Drilus nemethi, Kundrata, Robin, Kobieluszova, Lucie & Bocak, Ladislav, 2014

Kundrata, Robin, Kobieluszova, Lucie & Bocak, Ladislav, 2014, A review of Drilini (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Agrypninae) of the Northern Levant, with description of a new species from Syria and a key to Levantine species, Zootaxa 3755 (5), pp. 457-469 : 464-465

Drilus nemethi sp. nov.

( Figs 4 , 10, 16 , 22 )

Type material. Holotype, 1 male, SYRIA, prov. Latakia, / Jabal An Nusayrīyah / Kansabba, 800 m, // 20.V.2004, / N. Rahmé, / L. Nádai & K. Székely ( HNHM); paratypes: 2 males, SYRIA, Prov. Haleb, / 5km S Bulbul, / at light, 31. V. 2010, // Atilla Kotán, Edvárd / Mizsei, Tamás / Németh & Nikola Rahmé ( HNHM); 2 males, dtto ( RKCO).

Diagnosis. Drilus nemethi sp. nov. differs from similarly colored D. rectus by considerably larger eyes, the head including eyes wider than anterior pronotal margin ( Figs 4–5 ), slender antennae ( Figs 10–11 ), antennomeres 1–2 only slightly lighter than remaining ones, uniform coloration of ventral parts, and rounded apical part of paramerae ( Figs 22–23 ). The differences between D. nemethi sp. nov. and D. akbesianus are given under the diagnosis of the latter.

Description. Male. Body medium-sized, elongate, 3.2–3.6 times as long as width at humeri, moderately convex dorsally ( Fig. 4 ). Head, elytra and metaventrite dark brown to black, antennae brown, other body parts including elytral sutura light brown; entire body covered with yellow pubescence.

Head slightly hypognathous, including eyes apparently wider than anterior margin of pronotum. Surface of cranium sparsely, moderately deeply punctured, slightly wrinkled, with moderately deep and wide depression between conspicuous antennal sockets, dorsally with sparse semierect pubescence; clypeal margin widely concave. Eyes large, hemispherically prominent, their frontal distance 1.6–1.8 times eye diameter. Mandibles long, falcate, considerably curved, shiny; incisor margin with conspicuous tooth in middle part. Maxillary palpi slender, apical palpomere slightly compressed and obliquely cut; labial palpi tiny, apical palpomere pointed. Antennae 11- segmented, reaching third of elytral length, scapus long, robust, pedicel short, small, antennomere 3 slightly serrate, more than 3 times longer than antennomere 2, antennomeres 4–10 shortly flabellate, subequal in length, with flattened lamellae, apical antennomere longest, more than twice longer than stem of penultimate antennomere ( Fig. 10 ).

Pronotum flat, widest at middle part, 1.3–1.4 times wider posteriorly than length at midline. Anterior margin straight or almost straight, lateral margins slightly convex, posterior margin considerably convex, sinuate in middle. Anterior angles almost rectangular, posterior angles prominent ( Fig. 16 ); surface of disc sparsely punctured, with sparse, semierect, long setae. Scutellum flat, triangle-shaped, widely rounded apically. Prosternum transverse, prosternal process short, slightly elevated in middle part. Mesoventrite v-shaped, with frontal margin depressed medially. Metaventrite large, trapezoidal, sparsely punctured. Elytra subparallel-sided, widest at humeri, 2.4–2.7 times longer than width at humeri, tapered apically, wrinkled. Each elytron with longitudinal keel running from humeral part to apex, inconspicuous in apical half, with semierect pubescence. Abdomen slender, either short or considerably long, with several apical sternites surpassing elytra, ventrites with moderately deep punctures and sparse, long setae. Legs slender, slightly compressed, with sparse, long, semierect setae, coxae long, robust, trochanters slender, obliquely attached to femora, tarsomeres 1–3 subequal in length, tarsomere 4 shortest, apical tarsomere long, claws simple, slender, slightly curved.

Male genitalia with curved phallus; short paramerae with inner margin forming conspicuous fold, with setae in apical part; phallobase robust, wide, longer than paramerae ( Fig. 22 ).

Measurements. BL 5.8–9.3 mm, EL 4.3–7.0 mm, WH 1.6–2.9 mm, PL 0.9–1.6 mm, PW 1.3–2.2 mm, Edist 0.7–1.1 mm, Ediam 0.4–0.7 mm.

Distribution. Syria (the provinces Latakia, Haleb).

Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym in honor of Tamás Németh (Budapest, Hungary).

Remarks. The weakly sclerotized abdomen of Drilus nemethi sp. nov. is highly flexible and capable of stretching similarly to other soft-bodied neotenic elateroids (e.g., Bocak et al. 2013). In contrast to other species of Levantine Drilus , we found specimens of D. nemethi with extremely long abdomen and a considerable variation among individual specimens. The shortened elytra and apical abdominal segments surpassing the tip of elytra were used for a definition of Malacogaster ( Bassi 1834, Reitter 1894), however, we observed the variable ratio between elytral and abdominal length within genera and even within a single species.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. General appearance. 1 — Drilus adustus; 2 — D. akbesianus; 3 — D. bicolor; 4 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 5 — D. rectus; 6 — D. rufipes. Scale 2.0 mm.

FIGURES 7 – 18. Antenna. 7 — Drilus adustus; 8 — D. akbesianus; 9 — D. bicolor; 10 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 11 — D. rectus; 12 — D. rufipes. Pronotum. 13 — Drilus adustus; 14 — D. akbesianus; 15 — D. bicolor; 16 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 17 — D. rectus; 18 — D. rufipes. Scale 1.0 mm (Figs 7 – 12), 0.5 mm (Figs 13 – 18).

FIGURES 19 – 24. Male genitalia. 19 — Drilus adustus; 20 — D. akbesianus; 21 — D. bicolor; 22 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 23 — D. rectus; 24 — D. rufipes. Scale 0.25 mm.