Morrisia pulchra Santos-Silva, Nascimento and Wappes 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Santos-Silva, Antonio
name: Nascimento, Francisco E. de L.
name: Wappes, James E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Brachiopoda
Rhynchonellata
Terebratulida
Platidiidae
Morrisia
Morrisia pulchra

description: Morrisia pulchra Santos-Silva, Nascimento and Wappes, sp. nov.
(Fig. 50–54, 60)
Description. Female. Integument mostly black; apex of last palpomeres and basal 2/3 of abdominal ventrite V dark reddish brown.
Head. Frons, vertex, and area behind upper eye lobes finely, abundantly punctate; with short, decumbent, scale-shaped white setae, interspersed with abundant, similar yellow setae, together obscuring integument. Area behind lower eye lobes, and between upper eye lobes with short, decumbent, scale-shaped yellow setae, with similar shaped, sparse white setae interspersed. Genae slightly longer than 3.0 times length of lower eye lobe; with setae same as behind lower eye lobes toward inferior surface, similar shaped and mostly white toward dorsal surface and apex. Antennal tubercles with setae as on frons, except narrowly glabrous in distal area. Postclypeus with short, partially bristly, scale-shaped white setae with sparse similarly shaped yellow setae interspersed in posterior area, setae fine, moderately long, directed forward in anterior area. Labrum with fine, long, abundant yellowish setae directed forward (partially whitish basally on area close to anteclypeus). Median groove partially visible from clypeus to prothoracic margin. Gulamentum glabrous except narrow anterior area with fine, short, moderately bristly white setae. Eyes with lobes small, diameter less than scape diameter at base; distance between upper eye lobes 1.65 times length of scape; in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 2.0 times length of scape. Antennae 0.7 times elytral length, surpassing basal quarter of elytra; scape noticeably narrow, with widest area slightly narrower than twice diameter of antennomere III; scape with short, decumbent, scale-shaped white setae dorsally, with abundant, similar yellow setae interspersed, together obscuring integument, setae, laterally and ventrally, similarly shaped, but mostly white with yellow setae interspersed; pedicel, antennomeres III–IV with short, decumbent, scale-shaped white setae (slightly more abundant dorsally), with sparse, similar yellow setae interspersed, together obscuring integument; antennomeres V–VIII dorsally with, abundant, decumbent white setae on most of basal 2/3, brownish on remaining surface (ventrally, sparsely interspersed with whitish setae on most of basal 2/3); antennomeres IX–XI with brownish pubescence obscuring most of integument, slightly interspersed with whitish setae dorsally. Antennal formula (ratio) based on length of antennomere III: scape = 0.54; pedicel = 0.22; IV = 0.54; V = 0.25; VI = 0.21; VII = 0.20; VIII = 0.16; IX = 0.16; X = 0.15; XI = 0.22.
Thorax. Prothorax slightly longer than wide. Pronotum coarsely, abundantly punctate; with short, decumbent, scale-shaped white setae, with similarly shaped, sparse yellow setae interspersed, obscuring wide lateral area of integument, with indistinct lateral band composed of short, decumbent, scale-shaped yellow setae, partially obscuring integument centrally, and short, decumbent, scale-shaped, yellow and white setae between these two areas. Sides of prothorax with short, decumbent, scale-shaped, yellow and white setae. Prosternum with abundant, short, decumbent, white and yellow setae laterally, distinctly sparser centrally; prosternal process with abundant, short, decumbent white setae, irregularly interspersed with yellow setae basally. Mesoventrite with abundant short, decumbent, yellow setae, with white setae interspersed (setae gradually more scale-shaped toward mesoventral process); mesoventral process with abundant short, decumbent, moderately scale-shaped white setae, with similarly shaped yellow setae interspersed; mesanepisternum with abundant, short decumbent, scale-shaped, mostly white setae, fringed distally by mostly yellow setae. Mesepimeron, metanepisternum, and metaventrite with abundant, short, decumbent, scale-shaped both white and yellow setae (a little sparser on central area of metaventrite). Scutellum with short, sparse scale-shaped decumbent, yellow setae, denser, fringe-shaped on margins.
Elytra. Coarsely, abundantly punctate with dense white and yellow scale-shaped pubescence obscuring much of the surface, but not obscuring most of the punctures; basal two-thirds dominated by white pubescence with scattered or small patches of yellow pubescence intermixed, more noticeable adjacent to the suture; The dominant white pubescent area is bordered distally by an irregular lateral broad band of dominant darker brown, then more dominant dark yellow and then again dominant darker brown pubescence; the distal fourth of the elytra is densely covered in white pubescence with an irregular band of mostly dark brown pubescence near the apices.
Legs. Femora and tibiae with abundant dense, short, decumbent scale-shaped white setae, with sparse yellow setae interspersed, except distal third of protibiae with short blackish setae ventrally, and distal third of meso- and metatibiae with brownish setae ventrally. Tarsomeres I–II with abundant, short, decumbent, scale-shaped white setae, with similarly shaped sparse yellow setae interspersed; tarsomere III with fine, sparse, decumbent yellowish-brown setae; tarsomeres IV–V with sparse, decumbent brownish setae.
Abdomen. Ventrites I–II with dense, thick (somewhat scale-shaped), decumbent white setae with similar shaped yellow setae interspersed, with fringe of yellow setae on apex; ventrite III slightly, gradually depressed centrally toward apex, with setae as on II, but distinctly sparser in depressed area; ventrite IV gradually depressed toward apex centrally, with setae as on III, sparser on depressed area, and with fringe of long, erect dark-brown setae on each side of depressed area; ventrite V with setae as on IV (area with white scale-shaped setae narrower, and setae on depressed area sparser).
Dimensions (mm). Total length 7.70; prothoracic length 2.15; anterior prothoracic width 1.85; posterior prothoracic width 1.90; maximum prothoracic width 2.00; humeral width 2.40; elytral length 5.20.
Type material. Holotype female from MEXICO, Quintana Roo, 15–18 km N Tulum, 11–12 X.1982, J.E. Wappes col. (FSCA, previously in ACMT).
Remarks. Morrisia pulchra sp. nov. differs from M. squamosa (Fig. 55–59; see also photographs in Bezark 2019) as follows: body distinctly wider in female (Fig. 52); general pubescence in most areas white and denser; antennae not reaching abdomen; antennae mostly with darker pubescence only from antennomere IX to apex; eyes smaller (Fig. 60) with diameter of lobes smaller than the diameter of scape at base. In M. squamosa, the body of the female is slender, general pubescence is mostly yellow, especially on prothorax, antennae reach apex of the first abdominal segment, antennae dark pubescent from about middle of the antennomere IV to apex, and the eyes are larger with the lower lobe’s diameter subequal in size to the base of the scape (Fig. 59).
Etymology. “Pulchra” Latin: beautiful, handsome, as is the appearance of this diminutive cerambycid.
description: Published as part of Santos-Silva, Antonio, Nascimento, Francisco E. de L. & Wappes, James E., 2019, Nomenclatural changes in American Apomecynini including description of new genera and species (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), pp. 1-35 in Insecta Mundi 716 (716) on pages 17-18, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3677213