch at elytral midlength golden green; ventral surface black, abdominal ventrites bright purple in both sexes; antennae and legs black; entire body asetose only abdominal ventrites with short, sparse, recumbent, white setae.
Description of the male holotype. Head relatively small, slightly retracted into prothorax, frons weakly convex to flat, mouth parts weakly prognathous, vertex flat, 0.5 times as wide as width of eye; eyes small, reniform, not projecting beyond outline of head; sculpture of head consisting of small, dense, polygonal cells with central grains; antennae short reaching posterior pronotal third when laid alongside; scape claviform, 4 times as long as wide, pedicel ovoid, 1.3 times as long as wide; third antennomere weakly triangular, 1.5 times as long as wide, antennomeres 4–10 trapezoidal, weakly wider than long, terminal antennomere rhomboid, 1.3 times as long as wide.
Pronotum rather strongly convex, 1.9 times as wide as long, with wide and deep lateroposterior depressions; anterior margin very shallowly emarginate, almost straight, posterior margin straight; lateral margins widely rounded, posterior corners obtuse-angled; maximum pronotal width at anterior third; sculpture almost homogeneous consisting of small, dense, polygonal cells with tiny central grains; sculpture distinctly coarser in lateroposterior depressions. Scutellum large, semicircular, flat, 1.3 times as wide as long, microsculptured.
Elytra convex, elongate, almost triangular, 1.8 times as long as wide, abdominal ventrites clearly visible from above; humeral callosities small, very weakly projecting beyond elytral outline, basal, transverse depressions deep and wide, reaching scutellum; elytral apices obtusely rounded with very fine lateral serrations; elytral epipleura wide, parallel-sided, almost reaching elytral apex; subhumeral lobe large; lateral, elytral emargination deep an wide; sculpture almost homogeneous consisting of very fine, rather sparse punctures and short, transverse rugae which are distinctly coarser at basal third;
Ventral surface lustrous, prosternum very finely punctato-ocellate, prosternal process wide, flat; anal ventrite flat, apically widely rounded, without distinct lateral serrations. Legs moderately long, protibiae weakly curved, mesotibiae straight without inner serrations, metatibiae straight with shallow, inner, preapical emarginations and very fine, almost indistinct serrations. Meso- and metatarsi almost as long as corresponding tibiae, with well-developed adhesive pads on tarsomeres 2–4. Tarsal claws fine, hook-shaped, weakly enlarged at base.
Aedeagus (Fig. 13) relatively long, more or less tubuliform, weakly widened at basal third, parameres with fine, very long, backwardly bent, preapical spines, median lobe without lateral serrations.
Sexual dimorphism. The female differs from the male (except for the somewhat different colouration—see above) by the wider pronotum (twice as wide as long), stouter elytra (1.7 times as long as wide), simple meso- and metatibiae and by the finely notched apical margin of the anal ventrite.
Measurements. Length 4.0– 4.8 mm (holotype 4.0 mm); width: 1.9–2.0 mm (holotype 1.9 mm).
Variability. Except for the sexual dichromatism and the size (see above) no variability was found.
Etymology. This species is devoted to the wife of my friend and colleague Stanislav Jákl, Priska Jakl Erjani; a noun in apposition.
Differential diagnosis. Anthxia (Merocratus) priska Bílý, sp. nov. belongs to the A. (M.) tricolor species-group being by the colouration and body-shape most similar to A. (M.) deyrollei. It differs from it by the lustrous body, flat frons (weakly depressed in A. (M.) deyrollei), regularly ocellate pronotal sculpture (weakly transverse in A. (M.) deyrollei), bright purple abdominal ventrites (black-violet in A. (M.) deyrollei) and first of all by the shape of the aedeagus (Fig. 13) which is quite unique in the entire subgenus Merocratus.
Distribution. Indonesia (Kalimantan).
description: Published as part of Bílý, Svatopluk & Plachetka, Mikuláš, 2019, A study on the genus Anthaxia (Merocratus) Bílý 1989 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Anthaxiini), pp. 82-90 in Zootaxa 4701 (1) on pages 82-90, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4701.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/3557859