Neoserica (s.l.) shinkaisiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2014

Ahrens, Dirk, Liu, Wangang, Fabrizi, Silvia, Bai, Ming & Yang, Xing-Ke, 2014, A revision of the species of the Neoserica (sensu lato) vulpes group (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Sericini), Journal of Natural History 49 (17), pp. 1073-1130 : 1091-1092

Neoserica (s.l.) shinkaisiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu sp. nov.

( Figures 2A–D , 11 )

Type material examined

Holotype. ♂ ‘ 4400 ft. ShinKaiSi Mt. Omei /near Kinting Szechuen China DC Graham 1921’ ( USNM).

Description

Length. 7.7 mm, length of elytra: 5.8 mm, width: 3.9 mm. Body oblong, yellowish brown, labroclypeus, antenna yellow, dorsal surface dull and nearly glabrous.

Labroclypeus small, subtrapezoidal, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins convex and strongly convergent to moderately rounded anterior angles, lateral border and ocular canthus producing a distinct blunt angle, margins moderately reflexed, anterior margin distinctly sinuate medially; surface slightly convex medially and moderately shiny, finely, superficially and moderately densely punctate, with numerous long erect setae in coarser punctures; frontoclypeal suture feebly incised and medially weakly angled; smooth area in front of eye approximately 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus long and slender, impunctate, with one short terminal seta. Frons dull, with fine and sparse punctures, with sparse and coarser punctures interspersed each bearing a long seta. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.91. Antenna composed of 10 antennomeres; club with four antennomeres, 1.5 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum convexly elevated anteriorly.

Pronotum wide, widest at middle, lateral margins in basal half nearly subparallel, nearly evenly convex anteriorly and weakly narrowed towards moderately produced and acute anterior angles, posterior angles blunt, not rounded at the tip, anterior margin convexly produced medially, marginal line widely missing, basal margin without marginal line; surface with moderately dense and fine punctures, with minute setae only; anterior and lateral borders setose; hypomeron distinctly carinate at base. Scutellum narrow and long, sharp at apex, with fine and moderately dense punctures and minute setae.

Elytra oblong, widest at middle, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals weakly convex and sparsely punctate, punctures concentrated along striae, odd intervals with some single, fine, semi-erect setae; epipleural edge robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border membranous, with short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, with large and dense punctures, sparsely and shortly setose, setae partly adpressed; metacoxa glabrous, with fine setae laterally, apical margin straight and external apical angle slightly rounded; each abdominal sternite with a distinct transversal row of coarse punctures each bearing a short seta between fine and moderately dense punctation. Mesosternum between mesocoxae nearly half as wide as mesofemur, with irregularly scattered, fine setae. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.56. Pygidium moderately convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, without smooth midline, punctures with minute setae, with numerous long setae beside apical margin.

Legs slender; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate; metafemur ventrally dull, anterior margin sharply carinate, without a submarginal serrated line, posterior margin moderately convex, with a few strong setae medially, only weakly widened externally in apical half and not serrated ventrally in distal half, dorsally not serrated, with dense, short setae. Metatibia slender and moderately long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/3.2, dorsal margin moderately carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group of spines shortly before half of metatibial length, apical one at about three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few single fine spines; external face longitudinally convex, with moderately coarse, sparse punctures; ventral margin finely serrated, with three fine, equidistant spines; medial face impunctate, apex concavely truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Mesotibia and mesotarsomeres missing in holotype, first mesotarsomere impunctate and glabrous dorsally, with evenly spaced, short setae ventrally, slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur; subsequent metatarsomeres missing in holotype. Protibia long, bidentate, protarsal claws symmetrical, basal tooth of inner protarsal claw bluntly truncate apically.

Aedeagus. Figure 2A–C . Female unknown.

Diagnosis

The new species is in shape of aedeagus rather similar to N. ruzickai sp. nov.; it differs from the latter and from all other species of the N. vulpes group by the strongly enlarged, spherical right paramere having the additional dorsal process directed distally and slightly widened and dorsoventrally flattened and rounded at apex ( Figure 2C ).

Etymology.

The new species is named after its type locality, ShinKaiSi (Latin adjective in the nominative singular).

Figures

Figure 2. A–D: Neoserica shinkaisiensis Ahrens, Liu & Fabrizi sp. nov. (holotype), E–H: N. weishanensis Ahrens, Liu & Fabrizi sp. nov. (holotype), I–L: N. ningyuanensis Ahrens, Liu & Fabrizi sp. nov. (holotype). A, E, I: aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, G, K: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, F, J: parameres, dorsal view; D, H, L: habitus (not to scale). Scale: 0.5 mm.

Figure 11. Distribution of the species of the Neoserica (s.l.) vulpes group: N. baoshana, N. biuncinata, N. dundai, N. ganhaiziana, N. laocaiana, N. leiboensis, N. ningyuanensis, N. rubellula, N. shinkaisiensis, N. sichuanica, N. weishanensis, N. xiaguanensis and N. yangjiapingensis.