Lemodes (Lagriomorpha) elegans Young, 2011, NEW SPECIES
Creators: name: Young, Daniel K.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Anthicidae
Lemodes
Lemodes elegans

description: Lemodes (Lagriomorpha) elegans, NEW SPECIES
(Figs. 1–4)
Description. Length 6.0- 6.8 mm (n=2). Dorsal and ventral surfaces, legs, and antennae moderately densely covered with short, mostly decumbent setae, dorsum and elytra also with a few, longer, semierect to erect setae.
Adult Female (Dorsal habitus: Figs. 1–2). Head and mouthparts coppery-orange; mandibles rufopiceous, at least in part. Dorsal surface of head (Fig. 3) confusedly, conspicuously, moderately coarsely punctate, lateral and ventral aspects with punctures less coarse, cranial neck coarsely punctate. Compound eyes small, finely-faceted, slightly protruding. Tempora nearly 0.5X dorso-longitudinal length of compound eye. Antennae with segments 1–4 amber to yellowish-orange, 4th antennomere suffused with rufopiceous pigmentation, antennomeres 5–10 largely black, antennomeres 5–7 rufopiceous at proximal ends, antennomere 11 black in proximal 1/2 to 2/3, creamy yellowish-orange distally; antennae densely covered with stout, semierect and erect setae; antennomeres 4–10 each gradually wider distally; 7–10 most conspicuously so; 11th antennomere nearly 1/2 again as long as antennomere 10, bluntly acuminate distally. Terminal segment of maxillary palpus (Fig. 3) strongly securiform. Visible dorsal and ventral surfaces of thorax coppery-orange; pronotum (Fig. 4) campanulate, widest anterad the middle, densely covered with coppery-orange setae, coarsely, closely punctate with surface finely punctate between the larger punctures; prothoracic coxal cavities widely open externally; scutellum flat, quadrate, coarsely punctate, densely clothed in retrorsely decumbent, orange to yellowish-white setae; mesosternum, metasternum and mesothoracic episterna with scattered, large, shallow punctures; mesothoracic episterna meeting anteromesad the mesosternum. Legs coppery-orange, suffused with rufopiceous to black pigmentation (Fig. 1), to largely black (Fig. 2); paired, dorsal tibial carinae evident; tibial spurs short, stout; penultimate tarsomere slightly dilated, bilobed; tarsal claws simple. Elytra coppery-orange in basal quarter, remainder metallic blue-violet, with anterior margin of dark pigmentation conspicuously receding along elytral sutures; each elytron bearing a patch of white setae in the distal 1/2 which does not attain the sutural margin; a patch of coppery-orange, subapical setae is present (Fig. 2) or not (Fig. 1); elytra elongate, 2.5–2.8X longer than width across sub-basal humeral area, covering abdomen, margins subparallel along much of length; elytral surface rather coarsely, somewhat deeply, confusedly punctate, surface between punctures smooth to sparsely punctulate. Metathoracic wings fully developed. Ventral surface of abdomen black.
Adult male. Unknown.
Types. Holotype (Ψ SMNS). [card-mounted] [First label]: [NEW GUINEA] Irian Jaya: Jayawi-// jaja, Emdoman// 29.9.1993 900-// leg. A. RIEDEL 1200m; [Second label]: Auto-Montaged// digital image(s)// per D. K. Young; [Third label]: HOLOTYPE:// Lemodes // (Lagriomorpha)// elegans // Young. Paratopotype (1 Ψ?, SMNS). [card-mounted] [First label – data identical to those of the holotype]: [NEW GUINEA] Irian Jaya: Jayawi-// jaja, Emdoman// 29.9.1993 900-// leg. A. RIEDEL 1200m; [Second label]: Auto-Montaged// digital image(s)// per D. K. Young; [Third label]: PARATOPOTYPE:// Lemodes // (Lagriomorpha)// elegans // Young.
Distribution. As detailed above, L. elegans is presently known only from the type locality in the Maoke Mountains, south-central Province of Papua, Indonesian New Guinea; presumably near - 4.529856° S, 138.685026° E.
Diagnosis. The distinctly bicolored elytra of L. elegans with orange pigmentation generally restricted to the basal 1/4 to 1/2 (Figs. 1–2) are similar to L. albertisi (Fig. 26), L. bicolora (Fig. 28), L. finisterrensis (Fig. 29), L. rugosa (Fig. 8), L. semicoerulea (Fig. 30), and L. sulcata (Fig. 17). However, the white, elytral setal patches within the metallic blue-violet to metallic blue-purple field are exhibited only by L. albertisi (Fig. 26), L. elegans (Figs. 1– 2), and L. sulcata (Fig. 17). Lemodes sulcata possesses a mesal, longitudinal, impunctate, shallow pronotal sulcus; the pronotum is not mesally sulcate in L. albertisi or L. elegans. The terminal maxillary palpomere is strongly securiform in L. elegans (Fig. 3) and less so in L. albertisi (Fig. 27); the elytral setal patch is sharply, arcuately defined in L. albertisi (Fig. 26) unlike the broader patch seen in L. elegans (Figs. 1–2).
Etymology. The specific epithet, elegans, comes from the Latin root “ elegan- ”. It was chosen to characterize the “elegant, fine” look of this attractive new species.
description: Published as part of Young, Daniel K., 2011, Eight new species of Lemodes (Lagriomorpha) (Coleoptera: Anthicidae: Lemodinae) from Indonesian New Guinea, with a revised key to the species, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2824 on pages 2-4, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.207426