Anisopodus acutus Thomson 1865
Creators: name: Tirant, Stéphane Le
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cerambycidae
Anisopodus
Anisopodus acutus

description: Anisopodus acutus Thomson, 1865
(Figs 5–11)
Redescription. Male. Integument mostly dark brown, nearly black on head; mesotarsomeres dark reddish-brown except blackish distal area; metatarsomeres reddish-brown except blackish distal area; abdominal ventrite V reddish-brown on central base.
Head. Frons and area between antennal tubercles densely micropunctate; with ochraceous pubescence not obscuring integument, pale yellow on narrow band close to eyes (this band entirely surrounding eyes); with a few long, erect, dark setae close to eyes. Vertex notably depressed before antennal tubercles; densely microsculptured except smooth, small diamond-shaped central area between antennal tubercles; with ochraceous pubescence partially obscuring integument except glabrous diamond area. Area behind eyes with ochraceous pubescence near eye (except narrow yellow band close to eye), nearly glabrous toward prothorax; with a few long, erect, dark setae close to lower eye lobe. Antennal tubercles narrow, slightly elevated, preceded by shallow sulcus, slightly more distinct toward upper eye lobe; abundantly micropunctate (punctures slightly coarser and sparser than on frons); with ochraceous pubescence not obscuring integument. Genae finely rugose on basal half, microsculptured on remaining surface except smooth apex; with ochraceous pubescence not obscuring integument, interspersed with a few long, erect, thick, dark setae. Postclypeus carina-shaped close to frons; with ochraceous, sparse pubescence close to frons, more abundant, partially obscuring integument on remaining surface; with one long, erect, thick, dark seta on each side of area close to frons. Labrum convex, gradually inclined toward distal area; with ochraceous pubescence partially obscuring integument, centrally interspersed with transverse row of long, erect, thick, dark setae; distal margin with fringe of yellow pubescence. Gulamentum shining, smooth, glabrous except on narrow, depressed area near mentum with ochraceous pubescence not obscuring integument, interspersed with a few long, erect, dark setae. Distance between upper eye lobes 0.35 times length of scape (2.40 times width of one lobe); in frontal view, distance between lower eye lobes 0.60 times length of scape. Antennae 1.95 times elytral length, reaching elytral apex at middle of antennomere VII; scape subcylindrical, slightly sinuous, flattened on basal quarter, with ochraceous pubescence partially obscuring integument; antennomeres with ochraceous pubescence, darkened toward apex; antennomere III with a few, erect, short dark setae ventrally; antennal formula (ratio) based on length of antennomere III: scape = 0.88; pedicel = 0.12; IV = 0.98; V = 0.73; VI = 0.60; VII = 0.49; VIII = 0.44; IX = 0.42; X = 0.38; XI = 0.34.
Thorax. Prothorax 1.6 times wider than long (including lateral tubercles). Pronotum with three distinct gibbosities, one small, elongate, placed centrally on basal half, one large, placed on each side of center, from basal quarter to distal quarter, gradually elevated toward its apex; lateral tubercles placed on basal half, somewhat tumid on area of pronotum, basally with moderately long, acute spine, truncate toward its distal area; with transverse, slightly curved, wide sulcus on each side near base, from central gibbosity to dorsal area of lateral tubercles; moderately finely, sparsely punctate (punctures more abundant inside basal sulcus); with ochraceous pubescence centrally, partially obscuring integument between lateral gibbosities, sparser toward base and apex, except on glabrous tip of central gibbosity; with wide longitudinal band with brown pubescence on lateral gibbosities; sides with dense, light ochraceous pubescence; with a few long, erect dark setae on dorsal base of lateral tubercles. Sides of prothorax with pubescence as on sides of pronotum. Prosternum with large, circular gibbosity centrally close to base of prosternal process; with ochraceous pubescence not obscuring integument, except glabrous narrow distal area; prosternal process centrally about as wide as base of profemora; with ochraceous pubescence partially obscuring integument, forming fringe at distal margin. Mesoventrite and mesoventral process with light ochraceous pubescence partially obscuring integument, sparser laterally on mesoventrite. Mesanepisternum and mesepimeron with ochraceous pubescence not obscuring integument, lighter toward sides of mesanepisternum and apex of mesepimeron. Metanepisternum with ochraceous pubescence partially obscuring integument on basal third, sparser on remaining surface except narrow distal area with pubescence as on base. Metaventrite gradually elevated from base to at about basal third (more pronounced in front mesocoxal cavities); large central triangular area with sparse asperities, larger, more confluent in oblique row placed on each side of middle area (together carina-shaped); with ochraceous pubescence partially obscuring integument, denser, bristly between carina-shaped asperities and metatrochantin. Scutellum with ochraceous pubescence obscuring integument, paler basally, except glabrous, small central area on base. Elytra. Humerus notably projected forward; with basal, elevated crest between humerus and scutellum, covered with small asperities; area under humerus with another elevated crest, slightly shorter than central crest, with sparse small asperities; with moderately wide carina starting on apex of crest under humerus, oblique toward near middle, forming elongate gibbosity at this area, then following parallel to suture and ending at about distal fifth; another less distinct carina laterally, starting near base of central carina, then following obliquely toward at near middle, where becomes somewhat gibbous, indistinct toward apex; moderately coarsely, abundantly punctate on basal third, gradually finer, sparser toward apex; apex narrow, with triangular projection at outer angle, truncate toward sutural angle; base with transverse ochraceous band of pubescence, reaching middle of basal crest; remaining surface with ochraceous pubescence not obscuring integument, except dense macula with light ochraceous pubescence, placed laterally from central carina to epipleura at level of gibbosities of carinae (less so between carinae), dark pubescence on gibbosities of carinae, and irregular, oblique maculae with ashy pubescence on distal half. Legs. Profemora with short, curved peduncle and notably widened club; with ochraceous pubescence partially obscuring integument; mesofemora notably curved between apex of peduncle and club; with pubescence as on profemora; metafemora notably elongate, clavate (limits between peduncle and club indistinct), slightly sinuous dorsally at club; pubescence as on profemora. Protibiae, in side view, curved, forming distinct flap on inner
side of apex; metatibiae notably elongate, cylindrical, widened at distal area. Metatarsomere I 2.85 times longer than II–III together.
Abdomen. Ventrites with light ochraceous pubescence partially obscuring integument, except glabrous distal area of ventrites III–IV; ventrite V with long, erect, dark setae near apex, with distal margin slightly concave.
Material examined. ECUADOR, Carchi: Lita Road (850 m), 1 male, VIII.2010, local collector (MZSP). Remarks. Thomson (1865) succinctly described Anisopodus acutus as follows (translated): “ ANISOPODUS ACUTUS. Brazil. Length 10 mm, width 3.5 mm. Brown, barely tomentose; prothorax curved laterally; elytra depressed, triangular, punctate, bigibbose, slightly bicarinate, apex acute; a very distinct species.”
After the original description, the species was only mentioned in catalogues and checklists. The specimen studied by us is from a place in Ecuador localized at west of Andes. This suggests that the type locality of the species, Brazil, could be based on incorrect label data.
Anisopodus acutus is notably similar to A. hamaticollis Bates, 1872. However, examination of photograph of the holotype of these species, as well as some specimens of both species, shows that there are some differences. In males of A. acutus the scape (Fig. 9) is not widened toward apex (narrow at base, gradually widened toward apex in males of A. hamaticollis (Fig. 13)), antennomere III is distinctly longer than scape (Fig. 6) (at most, as long as scape in males of A. hamaticollis (Fig. 12)), sides of lateral tubercle of prothorax straight before spine (Fig. 11) (uniformly rounded toward spine in A. hamaticollis (Fig. 15)), humeral angle is notably acute and projected forward (Fig. 6) (more rounded and not or slightly projected forward in males of A. hamaticollis (Fig. 12)), and metaventrite with distinct asperities (Fig. 10) (without asperities in A. hamaticollis (Fig. 14). Furthermore, in the holotype of A. acutus and in the male examined, the lateral macula with ochraceous pubescence on elytra starts at about apex of basal third (Fig. 6), while in males of A. hamaticollis it ends at about apex of basal third (Fig. 12).
Gilmour (1965) recorded A. hamaticollis for Colombia. Monné (2005, 2017) recorded A. hamaticollis for Ecuador. We do not know if these records really correspond to true A. hamaticollis or to A. acutus.
description: Published as part of Tirant, Stéphane Le, 2017, A new species of Cirrhicera Thomson, 1857 from Mexico, and redescription of Anisopodus acutus Thomson, 1865 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae), pp. 139-145 in Zootaxa 4323 (1) on pages 141-145, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4323.1.12, http://zenodo.org/record/897305