Plagiohammus colombiensis Constantino, Benavides and Esteban 2014, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Constantino, Luis Miguel
name: M, Pablo Benavides
name: Durán, José Rafael Esteban
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cerambycidae
Plagiohammus
Plagiohammus colombiensis

description: Plagiohammus colombiensis Constantino, Benavides and Esteban, sp. nov.
(Figures 1–10, 13a, 14, 15, 45, 57, 58)
Description. Male (Figure 1): length: 25.0 mm.; width: 7.5 mm. Female (Figure 2): length: 26.0 mm.; width: 7.8 mm. Sexes similar, antennae elongate, 6.5–7.0 cm long (two or more times the length of body in males), and 5.0–5.5 cm long (one and one-third times in females), head with frons coarsely, densely clothed with appressed golden yellow pubescence, except light brown spot on middle of frons, vertex area and antennal tubercles. Gena with golden yellow band behind the upper eye lobe. Postgena golden yellow (Figure 5 and 6). Eyes black large, lower lobes rounded; upper lobes separated by little more than width of lobes. Clypeus densely clothed with light brown pubescence. Labrum and mandibles black. Labium and maxilla black glabrous. Antennal tubercles prominent. Scape and pedicel light brown with gray pubescence; antennomeres III-XI reddish orange, darker at apices; antennomeres III-V with fine fringe of suberect setae beneath (Figure 3); antennomere III longer than IV; antennomeres X-XI in males 1.5 times longer than IX, gradually decreasing in thickness. Pronotum longer than broad with conspicuous golden yellow pubescence except at base of lateral tubercle, dorsum with two longitudinal parallel light brown lines, sides with large, acute spines; disk with three rugose calluses, one median and one on each side before middle. Elytra elongate-ovate, sides almost straight, subcylindrical, entirely covered with dense gray to light brown pubescence; very scantily faintly punctured; with granulations near base; each elytron with six larger golden yellow spots, first one at middle of base, elongate-ovate; second at dorsal one-third, from margin; third extends from basal fourth to about middle, large splash-shaped, horizontal from lateral edge; fourth and fifth at apical one-quarter (the fourth is on middle between elytral suture and lateral edge; the fifth is near lateral edge); sixth near apex; there are 50–55 small and very small golden yellow spots scattered over the surface between the six large ovate ones; apex slightly narrower than base, lacking stout apical spine (Figures 9–10). Legs stout, light brown covered with gray pubescence. Claws simple.
Male genitalia (Figure 14): Tegmen approximately 6.5 mm long; lateral lobes can be divided into two parts, basal 2/3rds wider, apical 1/3rd thinner, with apex obliquely rounded with fine long setae along lateral and apical margin (Fig. 14c); ringed part elbowed in widest portion, with notch and lateral spine converging; basal piece distally bifurcated; median lobe plus median struts slightly curved rounded at apex (Fig. 14d), shorter than tegmen in length; median struts less than half of whole length of median lobe and aedeagus; apical part of median orifice strongly projected; roof and median foramen (Fig. 14f) slightly curved and rounded; aedeagus curved upward, pointed and bifurcated at apex; Tergite VIII (Fig. 14a,b) broader than long, apical margin bi-lobed; setae around sides slightly longer than middle ones. Spiculum ventrale long and straight, approximately 5.3 mm in length (Fig. 14a).
Type material. Holotype male, COLOMBIA, CESAR: Serranía de Perijá, Municipio La Gloria, at 1200 m, 21-III-2013, Héctor A. Rivero leg. (MEMB 19.693). Allotype female, COLOMBIA, CESAR: Serrania de Perijá, Municipio de Aguachica, Finca Villanueva, Vereda La Yegüera, at 1200 m, 29-V-2012, Luis M. Constantino leg. (MEMB 19.689). Paratypes - 1 female, COLOMBIA, CESAR: Serranía de Perijá, Municipio de Aguachica, Finca Villanueva, Vereda La Yegüera, at 1200 m, 29-V-2012, Luis M. Constantino leg. (MEMB 19.690); 1 male, 1 female, COLOMBIA, CESAR: Serranía de Perijá, Municipio de Aguachica, Finca El Porvenir, Vereda La Yegüera, at 1100 m, 22-V-2013, Luis M. Constantino leg. (MEMB 19.694, MEMB 19.695); 2 males, 1 female, COLOMBIA, BOYACA: Maripí, at 900 m, 17-I-2013, Henry Corrales leg. (MEMB 19.696, MEMB 19.697, MEMB 19.698).
Diagnosis. Plagiohammus colombiensis is most similar to P. thiodes from which it differs by its smaller body size (25–26 mm in P. colombiensis and 31–32 mm in P. thiodes), apices of elytra lacking the stout spines (present in P. thiodes) (Figures 9–12). Antennae orange and more pubescent antennomeres (antennomere III-V with a fine fringe of suberect hairs beneath (glabrous and black in P. thiodes) (Figure 3 and 4); Gena with golden yellow band behind the upper eye lobe (absent in P. thiodes). Postgena golden yellow (dark brown in P. thiodes). Pronotum with conspicuous lateral golden yellow band (very reduced in P. thiodes). Elytra elongate-ovate, sides almost straight (gradually narrowing apically in P. thiodes), covered entirely with dense gray to light brown pubescence (dark reddish brown in P. thiodes); elytra each with six larger golden yellow spots (five mustard yellow spots in P. thiodes); elytra with more numerous golden yellow spots (50–55 small and very small golden yellow spots scattered over the surface between the six large ovate ones, in P. thiodes with very few, no more than 15 small mustard yellow spots, there being no spots of intermediate size between the five large ovate ones). The third large spot on the basal one-third, large splash-shaped and horizontal from lateral edge (oblique in P. thiodes). The fourth and fifth large ovate spot, at apical one-quarter, one near lateral edge beneath and one near lateral edge above separated (fused in P. thiodes).
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the country of Colombia in which this species is found.
Distribution and habitat: Departments of Cesar and Boyacá, in localities situated on the western slopes of Cordillera Oriental in the Magdalena River basin in central and north of Colombia. This species is found in dry and wet premontane forests at altitudes from 900 to 1400 m. Apparently, it is a rarely collected and possibly local species, since it has escaped recognition until now despite its unique appearance. Other localities in Central Colombia with reports of attacks by the coffee stem borer that require confirmation include: El Carmen, Santander at 1200 m, El Playón, Santander at 1400 m, Rio Negro, Vereda Honduras, Santander at 1200 m, Girón, Vereda Altamira, Santander at 1400 m and El Carmen, Norte de Santander at 1200 m.
Host plant. Coffea arabica Linnaeus (Rubiaceae) in Colombia.
Biology. Egg- unknown but based on field observations of damage on coffee plants it could be determined that the female lays its eggs on the bark of the main stem at the base of the soil. When larva emerges it makes a hole and begins to bore the central portion of the stem toward the main root (Figure 58f). Affected trees are recognized by the piles of white sawdust accumulated at the base of the stem that are removed by the larva out of the gallery when it is boring the main root and stem (Figure 58e). The larvae are creamy white, very elongated, with 3 thoracic and 8 abdominal segments slightly depressed, cuticula firm, shining, without setae; head depressed elongated, black, heavily sclerotized with a pair of strong mandibles. Prothorax depressed and rectangular; pronotum with caudal area velvety asperate spotted with two yellowish sclerotized plates laterally. Depressed abdomen, heavily constrained, shaped as screw. The mature larva reaches a length of up to 5.5 cm (Figure 58d). When the larva reaches the main root it moves back up from the central stem to a height of about 10–30 cm above the soil, where pupation takes place in a chamber built inside the gallery with fiber filaments (Figure 58g). The pupa is dark cream and resembles in morphology the future adult. The life cycle takes 18 months from egg to adult.
The adults are nocturnal. The flight period under natural conditions is unknown. But based on breeding records of P. colombiensis larvae maintained in laboratory conditions at Cenicafé, the largest amounts of adult emergence occurred in May.
Attempts to capture adults with black and white light traps in the departments of Cesar and Santander in the months of May and December failed. According to Avila (2005), Barrera (2008) and Esteban et al. (2010) the flight period of P. maculosus and P. spinipennis in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Mexico occurs at the beginning of the rainy season (April to June) the period when egg laying occurs.
Damage. The larva bores and destroys the stem medulla and vascular strands of coffee plants causing disruption of sap flow (Figure 58). The stem and root borer attacks coffee trees of all ages. When the trees are less than 18 months old are more prone to wilting.
description: Published as part of Constantino, Luis Miguel, M, Pablo Benavides & Durán, José Rafael Esteban, 2014, Description of a new species of coffee stem and root borer of the genus Plagiohammus Dillon and Dillon from Colombia (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae), with a key to the Neotropical species, pp. 1-21 in Insecta Mundi 2014 (337) on pages 3-7, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5178565