Stenaspis superba Aurivillius 1908
Creators: name: Eya, Bryan K.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cerambycidae
Stenaspis
Stenaspis superba

description: Stenaspis superba Aurivillius, 1908   
(Fig. 95–101)  
 Stenaspis superba Aurivillius 1908: 5, 1912: 458 (cat.); Melzer 1932: 422; Blackwelder 1946: 589 (cat.); Linsley 1961: 632; Monné and Giesbert 1994: 152 (cat.); Monné 1994: 35 (cat.); Wappes et al. 2006: 23 (dist.).   
 Photographic Material Examined. Holotype, female, BOLIVIA: Mojos, N. Holmgren, June on the banks of stream, NHRS-JLKB 000071808. Six photographs provided by J. Bergsten of the Swedish Museum of Natural History (NHRS, Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet) as follows: NHRS-JLKB 000071808_caud.tif; NHRS-JLKB 000071808_dors. tif; NHRS-JLKB 000071808_fron.tif; NHRS-JLKB 000071808_late.tif; NHRS-JLKB 000071808_vent.tif.   
 Discussion. Aurivillius (1908: 5) described S. superba (length 38 mm) as a species with integument that is black, the pronotum and elytra orange with three nitid black calli on pronotal disc, two in anterior half and one medially in the posterior half. The head is punctate, vertex rugulose and uneven. The antennae barely reach middle of elytra, scape is conical, sub-nitid, sparsely punctate, and third antennomere shorter than the scape. The prothorax is described as being deeply rugose, punctate, convex with prominent tubercles on each side, surface clothed with short, erect golden-brown hairs, and the apical and basal margins narrowly black with dense black pubescence. The scutellum is narrow, elongate, black, canaliculate in the middle and irregularly, sparsely punctate. The elytra are strongly rugose and clothed with a few short hairs at the base, less rugose apically and denudate from the middle, and apices broadly rounded and unarmed. The sternum is all black, the prosternum is very rugulose, meso- and metasternum densely punctate and abdomen sparsely punctate. According to Aurivillius, S. superba is differentiated from all other known species of Stenaspis by the short antennae, and by the coloration and sculpture of the pronotum and elytra, which are reminiscent of an orange skin.   
 Examination of holotype photographs shows that S. superba appears to have the characters representative of Stenaspis as follows: (1) head with frons large, square and recessed between the dorsal anterior margin of gena (Fig. 98, 100); (2) prosternal intercoxal process protuberant and ridged between coxae and vertical behind (Fig. 101); (3) mesosternal intercoxal process not protuberant, level with coxae, and abruptly declivous in front (Fig. 100); (4) pronotum narrower than base of elytra at humeri, lateral tubercles placed slightly behind middle, and anterior angle broadly callused (Fig. 101); (5) proepisternum of thorax coarsely punctate (Fig. 40); and (6) elytra distinctly margined laterally (Fig. 100), and apices rounded and unarmed (Fig. 95, 97). Compared to other Stenaspis species, S. superba has a pronotal disc that is more convex (Fig. 40) with two prominent anterior dorsal calli, and a disc surface that is more coarsely punctate. Also, the elytra (E) are more elongate relative to pronotum (P), where the E/P ratio is 4.8 compared to other species where E/P ranges from 3–3.8. The other four species have the pronotal disc flattened (Fig. 16, 22, 31, 34, 37) and glabrate with vaguely visible dorsal calli. Although S. superba is geographically isolated in Bolivia compared to all other known species found in USA and Mexico, it has many characteristics that are commonly found in Stenaspis; therefore, at this time this species is retained in this genus until a male is captured and the pattern of sexual punctation on the thorax is examined. Males of this group of trachyderines (i.e., Callistochroma, Crioprosopus and Stenaspis) have additional characteristics that substantiate placement of species into their appropriate genera.
description: Published as part of Eya, Bryan K., 2021, Recharacterization of Stenaspis Audinet-Serville, 1834 with a new species from Mexico (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Trachyderini), pp. 1-36 in Insecta Mundi 2021 (851) on page 21, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5041512