Neophygopoda agdae Martins, Galileo & Santos-Silva, 2015, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Martins, Ubirajara R.
name: Galileo, Maria Helena M.
name: Santos-Silva, Antonio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cerambycidae
Neophygopoda
Neophygopoda agdae

description: Neophygopoda agdae sp. nov.
(Figs. 27–30)
Holotype female. Integument black; mesofemoral club dark-brown with blackish areas; integument reddish-brown as follows: basal two-thirds of elytra (black portion extends approximately to middle along sides); anterior margin of prosternum; ventral portion at basal third of protibiae; basal half of peduncle of mesofemora; almost basal half of metafemora.
Dorsal side of head covered with dense, whitish pubescence on frons, forming wide, longitudinal band between antennal tubercles and margin of prothorax; areas of vertex at sides of this band with sparse setae; margin of lower eye lobes with band of whitish setae, gradually finer towards genae. Submentum moderately coarse, abundantly punctate, with short, sparse setae. Mandibles with short setae, interspersed with long, sparse setae. Distance between upper eye lobes equal to 0.8 times length of scape; distance between lower eye lobes, in frontal view, equal to 0.7 times length of scape. Antennae length equal to 2.6 times elytral length; reaching distal third of second abdominal segment; antennomeres III–VI filiform; antennomeres VII–XI forming club; antennal formula based on length of antennomere III: scape = 0.90; pedicel = 0.35; IV = 0.81; V = 1.09; VI = 0.90; VII = 0.86; VIII = 0.73; IX = 0.68; X = 0.55; XI = 0.68.
Pronotum without longitudinal central carina, coarse, abundantly punctate; with short, decumbent, sparse, whitish setae, interspersed with brownish, long setae. Prothorax laterally with wide band of dense whitish pubescence. Prosternum glabrous on narrow band next to head; laterally with sparse setae, withish, more abundant at center, mainly towards prosternal process. Prosternal process with whitish, dense pubescence. Mesosternum with sparse setae. Mesepisterna, mesepimera, mesosternal process, and metepisterna covered with whitish, dense pubescence. Metasternum with whitish setae, abundant at basal half (except along metasternal sulcus), gradually sparser at distal half, notably towards center. Scutellum covered with whitish, dense pubescence. Elytra coarse, abundantly punctate; with band of whitish pubescence along distal half of suture; with short, sparse setae (little longer, more conspicuous along anterior half of the suture, also with some long setae).
Apex of metafemora reaching distal fourth of fourth abdominal segment. Urosternites with whitish, dense pubescence, interspersed with some long setae.
Dimensions in mm (female). Total length, 7.0; length of prothorax at center, 1.1; anterior width of prothorax, 0.9; posterior width of prothorax, 0.9; humeral width, 1.1; elytral length, 1.6.
Type material. Holotype female, BRAZIL, Bahia: Aracatu (“Fazenda Lagoa do Tamburi”; "área de Caatinga arbórea"; 14º30.961’S / 41º27.512’W), 11.IV.2013, A. S. Ferreira col. (MZUSP).
Etymology. The species is named for Agda Alves da Rocha (UFBA), for donating the holotype and several other specimens to the collection MZUSP.
Remarks. Neophygopoda agdae is similar to N. exilis Melzer, 1933, but differs as follows: frons distinctly pubescent; pronotum with very apparent pubescence at center of disk; elytra with pubescent band. In N. exilis (female) the frons is almost glabrous, the pronotum has very sparse pubescence at center of disk, and the elytra has not sutural pubescence.
Melzer (1933) compared Neophygopoda with Phygopoda Thomson, 1864: “Este genero é muito visinho de Phygopoda, mas difere pela extremidade apical das tibias posteriores fortemente engrossada e pela ausencia dos tufos de pêlos nas mesmas”. Indeed, Neophygopoda and Phygopoda differ notably by the form of procoxal cavities: open in the first and close in the second. Neophygopoda is much more similar to Acorethra Bates, 1873, with which it shares the kind of procoxal cavity. Only one character is useful to differentiate these two genera, the shape of metafemora: long peduncle, short club (Neophygopoda) or short peduncle, long club (Acorethra). The length of metafemora ("abdominis extremitatem superantibus") can be considered a specific character, but not generic. In Neophygopoda agdae, the apex reaches the distal fourth of the fourth abdominal segment and, in N. exilis, it reaches base of fifth segment, contrary to what has been reported in the description of the genus. Only in N. tibialis Melzer, 1933, the apex of metafemora slightly surpass elytral apex.
description: Published as part of Martins, Ubirajara R., Galileo, Maria Helena M. & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2015, New taxa and new records in Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) from the state of Bahia (Brazil) and notes on Meridiotroctes (Acanthoderini), pp. 271-299 in Zootaxa 3973 (2) on pages 280-281, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3973.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/237561