Neoserica panchmariensis Bhunia, Gupta, Chandra & Ahrens, 2022

Bhunia, Debika, Gupta, Devanshu, Chandra, Kailash & Ahrens, Dirk, 2022, New species and records of Sericini of India (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) III, Zootaxa 5200 (2), pp. 489-494 : 490-491

Neoserica panchmariensis Bhunia, Gupta, Chandra & Ahrens , new species

( Figs. 1–4 )

Type locality. India: Madhya Pradesh, Hoshangabad, Panchmari , 22.752030N, 77.734490 E .

Type material. Holotype, ♂: “ India: Madhya Pradesh, Hoshangabad, Panchmari 22.752030N, 77.734490 E, 05.vi.1999, leg. K. Chandra ” ( NZSI) . Paratype: 1 ♂ “ India: Madhya Pradesh, Hoshangabad, Panchmari , 22.752030N, 77.734490 E, 05.vi.1999, leg. K. Chandra ” ( NZSI) .

Description of the holotype, male. Body. Length: 6.1 mm, length of elytra: 4.6 mm, width: 4.2 mm. Body oblong-oval, shiny; dorsal face reddish brown, shiny; ventral face yellowish brown dull; head moderately shiny, surface almost glabrous, except few single setae.

Head. Labroclypeus narrow and subtrapezoidal, widest at base; lateral margins straight and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles strongly rounded; anterior margin distinctly emarginate medially, margins moderately reflexed. Frontoclypeal suture indistinctly incised, evenly curved. Smooth area anterior to eye weakly convex, twice as wide as long. Ocular canthus short, with a terminal seta. Frons with dense but fine punctures and with a single, long seta beside eyes. Antennae with ten antennomeres; club with five, straight antennomeres, slightly shorter than remaining antennomeres combined. Eyes small, ratio diameter/interocular width: 0.78. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum transverse, widest at base; lateral margins evenly convex and strongly convergent anteriorly; anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp; posterior angles blunt; anterior margin convex, with complete but indistinct marginal line; base without marginal line; surface densely and finely punctate, punctures less dense on midline, with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margin finely setose; hypomeron carinate, not produced ventrally. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and dense puncture, punctures less dense on basal midline.

Elytra widest at middle; striae distinctly impressed, finely and sparsely punctate; intervals slightly convex, with fine and dense punctures, with minute setae in punctures; odd intervals with a very few short and white setae; epipleural edge robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle of elytra; epipleura sparsely setose; apical border of elytra membranous, with a fine rim of microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, coarsely and densely punctate, glabrous. Metasternal disc sparsely covered with fine, short setae. Metacoxa with a few longer setae laterally. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, sternites with a transverse row of punctures, punctures each bearing a fine seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.98. Pygidium moderately convex and dull, coarsely and densely punctate, without impunctate midline, glabrous except a few robust setae along apical margin.

Legs moderately long and wide, shiny; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Metafemur with anterior margin acute, without adjacent serrated line, but with few sparse setae; posterior margin smooth, weakly widened at apex, smooth at apex ventrally. Metatibia long and wide, widest at middle; dorsal margin sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at anterior third, apical one at three quarters of metatibial length; ratio of width/length: 1/2.16; lateral face longitudinally convex, shiny, impunctate and glabrous; ventral margin densely serrate, with four equidistant long and robust setae; medial face smooth and glabrous, apex finely serrate, moderately truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres dorsally impunctate, glabrous, neither laterally nor dorsally carinate, moderately setose ventrally; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a smooth subventral longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.

Aedeagus. Figs. 1–3 .

Habitus. Fig. 4 . Female unknown.

Variation. Paratype in morphology very similar to the holotype. Length 6.1–6.2 mm, length of elytra: 4.6–4.8 mm, width: 4.2–4.7 mm.

Differential diagnosis. Neoserica panchmariensis Bhunia, Gupta, Chandra & Ahrens , new species is part of the Neoserica speciosa group ( Ahrens 2004) which includes N. speciosa Brenske, 1898 , and N. assamensis (Frey, 1962) . All species share the shiny reddish brown, medium sized body and an aedeagus with large asymmetric phallobase. Neoserica panchmariensis , new species differs from both known species in the shape of the male genitalia: Left apical phallobase ventrally lamina-like produced, right paramere twice as long as the left one, without any dorsal teeth; left paramere with a distinct basal lobe and sharply pointed at apex, over its entire length curved dorsally ( Figs. 1, 3 ).

Etymology. The new species is named after the type locality, Panchmari (adjective in nominative case singular).

Distribution ( Fig. 9 ). Only known from the type locality.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Map of India showing type localities of the new species as well as the new state record of M. pseudohongkongica Ahrens & Fabrizi, 2016.

FIGURES 1–8. 1–4: Neoserica panchmariensis Bhunia, Gupta, Chandra & Ahrens, new species (holotype); 5–8: Neoserica debasriae Bhunia, Gupta, Chandra & Ahrens, new species (holotype). 1, 5: Aedeagus in lateral view (left); 2, 6: Aedeagus in dorsal view; 3, 7: Aedeagus in lateral view (right); 4, 8: Habitus, dorsal view. Scale 0.5 mm; habitus not to scale.