Prosodes (Meropersina) shokhini, Nabоz & Merkl & Kоvalev, 2018

Nabоz, Maхim, Merkl, Оttó & Kоvalev, Aleхey, 2018, A review of the genus Prosodes Eschscholtz, 1829 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) of Iran, Zootaxa 4379 (4), pp. 451-483 : 476-480

Prosodes (Meropersina) shokhini sp. n.

( Figs 15–17 )

Type material. Holotype (♂) and 7 paratypes (5 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀), Iran, West Azerbaijan Province, near Rajan , 37°22'44.65"N, 44°48'13.70"E, 25.05.2014, leg. I. Shokhin, D. Kasatkin. All types are deposited in ZIN.

Description. Male. Body slender, black, matt. Anterior margin of clypeus widely weakly emarginate, lateral margins weakly rounded. Lateral margins of genae straight in anterior half, rounded at base. Lateral margin of head with distinct obtuse-angled sinuation between genae and clypeus. Head widest at across eyes. Eyes convex, head width 1.38× wider than interocular space. Punctation of head fine and moderately dense (puncture diameters 1–2× as wide as distance between punctures). Punctation of clypeus coarser and denser. Occiput and temples with very fine rasp-shaped punctation. Vertex wrinkled, with small granules and dense pubescence. Mentum transverse, oval, base of mentum slightly emarginate, almost straight. Antennae not reaching base of pronotum. Ratio of length/ width of antennomeres 2–11 as 10(9), 25(9), 14(9), 14(9), 13(10), 14(13), 10(11), 10(10), 9(10), 14(9). Antennomeres 1–7 covered with goldish hairs, antennomeres 8–11 covered with very fine hairs around.— Pronotum transverse (1.18× as wide as long), widest at middle, 1.62× as wide as head. Anterior margin of pronotum widely emarginate. Lateral margins regularly and moderately rounded. Base of pronotum widely and weakly emarginate, straight at middle. Lateral sides and anterior angles of pronotum beaded. Anterior margin, posterior angles and base of pronotum not beaded. Disc of pronotum weakly convex. Lateral sides of disc not flattened. Punctation of pronotum fine and sparse (puncture diameters 2–4× as wide as distance between punctures), denser near anterior angles (puncture diameters subequal with distance between punctures). Prothoracic hypomera with longitudinally wrinkled and rasp-shaped punctation. Lateral margins of hypomera flattened in basal half.—Scutellum visible. Elytra elongate (1.93× as long as wide), 2.65× as long as and 1.08× as wide as pronotum, 1.76× as wide as head. Elytra weakly convex, with smooth declivity in apical third. Elytra with fine, groove-like (not depressed) wrinkles, punctation of elytra sparse (puncture diameters 5–6× as wide as distance between punctures). Epipleura with fine wrinkles and sparse fine punctation. Mesoventrite with dense punctation and light hairs, with beaded intercoxal process. Metaventrite with rasp-shaped punctation. Mesepisterna, mesepimera and metepisterna with rasp-shaped and simple punctation, covered with short light hairs. Abdominal ventrites 1–4 with longitudinal wrinkles along lateral margins. Ventrite 1 with transverse wrinkles in middle; intercoxal process of ventrite 1 square, with coarsest wrinkles. Abdominal ventrites with moderately dense punctation (puncture diameters 1–2× as wide as distance between punctures), ventrite 5 completely beaded except base, apically with obsolete bead.—Legs slender. Ratio of lengths of femora, tibiae and tarsi of fore, middle and hind legs are 6.3: 6.4: 4.4, 7.3: 7: 6.9 and 10: 10.4: 8.7. Ventral lamella of onychium between two tarsal claws of tarsi regularly and moderately rounded. Tibial spurs slightly differ in size. Protibiae bent, regularly widened from base to apex, widely emarginate in apical third of inner side and with distinct blunt prominence. Metatibiae Sshaped.—Aedeagus C-shaped, length 6.9 mm, width 1.9 mm. Basal piece 1.52× as wide as apical piece. Apical lobes of basal piece large, serrate (with about 16 denticles), with longitudinal ridges ventrally. Length of apical piece 2.9 mm, width 1.25 mm. Dorsal side of parameres regularly and slightly rounded, regularly narrowing at apex. Parameres with sensillar punctation apically. Visible part of medial piece (penis) with elongate granules and rounded membranous apex. Lobes of gastral spicule narrow, punctured. Rods of gastral spicule merged at apex, forming common trunk. Male sternite VIII covered with small setae denser in apical part, anterior margin widely emarginate, accessory gland of sternite VIII thin, rather long.—Body length 20.1–21.5 mm, width 7.9–8.8 mm.

Female. Body wider and more robust than that of male. Punctation of head and pronotum fine and sparse. Pronotum more transverse (1.34× as wide as long), 1.66× as wide as head. Elytra widest at middle (1.61× as long as wide), 2.69× as long and 1.24× as wide as pronotum, 2–2.05× as wide as head. Elytra with weakly depressed (only in middle) fine wrinkles, punctation of elytra sparse. Legs shorter than those of male. Protibiae not emarginate and without prominence in inner side, metatibiae not S-shaped.—Ovipositor wide, with narrow apical lobes. Ventral side of apical lobes of ovipositor with moderately long setae. Anterior margin of proctiger rounded and punctured, with short setae. Basal duct of spermatheca long, gland of spermatheca long. Reservoirs of spermatheca thin, subequal in length. Trunk of ventral spicule moderately long.—Body length 20.2–23.1 mm, width 8.2–10.6 mm.

Etymology. The species is named in honour of our colleague and one of the collectors of the new species, Igor Shokhin.

Diagnosis. Prosodes shokhini sp. n. has the same differences from the known species of Meropersina as P. kasatkini sp. n. Prosodes shokhini sp. n. is most similar to P. kasatkini sp. n. from which it differs in the presence of larger prominence on inner side of male protibiae, having apical piece of aedeagus widest at base (dorsally), shorter and less pubescent apical lobes of oviduct, acute apex of proctiger ( P. kasatkini has widely rounded apical margin of proctiger). In addition, female of P. shokhini sp. n. has more robust and wider body and weakly (more or less) depressed elytral wrinkles.

Figures

FIGURE15. Prosodes shokhini sp. n. (ZIN). A, holotype, male, dorsal view; B, paratype, female, dorsal view; C, sculptureof male elytra;D, sculpture of female elytra;E, male protibia; F,gastral spicula;G, male sternite VIII, H, ventral spicula; I, female genital tube (v—vagina, bds—basal duct of spermatheca,r—reservoirs, g—accessory gland of spermatheca).Not to scale.

FIGURE16.Prosodes shokhini sp. n. (ZIN), aedeagus.A, dorsalview; B, ventral view; C, lateral view; D, apical piece,lateral view; E, same, ventral view; F, same, dorsal view.

FIGURE 17. Prosodes shokhini sp. n. (ZIN), ovipositor. A, dorsal view; B, ventral view; C, lateral view; D, apical lobes, dorsal view, E, same, ventral view, F, same, lateral view.