Bruchidius nepalensis, Anton & Delobel, 2017

Anton, Klaus-Werner & Delobel, Alex, 2017, Three new Asian species of Bruchidius (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 57 (1), pp. 161-172 : 163-165

Bruchidius nepalensis sp. nov.

( Figs 1–4, 7 , 21 )

Type locality. Nepal, Bagmati Zone, Godawari, 1600 m a.s.l.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♂ (dissected), ‘ Nepal, W. Wittmer / C. Baroni Urbani 76 // Godavari / 1600m 10.6.’, genitalia slide ‘ Bruchidius / 19 11 16 I’ ( NHMB). PARATYPES: 4 ♂♂ 2 ♀♀, ‘O. Nepal 1978 / Bhakta B. Ch. // Junhesi 2700m / 25.5.79 Khumbu’ ( NHMB, 1 ♂ 1 ♀ MNHN) ; 2 ♀♀, ‘ NEPAL centr, Bagmati Zone / Kathmandu valley / Lalipur Distr., Godawari , / Phulchoki , 2200-2700m / 1.-7.vi.1996 / P. Cechovsky lgt.’, 1 ♀ with genitalia slide ‘ Bruchidius / 18 07 16 II’ ( CKWA) ; 1 ♂, ‘C. NEPAL, Nawakot / Triauli Khola , 2200m / Thade Gaon-Dhunche, 27.9. / leg. C. Holzschuh 1982’, genitalia slide ‘ Bruchidius / 02 02 97 I’ ( CKWA) ; 5 spec., unsexed, ‘C. NEPAL, Bagmati / Nuwakot, 1900m / Pati, Bhanyang , 16-19.vi.1989 / leg. C. Holzschuh’ ( NME) .

Description. Length: 2.0– 2.6 mm, width: 1.3–1.8 mm.

Body stout and thick, last visible tergite vertical. Colour of integument black; antennomeres I–IV, front and mid legs including coxae yellowish-brown, hind legs varying from paler to darker reddish-brown, base of claws darkened, apex of antennomere XI and extreme apex of elytra testaceous. Vestiture moderately dense, not completely covering body, made of long and thin, greyish-white setae, uniformly on head, last visible tergite and complete ventral body, denser and covering body on scutellum, denser and silky setae on prescutellar bulge of pronotum; dark brownish markings on pronotum and elytra: transverse arrangement of two or four irregular spots in mid of pronotal length, and 3 large spots on elytra, first in basal part on interstriae 3–9, second subcircular in median part on interstriae (3) 4–9, third transverse at complete apex.

Male. Head moderately elongated, eyes bulging, maximum head width about 1.5 times width behind eyes; eyes separated by 0.25 times head width including eyes; face short and narrow, with distance between posterior rim of eye and apex of clypeus / distance between eyes = 3.8; eye cleft to about 1/3 its diameter, width at bottom of sinus composed of about eight ommatidia; carina on frons faintly developed, less shiny, widened at base. Punctuation of face small and dense, vanishing on apical part of clypeus. Antenna ( Fig. 1 ) long, reaching end of basal third of elytra; antennomeres elongate, I–IV cylindrical, V–X subserrate and faintly widened to apex, length of antennomeres: 1.7: 1.0: 1.4: 1.6: 2.0: 1.8: 1.8: 1.7: 1.7: 1.7: 2.9.

Pronotum campaniform, greatest width at base (W/L = 1.4), with sides strongly bisinuate; disc mediolaterally faintly bulging, with small oblique impression on side of basal lobe; disc with dense punctuation, punctures of moderate size and regular.

Elytra 1.13 times as long as their combined width, widest at end of basal third; sides parallel in mid third; scutellar area faintly depressed, base of striae 3–4 provided with scarcely visible protuberance with two minute teeth at their distance to elytral base twice as large as distance between teeth; striae on disc deep and sharp, with strong punctures; interstriae flat, with dense micropunctation and irregularly dispersed, coarse punctures.

Hind femora incrassate, at their widest 2.1 times as wide as mid femora; mesoventral margin with preapical denticle of moderate size, ventrolateral margin faintly sinuate opposite denticle. Hind tibiae moderately arched in basal half, continuously widened from base to apex, 2.5 times wider at apex than width at base, with dorsomesal, ventral and lateroventral margins complete, lateral margin not reaching to base; apex of tibia with mucro longer than width of tarsomere I at base; lateral denticle wide and acute, about 1/3 mucro length; dorsally series composed of tree minute denticles. Tarsomere I ventrally provided with blunt denticle.

Abdomen with ventrite V emarginate, medially turned out, its length medially long as ventrite IV; ventrite I basomedially without a particular arrangement of setae. Last visible tergite subtriangular, strongly arched, about 1.1 times as wide as long, with apex not turned under, briefly truncate.

Genitalia. Median lobe ( Fig. 2 ) strongly elongate (maximum width excluding basal hood / total length = 0.06), sides parallel, briefly narrowed before apex; basal hood of moderate size, oblong with sides subparallel, not emarginated; ventral valve subtriangular, produced apically as faintly recurved beak, basally moderately subconcave, in mid with pairy vertical row of each barely visible four setae; dorsal valve braced with strongly sclerotized, large ring; no hinge sclerites, but instead wall of internal sac bears two dense groups of long, acute and flattened bristles, longest ones emerging as fringe between ventral and dorsal valves; wall of internal sac with faintly sclerotized tubercles and hyaline scales; saccus lined with two lateral groups of sclerotized needles, and with an elongate, moderately sclerotized sclerite ( Fig. 7 ) with two blunt teeth at apex; gonopore wide and circular, surrounded by minute hyaline needles; spiculum gastrale long, slender, Y-shaped. Basal strut ( Fig. 3 ) with slim keel; lateral lobes cleft to about 1/3 their length; apex of parameres with seven small setae, modified with conical flap and internal projection.

Female. Similar to male, antenna about 0.1 times shorter; pygidium subvertical and less arched; ventrite V about twice as long as IV. Genitalia ( Fig. 4 ): vagina faintly sclerotized, bursa copulatrix with faintly sclerotized sclerite with acute apex and widened base, sclerite bearing along its apical side series of four teeth and on area of basal half group of about 20 minute teeth; ovipositor short, with moderately long and flattened spiculum gastrale; segment IX short and wide, longitudinal apodemes distinctly arched; spermathecal body ovoid, with apical diverticulum stout and faintly curved.

Differential diagnosis. The size and shape of body as well as colour pattern are similar to B. japonicus , which is distributed from the southern Russian Far East to SE China and Japan ( ANTON 2010). The new species differs markedly by the colour of antennomeres (V) VI–XI, which are always black, in vestiture with a line of greyish-white setae of the second elytral interstria not prolonged towards apex, and in male genitalic morphology: basal hood and basal strut slender, with median carina smaller; in addition, the shape and serration of the posterior sclerite in the saccus markedly differs from what may be observed in specimens of B. japonicus from Eastern China ( Fig. 5 ) or Japan ( Fig. 6 ).

Host plants. Unknown.

Etymology. The specific epithet (masculine) is a Latin adjective meaning ‘inhabiting Nepal’.

Distribution. Nepal.

Figures

Figs 1–7. Morphology of the Bruchidius japonicus species-group. 1–4 – Bruchidius nepalensis sp. nov.: 1 – male antenna; 2 – median lobe; 3 – tegmen; 4 – ovipositor. 5–7 – detail of sclerite in saccus: 5 – B. japonicus, specimen from Hangchuan (Fujian, China); 6 – B. japonicus, specimen from Nagasaki (Japan); 7 – B. nepalensis sp. nov., paratype (Nepal).

Figs 21–23. Habitus of male adults, dorsal view: 21 – Bruchidius nepalensis sp. nov.; 22 – Bruchidius tricolor sp. nov.; 23 – Bruchidius planicornis sp. nov.