Paragrilus trifoveolatus Waterhouse

Paragrilus trifoveolatus Waterhouse

(Figs. 12, 28)

Paragrilus trifoveolatus Waterhouse, 1889: 127.

Diagnosis: Agriliform, moderately flattened above, variable in color but usually black throughout, except head and pronotum reddish, elytra with faint golden reflections; 3.55­ 5.0 mm long. Head with front convex, narrowly impressed along midline on upper 2/3 above larger rounded fovea; epistoma somewhat depressed between antennal insertions, ventral margin distinctly produced, quadrate, shallowly emarginate, angles very acute; surface punctate, shagreened. Pronotum somewhat flattened, widest near apex; prehumeral callosity small but strongly indicated by broad, deep lateral depressions; prehumeral callosity produced outward and anteriorly to form narrow ridge above and roughly parallel to marginal carina; anterior angles rounded­angulate; disc very strongly depressed along midline at basal margin before scutellum and at base of lateral depressions, surface finely rugose, less strongly so anteriorly, shagreened. Elytra with posthumeral carina extending somewhat beyond hind coxae, surface coarsely rugose, with indistinct costae; apices broad, rounded­subquadrate. Posterior angles of hind coxae rounded, depressed. Anterior process of first abdominal segment with very short carina posterior to hind coxae. Male genitalia dark reddish brown, with transparent tips to lateral lobes (Fig. 28).

Lectotype: México, a specimen, probably a female, labeled “Teapa, Tabasco, March H.H.S.” (BMNH) also bears the handwritten label “ Paragrilus trifoveolatus (Type) Waterh.” and is designated the Lectotype. A second male specimen labeled “Veracruz, [illegible], Salle Coll.” is considered a paratype.

Distribution: Relatively uncommon ­ only 37 specimens examined, México (San Luis Potosi) to Costa Rica.

Host: Collected by the author on an undetermined species of Malvaceae in Costa Rica.

Discussion: This species resembles Agrilus crapullelus Thomson in size, form and coloration. The combination of reddish pronotum and black elytra is a common color pattern in Agrilus and shared by three other species of Paragrilus in addition to P. trifoveolatus ­ namely, angulaticollis, impressus, and fallorum. As interpreted here, P. trifoveolatus is variable in color in México. In fact, Waterhouse describes the species as “uniformly brassy,” although the specimen labeled as the type is distinctly bicolored. Some western Mexican specimens (Guerrero, Sinaloa) are nearly uniformly “brassy,” or greenish­coppery, or even uniformly greenish. In the absence of series to assess variation and the absence of host data, these are all considered trifoveolatus here.