Stilicoderus batantaensis n. sp.

Holotype (♂): Irian Jaya, Sorong Prov., Batanta Island, Waylebet, 150 m, 2.XI.1996, sifted, leg. A. RIEDEL (SMNS) .

P a r a t y p e s: 4 exx., same data as holotype (3 exx. SMNS, 1 ex. CRO) .

Description

Body length 4.2 mm. Proportions of holotype: length of head: 59; breadth of head: 66; diameter of eye: 23; length of antenna: 110; length of pronotum: 58; breadth of pronotum: 51; length of elytron: 69; breadth of elytra: 67; metatibia: 60; metatarsus: 38.

Black, labrum reddish brown, mouthparts and antennae rufo-testaceous, legs entirely pale testaceous.

Male: sternites as in S. kolaensis n. sp. and many other members of the hieroglyphicus group. Aedoeagus see Figs. 10 Xa, b. The male paratype shows a bifurcate, pincer-like process at the tip of the median lobe (visible in Fig. 10X); this is in fact a sclerotised extrusion from the median lobe. In lateral view the aedoeagus is identical to that of the holotype.

Differential diagnosis

Stilicoderus batantaensis n. sp. species is externally almost indistinguishable from S. kolaensis n. sp. except for its slightly finer elytral ground puncturation with fewer larger punctures which are more scattered, less clearly aligned in longitudinal rows, but the aedoeagi of the two species are quite different. Both species are probably endemic on their respective islands; Batanta lies off the north western tip of New Guinea, and Kola is about 700 km away in the Aru archipelago.