Wittmeridecus insularis, Gerstmeier, 2017

Gerstmeier, Roland, 2017, Cleridae (Coleoptera) from Socotra Island with description of new species, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae) 57, pp. 113-123 : 114-118

Wittmeridecus insularis sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 5–14 )

Type locality. Yemen, Socotra Island, Zemhon area [= Aloove, for details see BEZDĚK et al (2012)].

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, YEMEN, SOCOTRA Island, Zemhon area , 270–300 m, N 12°20′58″, E 54°06′39″, 16.–17.vi.2010, V. Hula leg. ( NMPC) . PARATYPES: same label data as holotype (14 spec. NMPC; 4 spec. RGCM; 1 spec. ABCM; 1 spec. MMBC) ; YEMEN, SOCOTRA Island, Qualentiah env., 4.–5.vi.2010, slopes, 5 km SE Quaysoh, 12°39.691′N, 53°26.658′E, V. Hula & J. Niedobová leg. (3 spec. NMPC; 1 spec. RGCM) ; YEMEN, SOCOTRA Island, Aloove area ,Aloove vill. env., Jatropha unicostata shrubland ; with Boswellia elongata trees, 19.–20.vi.2012, 12°31.2′N, 54°07.4′E, 221 m // SOCOTRA expedition 2012, J. Bezděk, J. Hájek, V. Hula, P. Kment, I. Malenovský, J. Niedobová & L. Purchart leg. (6 spec. NMPC; 1 spec. RGCM) ; YEMEN, SOCOTRA Island, Kaza Kazihon vill. env., 12°31′13″N, 53°55′36″E, 900 m, 5.vi.2012, V. Hula & J. Niedobová leg. (1 spec. NMPC; 1 spec. RGCM) ; YEMEN, SOCOTRA Island, wadi Ayhaft , 12°36.5′N, 53°58.9′E, 200 m, J. Bezděk leg. (1 spec. NMPC) ; Yemen, Socotra Isl. , Homhil, GPS 12.652N, 54.024E, 69 m, 17.-18.xi.2000, V. Bejček & K. Štastný lgt. (2 spec. JRCP, 1 spec. RGCM) ; Yemen, Socotra Isl. , Homhil, GPS 12.318N, 54.302E, 330 m, 20.-21.xi.2000, V. Bejček & K. Štastný lgt. (1 spec. JRCP) ; Yemen, Soqotra Is., WADI AYHAFT, 24.-26.xi.2003, N12°36′38″ E53°58′49″, 190 m [GPS], leg. P. Kabátek, YEMEN – SOQOTRA, 2003 Expedition ; Jan Farkač , Petr Kabátek & David Král (4 spec. JRCP) ; dito: ex larve (2 spec. JRCP) ; Yemen, Soqotra Is., WADI DENEGHEN, 27.xi.2003, N12°36′55″ E54°03′49″, 85 m [GPS], leg. P. Kabátek, YEMEN – SOQOTRA, 2003 Expedition ; Jan Farkač , Petr Kabátek & David Král (1 spec. JRCP) ; Yemen, Soqotra Is., QAARIAH (waterfall), vill. env., 28.xi.2003, N12°38′05″ E54°12′39″, 11 m [GPS], leg. P. Kabátek, ex larve, YEMEN – SOQOTRA, 2003 Expedition ; Jan Farkač , Petr Kabátek & David Král (3 spec. JRCP, 1 spec. RGCM) ; Yemen, Soqotra Is., 5.-6.xii.2003, Noged plain: QAAREH (waterfall), 28.xi.2003, N12°38′05″ E54°12′39″, 57 m [GPS], Jan Farkač lgt. (1 spec. CULS) ; Yemen, Soqotra Is. 2003, 5-6/xii., Noged plain, QAAREH (waterfall), 57 m, N12°20′10″ E53°37′56″ [GPS], David Král lgt., YEMEN – SOQOTRA, 2003 Expedition ; Jan Farkač , Petr Kabátek & David Král (1 spec. JRCP) ; Yemen, Socotra Isl. , Ayhaft, 15.iii.2000, V. Bejček & K. Štastný lgt. (1 spec. JRCP) .

Description. Body length 6.8–12.0 mm. Head black, glossy, with fine and more or less diffuse punctation. Labrum, anterior part of clypeus and palpi yellow, posterior part of clypeus pale red-brown; mandibles red-brown, with black tips. Labrum broadly transverse-ovate; terminal maxillary palpomere long, slender, cylindrical, slightly dilated in middle. Antennae brown, not reaching base of pronotum when laid back; from antennomere VI onwards increasingly triangularly dilated to inner side, antennomeres VI to XI compact, thick, with increasing dense pubescence, antennomere XI apically pointed. Eyes coarsely facetted, margined, separated by more than one eye’s width; head including eyes broader than anterior width of pronotum, vested with long, obliquely erect (in all directions), pale setae. Lower surface yellow-brown, smooth, glossy; between eyes conspicuously transversely wrinkled; gula smooth, broadly U-shaped, distally with bulging margin and two large pads, gular sutures slightly diverging apically, genae obliquely wrinkled.

Prothorax long (length = 1.8–3.0 mm, width = 1.2–2.0 mm; mean length to width ratio 1.00: 1.50), widest in middle, pale brown to red-brown, glossy, with fine and diffuse punctation; vested with more or less long, anteriorly directed, erect, pale setae, sides with isolated stronger setae, vertically erected. Ventral surface basally smooth, somewhat obliquely wrinkled apically; prosternal process strong, diverging, broadly dilated distally. Hypomera broadly rounded, laying down to tips of prosternal process.

Scutellum more or less heart-shaped, apically pointed. Anterior margin of mesoventrite straight, without anterior mesoventral process; mesanepisterna transversely wrinkled, mesepimera coarsely sculptured; mesoventrite coarsely sculptured in middle; posterior mesoventral process solidly connected with anterior metaventral process; metaventrite with fine, diffuse punctation.

Elytra about twice as long as broad (length = 4.4–7.7 mm, width = 2.2–3.6 mm; mean length to width index 1.00: 2.10), slightly dilated posteriorly, elytral base margined, apex broadly rounded; elytra yellow-brown, glossy, with broad black macula across shoulders, sometimes reduced to heart-shaped macula and another black, transverse macula behind middle, not reaching lateral margin (for variation, see Fig. 5 ). Elytral punctation not arranged into striae, ‘outer’ punctation (‘rows VII–XI’) seems to be more regular than ‘inner’ punctation (‘rows I–VI’), not reaching apex, puncture diameter decreasing from base to apex, mostly smaller than interstices, punctures without setae. Surface vested with long, obliquely backwards erected, pale setae.

Legs stout, not very long, yellow-brown, tibial base sometimes darkened; tibiae straight to very slightly curved, without carina, with dense, obliquely directed, pale setae. Tibial spur formula 2-2-2; tarsal sole (pulvillar) formula 4-4-4. Tarsal soles I more or less elongate, minimally emarginate, soles II–IV broad, transverse, slightly emarginate at tip (appearing almost straight). Claws bidentate, with conspicuous denticle.

Abdomen yellow-brown, with short, fine, depressed setae. Male genitalia as in Figs 6–14 . Female without any conspicuous differences from male.

Differential diagnosis. Up to now, the genus Wittmeridecus Winkler, 1981 , contained only W. mediozonatus (Fairmaire, 1892) , which is probably distributed across the whole Saharan region to Israel and the Arabian peninsula. In W. mediozonatus the antennomeres are dilated from antennomere VII onwards, and antennomere XI is elongate, especially in males. The head of W. mediozonatus is light reddish brown, and the elytra are brown to black-brown with a yellow to ochreous transverse fascia in the middle. Punctation of the elytra extends, at most, to the posterior margin of the fascia, see GERSTMEIER (1998).

Etymology. Latin adjective insularis (- is, - e), meaning ‘belonging to an island’.

Collection circumstances. The majority of specimens were collected at light traps in a semi-arid shrubland with dominant Jatropha unicostata Balf. f. ( Euphorbiaceae ) and Boswellia elongata Balf. f. ( Burseraceae ) trees (J. Hájek, pers. comm. 2016).

Distribution. So far known only from Socotra Island.

Figures

Figs 1–4. Habitus. 1 – Wittmeridecus insularis sp. nov.; 2 – Opilo angustipennis sp. nov.; 3 – O. longipilis Fairmaire, 1892; 4 – O. socotrensis sp. nov.

Fig. 5. Elytral variability of Wittmeridecus insularis sp. nov.

Figs 6–14. Genitalia of Wittmeridecus insularis sp. nov.6 – aedeagus ventral; 7 – aedeagus lateral; 8 – tegmen ventral; 9 – phallus ventral; 10 – spicular fork; 11 – phallus tip ventral; 12 – phallus tip lateral; 13 – pygidium; 14 – ventrite VI.