Agrilus (Agrilus) caatinganus, Curletti & Ruzzier & Migliore, 2024

Agrilus (Agrilus) caatinganus n. sp.

( Figs. 4-7 View Figures 4-7 )

Material examined. Holotype male: Brazil, Bahia, 21.XI.2023, Doce Sertao, 11°36’56’’S 41°01’56’’W. Green sticky traps placed on non-spinous Fabaceae tree. Curletti G., Migliore L., Migliore S., Rosso F., legg. ( MZSP). GoogleMaps

Holotype description. Length 4.4 mm. Narrow, cylindrical body. Dark dorsal color, slightly metallic; bronzed vertex, dark olive green pronotum, dark bronze almost black elytra, with a pair of small spots of white pubescence at the distal 2/3. Head furrowed longitudinally along its entire length. Vertex about half the width of the anterior margin of the pronotum, glabrous frons, bright green. Epistome without transverse carina. Antennae dark, serrate from the fourth antennomere. Pronotum glabrous, convex, narrow and relatively elongated, with non-arcuate lateral margins and slightly obtuse posterior angles. Strong and transversal sculpture. Prehumeral carinulae practically absent. Marginal carinae joined at the distal 3/4 small gular sclerite, with slightly sinuated anterior margin. Prosternal process pubescent, parallel. Scutellum small, oval, with not very evident transverse carina. Elytra with rounded and strongly denticulated apices. The spots of dorsal pubescence are close to the suture and, although clearly visible, are composed of a few setae, in variable numbers, 8 on the left elytra and just 6 on the right. Ventral side bronze, pubescence not very thick, short and regular, denser on the meso- and metepisternum. Apex of apical ventrite sinuate. Legs with metatibia longer than the metatarsus. Basal metatarsomere as long as the sum of the following two. Anterior claws bifid, median and basal simply dentate. Aedeagus 1.0 mm in length, flat, sclerified, oval, with pointed median lobe apex ( Fig. 7 View Figures 4-7 ).

Etymology. After Caatinga, the name of the biome that characterizes the north of the state of Bahia, the environment in which the new species was found.

Comments and comparative notes. The holotype of Agrilus caatinganus n. sp. was found with the help of green sticky traps posed in the canopy of a medium-sized tree belonging to the Myrtaceae family.

Agrilus caatinganus n. sp., characterized by a cylindrical body and a pair of elytral spots, can be confused with Agrilus strigosus Kerremans, 1897 , described from the state of Minas Gerais. It differs substantially for the two-tone body, the different sculpture of the vertex and the pronotum, and for the absence of the prehumeral carinulae.