Lophalia Casey, 1912

Lophalia Casey, 1912 View in CoL

Type species. Lophalia cyanicollis Casey, 1912 View in CoL (monobasic).

Lophalia Casey 1912: 333 View in CoL ; Linsley 1962: 96; Arnett 1962: 863, 881; Monné 1994: 33

Entomosterna LeConte 1873: 314 View in CoL ; LeConte and Horn 1883: 299; Leng 1886a: 60

Redescription. Form small to moderate sized, sides subparallel. Head with front short, convex, subvertical, mid-cranial sulcus narrow or vague, extending from postclypeus to posterior margin of antennal tubercles; genae short, anterior margin of lower eye lobe separated from base of mandible; palpi short, subequal, last segments not expanded, apices truncate; mandibles simple, sides arcuate not angulated at base; eyes moderately large, finely faceted, upper lobes small, well separated, lower lobes large; antennal tubercles horizontal; integument between tubercles not or barely impressed; antennae elongate, 11-segmented, basal antennomeres I–V slender, scape conical, 11 th antennomere slender, vaguely to non-appendiculate. Pronotum slightly broader or about as broad as long, narrower than base of elytra at humeri, apex narrower than base, sides unarmed, shallowly rounded; prosternum with intercoxal process level with coxae, narrower than coxal cavity, occasionally impressed medially, apex abruptly declivous behind, coxal cavities wide open behind; mesosternum with intercoxal process moderately prominent, protuberant above coxae, vertical or abruptly declivous and excavated anteriorly; posterior margins vaguely overlapping coxae. Scutellum triangular, slightly longer than wide to as long as wide. Elytra each with one to two longitudinal, glabrous, ivory-like vittae; apices obliquely sinuate or bisinuate truncate with sutural and outer angle dentate. Legs moderately short; metafemora falling far short of elytral apices in both sexes; metatarsomere I subequal to tarsomeres II and III combined. Abdomen normally segmented. The following species are included in Lophalia : L. cyanicollis (Bates) , L. nigricollis new species, L. prolata Chemsak and Linsley and L. quadrivittata (Bates) .

Discussion. Lophalia is characterized by the following combination of characters: (1) overall form that is subparallel and glabrate with dark bluish or aenescent black or black integument; (2) mesosternal intercoxal process that is protuberant above coxae, and abruptly declivous and excavated anteriorly; (3) each elytron with one or two longitudinal glabrous ivory-like vittae with apex that is obliquely sinuate or bisinuate truncate with sutural and outer angle dentate; (4) head with front that is short, convex and subvertical; (5) antennal tubercles that are flat (or horizontal) and level with integument between tubercles or barely impressed in middle; (6) mid-cranial sulcus (median line) that is shallow or absent extending arcuately from postclypeus over to vertex; (7) genae that are short with anterior margins of lower eye lobes well separated from base of mandibles; (6) antennae that are elongate with antennomeres I–V slender, and glabrate; (7) pronotum with sides that are evenly rounded and disc evenly convex; and (9) scutellum that is triangular, glabrous, longer than wide to as long as wide. Lophalia can be differentiated from Sphaenothecus by the non-carinate mesofemora, and from the other genera by the overall form that is subparallel with dark polished integument, protuberant mesosternal intercoxal process, one or two longitudinal glabrous ivory vittae on each elytron, and strongly dentate outer angles of elytral apices. The front of Lophalia is convex and subvertical with integument between antennal tubercles not or vaguely impressed, and mandibles that are arcuate at sides. Both Zalophia and Lophaliamorpha new genus have front that are declivous in middle, and antennal tubercles that are divergent forming a V-shaped valley sloping down to mid-cranial sulcus, and exterior angles of elytra that are unarmed and angulate.

Casey (1912) did not provide any etymology for the genus name Lophalia . However, “ Lophelia ” (as in Lophelia Milne-Edwards and Haime) is a genus name of a cold-water coral (Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus)), which is a compound word from Greek (λόφος or “lophos”) and (ήλιος or “helioi” or “ílious”), meaning “a tuft of suns”, referring to the individual sun-like coral polyps ( Lophelia 2024). Therefore, as in “ Zalophus ” and “ Lophelia ”, the genus name Lophalia can be derived from the Greek adjective (λόφος or “lóphos”) meaning crested or ridged and “- alia ” (Latin feminine of alius) meaning other or another. Therefore, referring to another genus that resembles Zalophia or Sphaenothecus with ridged mesosternum. Casey (1912: 333, 335) established Lophalia cyanicollis as the type species based on Sphaenothecus cyanicollis Dupont , and redescribed Lophalia cribricollis (Bates) . The species name “ cyanicollis ” and “ cribricollis ” are referring to the color of “ -collis ” from the Latin “ collum ” or the neck (i.e., pronotum) with “ cyano ” or dark blue color for “ cyanicollis ” and “ cribri ” from “ cribrum ” meaning perforated and sieve-like punctures for “ cribricollis .”