Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) nigropurpurea Bílý, 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Bílý, Svatopluk
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Buprestidae
Agrilaxia
Agrilaxia nigropurpurea

description: Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) nigropurpurea sp. nov.
(Figs. 4, 8, 10)
Type locality. North-eastern French Guiana, Cayenne, Montagne de Kaw, 200– 300 m. Type specimen. Holotype (male, NMPC): “Francösisch Guyana nord-ost, Cayenne, Montagne de Kaw, 200– 300 m, 28.vi.–12.vii.2007, A. Puchner leg.”.
Diagnosis. Rather large (7.1 mm), slender, subcylindrical, weakly tapering posteriorly (Fig. 4); dorsal surface black, frontoclypeus green, frons with feeble brassy lustre; lateral sides of pronotum dark purple; pronotum with poorly defined, greenish medial line reaching pronotal mid-length; ventral surface black with weak purple lustre, metacoxae with intense, bright purple lustre.
Description of the male holotype. Head large, as wide as anterior pronotal margin; anterior margin of frontoclypeus straight, frons moderately convex, vertex flat, 1.2 times as wide as width of eye; eyes large, slightly projecting beyond outline of head; antennae relatively short, reaching mid-length of lateral pronotal margins when laid alongside; scape weakly claviform, slightly curved, 5.0 times as long as wide, pedicel ovoid, almost twice as long as wide; third antennomere very slightly triangular, 1.6 times as long as wide, fourth antennomere widely triangular, about as wide as long; antennomeres 5–10 trapezoidal, 1.2–1.5 times as wide as long, terminal antennomere axe-head shaped, slightly longer than wide; sculpture consisting of very small, dense, round or polygonal cells without central grains.
Pronotum rather convex, 1.3 times as wide as long with deep lateroposterior depressions and wide, shallow prescutellar pit; anterior margin with large median lobe, posterior margin almost straight; lateral margins S-shaped, posterior angles acute, maximum pronotal width at anterior third; “agriloid” carina absent; sculpture homogeneous consisting of small, very dense, polygonal cells, small central grains visible only in lateroposterior depressions. Scutellum relatively large, pentagonal, flat.
Elytra 3.0 times as long as wide, weakly convex, very slightly caudiform; humeral callosities large, basal, transverse depressions wide, deep, reaching scutellum separated from it by short, lustrous, elevated carina; subhumeral carina well-defined, reaching anterior third of elytra; extreme apex of elytra with extremely fine, almost indistinct serrations; sculpture fine, homogeneous consisting of tiny transverse rugae and very fine granular sculpture.
Ventral surface lustrous with very fine, almost indistinct eye-shaped sculpture on abdominal ventrites and broad, well-defined eye-shaped sculpture with tiny central grains on pro- and metasternum; prosternum, transversally grooved behind full width of anterior margin which is perpendicularly elevated (Fig. 26 in Bílý & Brûlé, 2013); prosternal process flat; anal tergite finger nail-shaped, slightly depressed, apically almost truncate with rather rough serrations (Fig. 8); anal sternite apically almost regularly rounded, roughly serrate and transversely depressed before apical margin. Legs relatively short, protibiae weakly curved, meso- and metatibiae almost straight, not modified; tarsal claws hook-shaped, weakly enlarged at base.
Aedeagus (Fig. 10) very long and slender, well-sclerotised, dorsoventrally bent, parameres only weakly enlarged apically, median lobe simply pointed apically.
Measurement. Length: 7.1 mm; width: 1.8 mm.
Sexual dimorphism. Female unknown.
Bionomy. Unknown.
Etymology. The specific epithet was selected to stress the distinctive colouration of the species: black with purple lustre of the ventral surface.
Differential diagnosis. Due to the distinctive colouration (Fig. 4), convex frons, absence of the “agriloid” carina” and the very long, dorsoventrally bent aedeagus it is not possible to attribute Agrilaxia (Agrilaxia) nigropurpurea sp. nov. to any species-group of the subgen. Agrilaxia. The habitus resembles some species of the genus Agrilus Curtis, 1825 more then any known species of Agrilaxia.
Distribution. French Guiana.
description: Published as part of Bílý, Svatopluk, 2017, A study of the genus Agrilaxia Kerremans, 1903 from French Guiana (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Anthaxiini), pp. 65-72 in Zootaxa 4216 (1) on pages 70-71, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.229828