urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: E408CEE7-9545-46C1-856B-C42742F72C56

Material examined. Holotype, ♁, and one paratype, ♀, from Somaliland (northern Somalia), Al Afweyn-Erigavo, 3.4 km S of Erigavo (10°35.9N, 47°21.1E), 1800 m, 4 June 2005, F. Cassola leg., in author’s collection (FCC).

Diagnosis. A small Lophyra (Lophyra) species, especially resembling L. (L.) histrio (Tschitschérine, 1903), with all the elytral markings confluent with each other. A continuous wide marginal band from the shoulder to the elytral apex, connected with the anterior juxta-sutural spot (and sometimes to the second one as well) via a continuous scutellar band below the base. Humeral lunule emitting on disc a wide, rounded, transversal spur; middle band slightly elbowed on disc; apical lunule wide, slightly advanced in front along the suture. Second juxta-sutural spot elongated, pointing backwards near the suture. Labrum testaceous, wide and rounded in both sexes, slightly toothed in front, with four setae or setigerous punctures near forward margins (two in the middle, two at the lateral sides). Head, including genae, glabrous, with a fan of white recumbent hairs behind the eyes. Ground colour of head, pronotum and elytra slightly cupreous. Antennomeres 1-4 metallic dark-cupreous; antennomeres 5-11 yellowish, a bit darkened; antennomere 4 without any penicillum (Cassola 1983).

Description. Head dark bronze with cupreous reflections, finely striated on frons and vertex, a few stronger and longitudinal striae on the declivities of eyes; surface glabrous, a fan of white recumbent hairs behind each eye. Genae glabrous. Two setigerous punctures near the orbital margins at fixed loci. Labrum testaceous, large, roundish in both sexes, feebly tridentate in front, with four setae or setigerous punctures near forward margins (two in the middle, two at the lateral sides). Mandibles shiny piceous-black, shortly testaceous on basal outer sides. Maxillary and labial palpi testaceous with the last joint metallic greenish-black. Antennae as long as to the first third of the elytral length, a bit shorter in female; scape and antennomeres 2-4 metallic dark-cupreous; antennomeres 5-11 yellowish, a bit darkened; antennomere 4 of male without any penicillum (Cassola 1983).

Thorax: pronotum wider than long, of the same colour as the head, finely and evenly sculpted. Anterior and posterior grooves well-marked. Surface covered with a number of recumbent white hairs especially on the lateral sides. Notopleural sutures well-marked, proepisterna reddish-violet, mostly glabrous with long white recumbent hairs near the anterior margin and the coxae. Mesepisterna also partially setose; mesepimera and metepisterna covered with white recumbent pubescence. Coupling sulci poorly developed, consisting of a shallow puncture in the upper corners of the female mesepisterna.

Elytra: Elytral ground colour bronze with cupreous reflections, covered with small, evenly spaced, bluish punctures. All elytral markings confluent with each other, forming a continuous wide marginal band from the shoulder to the elytral apex, this band being connected with the anterior juxta-sutural spot (and narrowly to the second one as well) through a continuous scutellar band below the base. Humeral lunule emitting on disc a wide, rounded, transversal spur; middle band slightly elbowed on disc; apical lunule wide, shortly extending forward along the suture. Second juxta-sutural spot elongated, pointing behind near the suture. Elytra rounded at apex, with a small sutural tooth in both sexes.

Underside bronze with cupreous reflections. Sides of sternum, coxae and abdominal sternites more or less pubescent. Trochanters piceous-black. Legs dark-bronze to black, with cupreous reflections especially on “knees” and tibiae.

Length: 8-9 mm (without labrum).

Etymology. The name of this new Lophyra species refers to the fact that it was at first overlooked and mixed with Lophyra (Lophyrina) latelimbata (Müller, 1941), a species similar in size.

Remarks. The shape of the male aedeagus, with a triangular preapical tooth on the left side only and a rounded, slightly directed upwards apex, clearly places this new species in the group of Lophyra (Lophyra) neglecta Dejean, 1825 (Rivalier 1948; Rivalier 1950), however, the much smaller size and the different elytral markings easily help to distinguish it. The distinct elytral markings also distinguish L. (L.) praetermissa n. sp. from both the similarly sized species L. (L.) cassoliana Werner, 1997, from Tanzania (which, however, is slightly larger and has a reddish general ground colour), and L. (Lophyrina) latelimbata (Müller, 1941), from Somalia and Ethiopia, (which has different elytral markings and exhibits a distinct inner sac of aedeagus) (Cassola 1977). This new species looks like a small L. (L.) histrio, described from north-eastern Iran (Tschitchérine 1903) and also recently recorded from the Arabian peninsula (Wiesner 1993; Cassola and Rihane 1996; Cassola and Schneider 1997). These two species are likely closely related and distinguished by the large, roundish labrum and the smaller size of the new species. This discovery of an additional Lophyra species in Somaliland (northern Somalia) brings to 73 the number of the species of this genus presently known worldwide (39 species of which – 29 from Africa – belong to the typonominal subgenus).