Psyrassa vandevenderi Wappes, Botero and Santos-Silva 2018, new species
Creators: name: Wappes, James E.
name: Botero, Juan Pablo
name: Santos-Silva, Antonio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cerambycidae
Psyrassa
Psyrassa vandevenderi

description: Psyrassa vandevenderi Wappes, Botero and Santos-Silva, new species
(Fig. 10–13)
Description. Female. Head mostly dark brown, antennal tubercles mostly reddish-brown, irregular reddish-brown areas on frons, and yellowish-brown anteclypeus; mouthparts yellowish-brown; scape, pedicel and base of antennomere III light reddish-brown; remaining areas of antennae yellowish-brown; prothorax dark brown except distal half of prosternal process yellowish-brown; ventral side of mesothorax dark brown, more reddish-brown close to mesocoxal cavities, central area and distal tabs of mesoventral process yellowish-brown; ventral side of metathorax dark brown laterally, gradually reddish-brown toward center of metaventrite; elytra dark brown in basal quarter, gradually reddish-brown toward apex; femora light reddish-brown basally, gradually dark reddish-brown toward apex; tibiae dark reddish-brown basally, gradually yellowish-brown toward apex; tarsi mostly yellowish-brown; ventral side of abdomen dark brown basally, gradually dark reddish-brown toward apex, except yellowish-brown, narrow distal area of ventrites I–IV.
Head. Frontal plate narrow, transverse, smooth; remaining surface of frons finely, abundantly punc- tate laterally, nearly smooth centrally; with short, decumbent, sparse yellowish-white setae laterally (somewhat bristly under antennal socket), glabrous centrally and on frontal plate. Vertex finely, densely punctate (punctures finer close to prothoracic margin); with short, decumbent, sparse yellowish-white setae between antennal tubercles and upper eye lobes, interposed with long, erect, yellowish-white setae, nearly smooth close to prothorax. Area behind upper eye lobes finely, abundantly punctate (punctures finer, denser close to prothorax); with short, sparse yellowish-white setae. Area behind lower eye lobes nearly smooth, glabrous. Genae short (anterior margin of lower eye lobes not touching middle distal margin); finely, abundantly punctate except smooth distal area; with short, decumbent, moderately sparse yellowish-white setae, except glabrous distal area. Antennal tubercles finely, sparsely punctate (slightly more abundant toward frons); with decumbent, sparse yellowish-white setae. Last segment of maxillary and labial palpi securiform. Median groove distinct from clypeus to area between upper eye lobes. Postclypeus finely, densely punctate in wide central area, smooth laterally; with short, moderately sparse yellowish-white setae in punctate area, glabrous in smooth area; with long, erect, yellow seta on each side of punctate area. Labrum coplanar with anteclypeus, abruptly inclined at narrow distal area; with sparse yellowish-white setae and long, erect, thick yellow setae interspersed laterally, and fringe of golden setae at central apex of inclined area. Gulamentum smooth, glabrous between prothoracic margin and distal margin of lower eye lobes; striate-punctate, with long, erect, moderately abundant pale-yellow setae between eyes. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.86 times length of scape; in frontal view, distance between lower eye equal to length of scape; upper eye lobes with three rows of ommatidia. Antennae 1.27 times elytral length, reaching about distal ninth of elytra. Scape coarsely, densely punctate except smooth distal area; with short, decumbent, sparse yellow setae and long, erect yellow setae interspersed, except glabrous smooth area. Antennomere III with short, decumbent, sparse yellow setae; remaining antennomeres with short, decumbent, abundant yellow setae; antennomeres III–X with long, erect yellow setae ventrally (gradually shorter, sparser toward X); antennomeres III–VII dorsally carinate (carina gradually less conspicuous toward VI). Apical spine of antennomere III slightly curved, with rounded apex, 0.34 times length of antennomere III; apical spine of antennomere IV 0.15 times length of antennomere IV; antennomere V with spicule at apex; remaining antennomeres with apices unarmed. Antennal formula (ratio) based on length of antennomere III (excluding spine): scape = 0.79; pedicel = 0.21; IV = 0.79; V = 0.77; VI = 0.88; VII = 0.86; VIII = 0.79; IX = 0.79; X = 0.70; XI = 0.88.
Thorax. Prothorax 1.1 times longer than wide; sides slightly rounded between basal and distal constrictions. Pronotum coarsely, densely punctate except smooth drop-shaped central area from basal constriction to middle; with both decumbent and erect, moderately abundant yellow setae except glabrous drop-shaped area. Sides of prothorax with sculpturing and pubescence as in wide central area of pronotum, striate, glabrous basally, smooth, glabrous in oblique tumid area near distal margin, finely, moderately abundantly punctate, with erect yellow setae between tumid area and distal margin. Prosternum somewhat rugose-punctate in basal half, transversely striate in distal half; with yellowish-white pubescence (more whitish depending on angle of light source), not obscuring integument, with long, erect yellow setae interspersed on basal half and long, erect, sparse yellow setae in distal half; distal area of prosternal process expanded, with lateral margins rounded. Procoxal cavities widely open posteriorly. Mesoventrite with sparse pale-yellow (more whitish depending on angle of light source) pubescence centrally, slightly denser laterally. Mesepisternum, mesepimeron and metepisternum with moderately dense pale-yellow pubescence (denser in basal area of metepisternum). Metaventrite coarsely, moderately sparsely punctate laterally (somewhat rugose close to metepisternum), gradually punctures sparser toward center; with pale-yellow pubescence laterally and long, erect yellow setae on remaining surface (nearly glabrous along central area). Scutellum with dense yellowish-white pubescence.
Elytra. Coarsely, densely punctate (finer, sparser punctures in distal area); apex nearly truncate, with outer angle rounded and short triangular projection at sutural angle; with long, erect, moderately abundant yellow setae throughout.
Legs. Femora finely punctate basally, punctures gradually denser, distinctly coarser and confluent toward apex; apices rounded; with long, erect, moderately abundant yellow setae. Metatibiae straight.
Abdomen. Ventrites finely, sparsely punctate; with yellowish-white pubescence laterally and long, erect, sparse yellow setae throughout. Apex of ventrite V almost truncate.
Dimensions in mm (holotype female). Total length 12.65; prothoracic length 2.20; basal prothoracic width 1.60; distal prothoracic width 1.65; greatest prothoracic width 2.00; humeral width 2.50; elytral length 9.00.
Type material. Holotype female from MEXICO, Sonora: Rancho La Palmita (N of Mesa del Campanero, 12.8 km W Yécora; 1499 m; 28°37′11″N / 109°06′44″W), 4.VIII.2012, T. van Devender col. (ASUHIC). No other specimens known.
Etymology. Named for Tom van Devender, leader of the “Sky Island” project in Sonora, Mexico, and collector of the holotype.
Remarks. The key of Toledo (2005) leads Psyrassa vandevenderi sp. nov. to the alternative of couplet “16”. As only antennomere III is distinctly carinate, it is possible to differentiate the new species in the alternatives (translated) as follows: Antennomeres III–VI carinate dorsally [leading to P. sallaei Bates, 1885]; antennomere III carinate dorsally and remaining antennomeres not carinate [P. katsurae Chemsak and Noguera, 1993 and P. nigroaenea Bates, 1892]. Psyrassa vandevenderi differs from P. sallaei by the prothorax dark brown (reddish in P. sallaei), not distinctly contrasting with the color of elytra, especially basally (elytra distinctly dark and contrasting with pronotal color in P. sallaei), antennae mostly yellowish-brown (antennae dark brown in P. sallaei), and pronotum coarsely and abundantly punctate (more finely and distinctly less punctate in P. sallaei). It differs from P. katsurae by the antennae mostly yellowish-brown (mostly dark brown in P. katsurae), tibiae lighter and yellowish-brown toward apex (dark brown in P. katsurae), pronotal punctures coarser and denser (finer and sparser in P. katsurae), and elytral apex distinctly wider than the width of the scape and with outer angle rounded (slightly wider than the width of the scape and with outer angle projected in P. katsurae). Psyrassa vandevenderi sp. nov. is separated from P. nigroaenea by antennae mostly yellowish-brown (dark brown in P. nigroaenea), pronotal punctures coarser and denser (finer and sparser in P. nigroaenea), and elytral apex noticeably wider than the width of the scape (about as wide as the width of the scape in P. nigroaenea).
description: Published as part of Wappes, James E., Botero, Juan Pablo & Santos-Silva, Antonio, 2018, New species of Elaphidiini from Central America (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae), pp. 1-12 in Insecta Mundi 657 on pages 6-8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3709833