Steriphodon ottomerkli, Telnov, 2021

Telnov, Dmitry, 2021, Redefinition of Steriphodon Abeille de Perrin, 1895 (Coleoptera: Anthicidae), with a new species description, checklist, and key to species, Zootaxa 5020 (1), pp. 141-165 : 146-152

Steriphodon ottomerkli sp. nov.

( Figs 1–4 , 10–13 , 14–17 , 19–20 )

http://zoobank.org/ 4149DB96-BECE-4FA4-A7C4-F7F8E6AE2977

Holotype ♂ NMP: W. Pakistan 4.79 Karachi E. Kwieton lgt. [printed] [holotype is missing left foreleg and both hind legs].

Paratype 1♀ BMNH: Baluchistan [printed] Pasni [handwritten] 7.V 1931 M. Sharif coll [printed] .

Derivatio nominis. Patronymic. Named after Dr. Otto Merkl (1957–2021), the Director of the Department of Zoology at the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest, long-term head of the museum’s Entomology Division, outstanding specialist on Tenebrionidae sensu lato, and my good friend, to celebrate his commitment to entomology.

Measurements. Holotype, total body length 4.87 mm; head length 1.1 mm, head width across eyes 0.9 mm, pronotal length 0.87 mm, maximum pronotal width 0.79 mm, elytral length 2.9 mm, combined maximum elytral width 1.12 mm. The ♀ paratype is 6.8 mm long.

Description. Dorsum and venter uniformly dark brown. Forebody slightly darker and abdominal sternites paler. Antennae, legs and palps yellowish-brown. Head slightly convex dorsally except for depressed clypeal area and anterior part of frons, opaque dorsally and ventrally. Compound eyes very large, strongly prominent laterally in dorsal view, elliptical, straight and nearly entire at anterior margin(not or barely emarginate), touching insertions of antennae. Interfacetal setae very short, inconspicuous. Frontoclypeal suture not present. Tempora much shorter than dorsal eye length, slightly converging posteriad, not delimited from broad neck; hind temporal angles not present. Frons moderately broad, 0.75x (in male; Fig. 3 ) to 0.85x (in female; Fig. 4 ) dorsal eye length. Clypeus spatulate, narrowed, slightly protruding anteriad. Mandibles large, protruding anteriad, strongly angulate and bent medially. Head with dorsal punctures circular to ovoid, moderately large and deep, dense, in part annular. Intervening spaces in part microtuberculate, smaller than punctures. Head dorsal pubescence of silver, silky, long and dense, subdecumbent setae directed anteriad on vertex and in part obliquely antero-medially (in particular along inner margin of compound eyes) on frons and clypeus. Dorsal structure of head generally concealed by dense setae. Antennae filiform, short, not reaching base of pronotum. Antennomeres elongate and slender. Second antennomere thickened, in male as long as, in female slightly shorter than third antennomere. Antennomeres 3–10 elongate and slender, nearly same length, not widened distally. Terminal antennomere fusiform, apically rounded, in male about 1.2–1.3x as long as the penultimate antennomere. Mandibles strongly angulate at outer margins. Labrum strongly transverse, emarginate along anterior margin. Terminal maxillary palpomere small, subcultriform, apically acute. Pronotum opaque dorsally and laterally, narrower than head, flattened dorsally in lateral view. Lateral pronotal margins rounded, slightly constricted towards base, maximum pronotal width in subapical region, above middle. Anterior rim narrow ventrally and laterally, dorsally modified into broad, protruding flange over neck. Antebasal sulcus narrow. Punctures of pronotal disc similar but larger as those of head, in part crateriform. Intervening spaces glossy, much narrower than punctures. Vestiture similar to that of head, setae silky, curved, generally directed posteriad. Dorsal structure of pronotum generally concealed by dense setae. Scutellar shield small, rounded apically. Elytra elongate, opaque to subopaque dorsally, flattened in lateral view, gradually narrowing from humeral area apically. Humeri rounded. Omoplates barely indicated. Postbasal transverse impression not present. Punctures of elytral disc larger and coarser than those on forebody, dense. Basal half of elytra with intervening spaces narrower than punctures, becoming almost as large as punctures on apical half of elytra, generally weakly glossy. Setae somewhat longer than those on pronotum, in part silky, in part stronger appressed in part subdecumbent, not or slightly curved, directed generally posteriad except those setae along the suture directed obliquely postero-laterally. Structure of elytra generally concealed by dense setae. Elytral apices broadly rounded, sutural angle not indicated. Sutural striae not observed. Epipleurae not observed. Metathoracic wings fully developed. Legs rather long and slender, densely setose, those of tibiae spinelike. Tibiae microtuberculate, especially along outer margin. Terminal tibial spurs paired, moderately long, slightly sinuate, acutely pointed apically. Penultimate tarsomeres short, not bilobate. Tarsal claws rather long, curved, not appendiculate. Venter densely setose, setae appressed, generally directed posteriad. Abdominal sternites not appendiculate (simple) in either sex. Male tergite VII with truncate posterior margin ( Fig. 10 ). Morphological sternite VII of male subtruncate along posterior margin, with inconspicuous median emargination ( Fig. 11 ). Spiculum gastrale with long arms. Male tergite and morphological sternite VIII as in Figs. 12–13 . Aedeagus as in Figs 14–17 . Tegmen with apicale multispinose laterally and dorsally, more than twice longer than short basale ( Figs 19–20 ). Median lobe much longer than tegmen, slender, widening apically, somewhat binodal apically in ventral aspect; both apical nodes separated by moderately broad suture ( Figs 14–16 ). Median lobe internally along the inner margin of each node with a series of rather large, irregular, acute to subacute, posteriad-directed and variably strongly appressed teeth ( Fig. 15–16 ), preapically with characteristic gonopore armature ( Figs 16–17 ); basal portion of median lobe more than twice as long as more strongly chitinized apical portion ( Fig. 14 ).

Sexual dimorphism. Generally weakly defined. Female larger and more robust than male, with comparatively narrower frons and somewhat more thicker antennae.

Differential diagnosis. See key below.

Ecology. Unknown.

Distribution. Known from coastal part of Balochistan Province, Pakistan.

Figures

FIGURES 1–3. Steriphodon ottomerkli sp. nov., holotype ♂. 1—Habitus, dorsal view; 2—ditto, lateral view; 3—Head, an- terodorsal view [not to scale].

FIGURES 4–9. Habitus and features of Steriphodon Abeille de Perrin, 1895. 4—S. ottomerkli sp. nov., paratype ♀, habitus, dorsal view; 5—S. harenosus Telnov, 2016, specimen from 23 km NWN Bila’I, S Iran, pro- meso-, and metasternum and sternites III–IV; 6—ditto, head, dorsal view, with removed mandibles (consider shape and size of labrum); 7–8—ditto, left mandible in dorsal (7), ventral (8) and lateral (9) (consider concave, setose basal part) view [not to scale].

FIGURES 10–13. Male terminalia of Steriphodon ottomerkli sp. nov., holotype. 10—Tergite VII, dorsal view; 11—Morpho- logical sternite VII, ventral view; 12—Tergite VIII, dorsal view with apical setation removed; 13— Morphological sternite VIII, ventral view with apical setation removed [not to scale].

FIGURES 14–18. Median lobe of Steriphodon Abeille de Perrin, 1895. 14—S. ottomerkli sp. nov., holotype; 15—ditto, apical half, enlarged; 16—ditto, apical one third, enlarged; 17—Median part (enlarged) with gonopore armature; 18—S. harenosus Telnov, 2016, specimen from 23 km NWN Bila’I, S Iran, apical one third, enlarged [not to scale].

FIGURES 19–22. Tegmen of Steriphodon Abeille de Perrin, 1895. 19—S. ottomerkli sp. nov., holotype; 20—ditto, apical por- tion, enlarged; 21—S. harenosus Telnov, 2016, specimen from 23 km NWN Bila’I, S Iran; 22—ditto, apical portion, enlarged [not to scale].