Review of Afraustraloderes rassei Bouyer, 2012: description of its female and a new species of Pixodarus Fairmaire, 1887 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae)

By

Bjørnstad, Anders
Grobbelaar, Elizabeth
Perissinotto, Renzo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2016

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

558

Pages

77-93

Subjects

Cape Floral Region , Hopliderini , new species , South Africa

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.558.6112

 

Abstract

The original description of Afraustraloderes rassei Bouyer, 2012 included a female that is now recognized as a separate species belonging to the genus Pixodarus and here described as P. spiniscapus sp. n. The true female of A. rassei has also been obtained recently and is, therefore, here described. The synonymy of P. exasperatus with P. nyassae, proposed earlier by Santos Ferreira (1980), is here supported. Conversely, the earlier inclusion of A. rassei in the tribe Hopliderini is rejected, on the basis of a key set of characters established by Quentin and Villiers (1972, 1975). Afraustraloderes rassei appears to be restricted to the Cape Floral Region, exhibiting larval development in trunks and roots of dead Proteaceae plants. Conversely, P. spiniscapus has so far only been recorded in the eastern part of South Africa and appears to be associated with bushveld vegetation.