Thymogethes kassites, Audisio, Paolo, Cline, Andrew R., Lasoń, Andrzej, Jelínek, Josef, Sabatelli, Simone & Serri, Sayeh, 2017

Audisio, Paolo, Cline, Andrew R., Lasoń, Andrzej, Jelínek, Josef, Sabatelli, Simone & Serri, Sayeh, 2017, New species and records of pollen and sap beetles for Iran (Coleoptera: Kateretidae, Nitidulidae), Zootaxa 4216 (4), pp. 369-383 : 371-374

Thymogethes kassites sp. nov.

( Figs 7–8 , 21 )

Diagnosis. Medium-sized (length 2.48), body shiny black, legs blackish with protibiae chestnut brown to blackish, and antennae chestnut brown with blackish antennal club. Maximum pronotal width near posterior angles. Similar to the widespread European species T. lugubris ( Sturm, 1845) , revised by Easton (1954) and re-described by Audisio (1993b), but with interspaces between dorsal punctures on pronotum and most of elytra smooth and shining. Differentiated (see key to identification of the Near East Thymogethes below) from the closely related T. rebmanni ( Easton, 1957) by the comparatively larger male genitalia, the paramera much more extruded laterad, and by the more raised and centrally-placed concave tubercle on male last abdominal ventrite ( Fig. 21 ) (less raised, flattened, wider, not concave nor evidently bicuspid, and placed closer to the posterior edge of the ventrite in T. rebmanni : Fig. 22 ).

Type material. 1 ♂, male holotype, IRAN: Lorestan Province, Zagros Mts, SE Dorud, Oshtoran Kuh, small village near Chamnar , 33°25'05''N 49°09'44''E, 1695 m, 14.VI. 2014, leg. P. Audisio, on Mentha longifolia (L.) Huds. ( Lamiaceae ) ( CAR).

Description. Male [holotype]. Length 2.48 mm; width (at elytral widest point) 1.28 mm. Body elongate, narrow, transversely convex and moderately parallel-sided (nearly as in Fig. 1 ), black and shining, with short and fine silvery to golden-olivaceous pubescence. Legs blackish with protibiae chestnut brown to blackish, and antennae chestnut brown with blackish antennal club.

Head with dorsal punctures as large as or slightly smaller than an eye facet, moderately impressed, separated by one diameter or less, surface smooth and shining; front margin of clypeus regularly arcuately emarginate, completely bordered, with rather acute angles. Fronto-genal grooves narrow and shallow, but distinct. Antennae small, of normal size for group (cf. Fig. 1 ), with third antennomere slender, slightly longer than second; antennal club small.

Pronotum markedly narrowed anteriorly, 1.68× as wide as long, broadest close to posterior angles (cf. Fig. 1 ); sides narrowly bordered; posterior angles slightly obtuse but markedly distinct. Posterior base faintly sinuate on either side of scutellum; pronotal punctures and surface smooth and shining, each puncture nearly as large as an eye facet and separated by one diameter or less.

Scutellar shield medium-sized, densely and uniformly punctate; surface exhibiting a faint trace of reticulate microsculpture.

Elytra nearly 1.17× as long as combined width (if length measured from posterior edge of pronotum; 1.04× if measured from posterior apex of scutellar shield), broadest in basal fifth, distinctly wider (1.12×), and approximately twice as long (1.95×) as pronotum; humeral angle rounded, humeral striae absent. Elytral punctures in basal half as on head and pronotum, but slightly coarser and more elongate, exhibiting a feeble transverse rugosity and with a shiny surface between punctures. Elytral punctures becoming finer and shallower towards posterior end.

Ventral surface black, with sparse fine silvery pubescence. Prosternal antennal furrows (at notosternal sutures) strongly raised, reaching near the middle point of the hypomeron. Prosternal process moderately long, subtruncate at apex, ventral surface (excluding predistal lateral expansions) only moderately wider before apex (as in Fig. 23 ), widest subdistal portion approximately 1.28× wider than narrowest basal portion.

Metaventrite moderately convex (punctures as on head and pronotum, surface shiny), with a barely distinct and posteriorly widened longitudinal impression on posterior two-thirds, and a slightly raised elongate medial tubercle. Posterior angles only slightly raised.

Caudal marginal line of metacoxal cavity closely following posterior edge, turning back just before outer end. Last visible abdominal ventrite with a markedly raised obtuse projection nearly in middle, distally concave and bicuspid ( Fig. 21 ), similar to males of T. lugubris and T. gagathinus .

Protibiae (cf. Fig. 1 ) with outer edges finely crenulate from basal third, with subapical group of 5 sharp teeth, the first and penultimate tooth markedly bigger than the other teeth; protarsi distinctly wider than antennal club, ratio WFTA/LFTA = 0.35–0.36; metatibiae narrow, inner edges not sinuate (as in Fig. 1 ); tarsal claws simple.

Genitalia. Tegmen as in Fig. 7 , rather strongly sclerotized, brownish, with a moderately deep, U-shaped median excision, and paramera markedly arcuately protruded at sides in anterior half; median lobe of aedeagus elongate, narrow, about 2.4× as long as wide ( Fig. 8 ), nearly as sclerotized and coloured as tegmen, widest at distal three-fifths, subparallel-sided proximad, narrowed distad, apex subtruncate and minutely incised.

Female. Unknown.

Comparative notes. Thymogethes kassites sp. nov. exhibits a dorsal habitus similar to large specimens of T. lugubris (a rare but widespread species in Europe and N Anatolia), but with larger and slightly less elongate body size, and a much shinier dorsal surface, similar to the recently described T. foddaii Audisio, De Biase & Trizzino, 2009 from Sardinia and Corsica ( Audisio et al. 2009a). This new species is recognizable from the closely related T. rebmanni from Afghanistan chiefly by parameres more protruding laterad in distal portion of tegmen ( Figs 7, 9 ), and the more raised and concave (bicuspidate) tubercle on the ventral side of last abdominal ventrite ( Figs 21, 22 ). The partial morphological convergence observed in tegmen shape between Thymogethes kassites sp. nov. and T. khorasanicus sp. nov. is remarkable ( Figs 7 , 13 ); however, these two Iranian species obviously belong to two quite distinct groups of species (former in the T. lugubris -group, latter in the T. egenus -group).

Geographic distribution. The single known male specimen is from SW Iran (Central Zagros Mts; Fig. 25). This species is likely rare (a single male specimen collected in company with a series of about 10 specimens of the related T. ahriman ), but could be more widely distributed, in suitable habitats, throughout the Zagros Chain. Likewise, the host plant is also widespread in the region.

Biological notes. The type specimen was collected from flowering apical stems of the common Mentha longifolia (L.) Huds. ( Lamiaceae ), a widespread species known to occur in most West Palearctic areas, in wet places near lakes and ponds, and along the edges of river banks and small springs, from sea level up to 2000 m. Based on the local host-plant flowering period, adults are probably active on mint flowers from May to September, but reproduction likely occurs mainly between early June and August.

Etymology. This species is named after the Kassites , an ancient Near Eastern people who controlled Babylonia and the Zagros Mts after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire (ca. 1531–1155 BC).

Figures

FIGURES 3 – 10. Male genitalia (median lobe of aedeagus and tegmen) of: 3 – 4. Thymogethes ahriman (Jelínek, 1981) (male from Iran, Zagros Mts., Mt. Oshtoran); 5 – 6. T. klapperichi (Easton, 1957) (male from Pakistan, Madaglasht); 7 – 8. T. kassites sp. nov. (male holotype from Iran, Zagros Mts., Mt. Oshtoran); 9 – 10. T. rebmanni (Easton, 1957) (male from Afghanistan, Kabul). Scale bar = 0.17 mm (Figs 3 – 6); = 0.20 mm (Figs 7 – 10).

FIGURES 19 – 22. SEM images of tubercles on last abdominal ventrite in males of: 19. Thymogethes khorasanicus sp. nov. (male paratype from N Iran, Zoshk Valley above Shandiz); 20. T. ahriman (Jelínek, 1981) (male from Iran, Zagros Mts., Mt. Oshtoran); 21. T. kassites sp. nov. (male holotype from Iran, Zagros Mts, Mt. Oshtoran); 22. T. rebmanni (Easton, 1957) (male from Afghanistan, Kabul). Scale bar = 0.20 mm.

FIGURES 1 – 2. 1. Thymogethes lugubris (Sturm, 1845) habitus (male from Poland); 2. T. egenus (Erichson, 1845) (s. l.), habitus (male from Poland). Both specimens ca. 2.2 mm long. Photos L. Borowiec.

FIGURES 23 – 24. SEM images of prosternal process of: 23. Thymogethes kassites sp. nov. (male holotype from Iran, Zagros Mts., Mt. Oshtoran); 24. T. otini (Easton, 1954) (male from Morocco, near Taza). Scale bar = 0.24 mm.

FIGURES 11 – 18. Male genitalia (median lobe of aedeagus and tegmen) of: 11 – 12, 15 – 16, Thymogethes egenus (Erichson, 1845) s. l. (11 – 12: male from Italy, Lazio, Tivoli; 1 5 – 16: male from N Iran, Kadkan); 13 – 14. T. khorasanicus sp. nov. (male paratype from N Iran, Zoshk Valley above Shandiz); 17 – 18. T. otini (Easton, 1954) (male from Morocco, near Taza). Scale bar = 0.24 mm.