Micropeneta laotica, Schawaller & Bellersheim, 2022

Schawaller, Wolfgang & Bellersheim, Aron, 2022, Four new species and new records of Micropeneta Pic, 1921 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Gnathidiini) from the Oriental and Papuan Regions, including a checklist and an identification key, Zootaxa 5168 (4), pp. 471-478 : 475

Micropeneta laotica sp. n.

( Figs 6 , 10 )

Type material. Holotype: ♂, NE Laos, Hua Phan Prov., Ban Saluei, Phu Phan Mt. , 1300–2000 m, 6.–18.V.2004, leg. J. Bezdĕk, SMNS . Paratype: NE Laos, Hua Phan Prov., Ban Saluei, Phu Phan Mt. , 1500–2000 m, 26.IV.– 11. V .2001, leg. J. Bezdĕk, 1 ♂ SMNS .

Description. Body length 3.8–4.0 mm, body shape elongated parallel. Dorsal side, antennae and legs uniformly coloured brown without colour pattern or metallic shine, surface shiny and without distinct setation. Head with small punctures, not sparser on clypeus, surface shining. Clypeal membrane not exposed. Male head at genae with a pair of broad, short, glabrous and bifurcated processes pointing upright. Eyes small, distinctly globose. Antennae ( Fig. 6 ) 10-segmented with 4-segmented club. Pronotum widest across middle, 1.9x as wide as long, anterior angles rounded but not protruding, posterior angles rectangular, lateral margins regularly rounded, broadly beaded, with fine dentation, posterior margin finely beaded, anterior margin with a pair of distinct, widely separated teeth with acute apices; surface of pronotum shining, with fine and sparse punctures similar to those on head, disc convex; prothoracic hypomera with scattered fine punctures as those on pronotum, surface smooth and shiny; prosternal apophysis not protruding backwards. Elytra elongated parallel, surface shining, 0.7x as wide as long, widest across middle, with large punctures regularly arranged in rows, punctures distinctly larger than pronotal punctures, diminishing in posterior part of elytra, intervals with an irregular row of finer punctures; lateral margins with fine dentation and visible in dorsal view nearly over complete length of elytra, humeral angles not pronounced; epipleura diminishing somewhat before apex, with a few scattered small punctures, punctures smaller than those on metasternum. Hind wings present. Abdominal ventrites with punctures smaller than those on elytra, last visible ventrite 5 not beaded and without modifications. Legs without specific characters, anterior tibiae triangular, with external keel prolonging to the distal angle, and internally with a brush of light hairs, middle and posterior tibiae rounded in cross section and externally without any keels. Aedeagus ( Fig. 10 ) with narrow triangular apicale with acute apex.

Diagnosis. M. laotica sp. n. shares with M. sodalis from Borneo ( Fig. 5 ) the elongated parallel body shape, and the pair of distinct, widely separated teeth at the anterior margin of the male pronotum, but the latter has a somewhat broader body shape, the male head with long not bifurcated horns, and the antenna with a long 6-segmented club. The aedeagi are similar ( Figs 10, 12 ). M. qilin Li & Jiang, 2019 from adjacent southern China has a 4-segmented antennal club as M. laotica sp. n., but (according to the figures in Li & Jiang 2019) the horns on the male head are somewhat longer, the body shape is broader, the anterior margin of the male pronotum with only a pair of flat swellings, and the apicale of the aedeagus is broader. See also identification key below.

Etymology. Named after Laos, where the type series was collected.

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. Dorsal view of male species of Micropeneta Pic, 1921 (all in SMNS). 1. M. kinabaluca sp. n., holotype. 2. M. alabaca sp. n., holotype. 3. M. excavatifrons Pic, 1921, non-type. 4. M. papuana sp. n., holotype. 5. M. sodalis Bremer, 1997, non-type. 6. M. laotica sp. n., holotype. 7. M. leytica Schawaller, 1994, holotype. 8. M. tarandus (Kaszab, 1946), non-type. Scale bar: 3 mm.

FIGURES 9–13. Aedeagus of species of Micropeneta Pic, 1921 (all in SMNS). 9. M. alabaca sp. n., holotype. 10. M. laotica sp. n., holotype. 11. M. papuana sp. n., holotype. 12. M. sodalis Bremer, 1997, non-type. 13. M. kinabaluca sp. n., holotype. Scale bar: 1 mm.