Anisandrus phithakpa Sittichaya, Smith & Beaver, 2023

Sittichaya, Wisut, Smith, Sarah M. & Beaver, Roger A., 2023, New species and newly recorded species of Anisandrus Ferrari, 1867 ambrosia beetles from Thailand (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae, Xyleborini), ZooKeys 1182, pp. 289-306 : 289

Anisandrus phithakpa Sittichaya, Smith & Beaver sp. nov.

Fig. 2

Type materials.

Holotype: female, Thailand, Phetchaburi Province, Kaeng Krachan District, Kaeng Krachan National Park, 12°49'43.6"N, 99°21'45.2"E, 900 m, low montane forest, ex Lithocarpus sp., 04.x.22, W. Sittichaya (MSUC). Paratypes: Kanchanaburi Province, Thong Pha Phum District, Thong Pha Phum National Park, 14°41'40.6"N, 98°23'51.9"E, 940 m, low montane forest, ethanol-baited trap, 11.xii.22, W. Sittichaya (1, WSTC; 1, THNHM; 1, RABC).

Similar species.

A. apicalis , A. congruens Smith, Beaver & Cognato, 2020, A. cristatus (Hagedorn, 1908).

Differential diagnosis.

2.88-3.02 mm long (mean 2.96 mm, n = 4); 2.06-2.17 × as long as wide. Stout species; elytral disc saddle-like, bearing a pair of small spines on interstriae 2. Declivity broad; declivital face with striae 1 and 2 weakly impressed; interstriae 1 and 3 slightly elevated; posterolateral margin rounded, costate only near apex. The species is similar to A. apicalis , A. congruens , and A. cristatus . Anisandrus congruens and A. cristatus are distinguished by the presence on declivital interstriae 3 of a row of 5-7 regularly spaced, backwardly directed, sharply pointed spines; in A. phithakpa and A. apicalis these are reduced to small granules. Anisandrus phithakpa is distinguished from A. apicalis by the following characters ( A. phithakpa given first): declivital interstriae with a pair of minute, pointed granules on interstriae 1, and an equally sized pair on interstriae 2 and 3 vs no granules on interstriae 1, and interstriae 2 with a pair of small, backwardly directed, sharply pointed teeth which are considerably larger than the pointed granules on interstriae 3.

Description.

Female. 2.88-3.02 mm long (mean 2.96 mm; n = 4); 2.06-2.17 × as long as wide (mean 2.12 × as long as wide; n = 4). Body colors: dark brown to black, appendages paler brown. Head: epistoma entire, transverse, with a row of hair-like, moderately long, sparse setae. Frons weakly convex to upper level of eyes, reticulate, subshining, with sparse widely separated, small, shallow, setose punctures each with a long, erect hair-like seta. Medial area inconspicuous, feebly convex (flat in one paratype), glabrous. Eyes shallowly emarginate just above antennal insertion, upper part smaller than lower part. Submentum moderate, distinctly triangular, slightly impressed. Antennal scape regularly thick, 1.2 × as long as club. Pedicel as wide as scape, shorter than funicle. Funicle 4-segmented; segment 1 shorter than pedicel. Club longer than wide, obliquely truncate, type 1; segment 1 corneous, encircling anterior face; segment 2 narrow, concave, corneous; sutures absent on posterior face. Pronotum: 0.98 × as long as wide, in dorsal view rounded, type 1; sides convex, rounded anteriorly; anterior margin with a row of eight small serrations of same size as asperities above; in lateral view, short and tall, type 3; disc as long as anterior slope, summit at midpoint. Anterior slope with densely spaced, very large, coarse asperities, becoming lower and more strongly transverse towards summit. Disc alutaceous, subshiny with moderately dense, large, shallow punctures; punctures with moderate, semi-recumbent, hair-like setae; some longer hair-like setae at margins. Lateral margins obliquely costate. Base transverse with posterior angles rounded. Mycangial tuft present along basal margin; tuft moderately setose, approximately the width of scutellum. Elytra: 1.5 × as long as wide, 1.5 × as long as pronotum. Scutellum broad, large, linguiform, flush with elytra, flat, shiny. Elytral base transverse; edge oblique; humeral angles rounded; elytra parallel-sided in basal ½, then broadly rounded to apex; surface shiny. Disc shiny, with a distinct medial, transverse, saddle-like depression; depressed areas opalescent; striae not impressed; with broad shallow punctures separated by areas less than a diameter of a puncture, setose; setae 2-3 × as long as a puncture, recumbent, hair-like; interstriae flat, punctate, with 2 or 3 confused lines of minute punctures, setose; setae long, 1-1.5 × width of interstriae 2, erect, hair-like, unarmed by granules. Declivity occupying approximately 1/3 elytra; apex evenly rounded; declivital summit with a pair of minute, pointed granules on interstriae 1, and a slightly larger pair on both interstriae 2 and 3 placed progressively further towards apex; declivital face feebly bisulcate; striae 1 and 2 impressed; interstriae 3 inflated and armed, with 2 or 3 minute granules; strial punctures of similar size and depth to those of disc, bearing setae as described for disc; interstriae impunctate, sparsely, minutely granulate; setae 2 × width of interstriae 2, erect, hair-like; interstriae 2 as wide as or narrower than interstriae 3 at midpoint of declivity. Posterolateral margin costate to interstriae 5. Legs: procoxae contiguous; prosternal coxal piece short, inconspicuous. Protibiae obliquely triangular, broadest at apical 1/3; posterior face inflated, punctate, punctures minute; apical 1/2 of outer margin with six socketed denticles, their length 2 × their basal as basal width. Meso- and metatibiae flattened; outer margins evenly rounded with seven and eight long slender socketed denticles, respectively.

Male. Unknown.

Etymology.

Thai (พิทักษ์ป่า) “Phithakpa”, forest rangers. The species name indicates our deep appreciation for Thai forest rangers for their hard and selfless work to protect conservation areas in Thailand. Noun in apposition.

Distribution.

Thailand (Kanchanaburi and Phetchaburi provinces).

Biology.

Recorded from Lithocarpus sp. ( Fagaceae ).

Remarks.

The paler body colors (brown) of the holotype and some paratypes suggest that they are teneral. One paratype has a consistently dark-brown body with pale appendages.

Figures

Figure 2. Anisandrus phithakpa sp. nov. holotype female A dorsal view B postero-lateral view C lateral view D frons E antenna.