Emphania lacroixi, Ahrens & Fabrizi, 2008

Ahrens, Dirk & Fabrizi, Silvia, 2008, A taxonomic revision of the Malagasy genus Emphania Erichson, 1847 (Insecta, Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Sericini), Zoosystema 30 (4), pp. 917-927 : 922

Emphania lacroixi n. sp.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype: ♂ “ Madagascar (Sud, forêts Nord Ft. Dauphin Allaud 1900/16/Muséum Paris” ( MNHN).

Paratypes: 2 ♂♂ “ Madagascar (Sud, forêts Nord Ft. Dauphin Allaud 1900/ Muséum Paris ” ( MNHN, coll. DA); 1 ♀ “ Madagascar Fénerive E. Perrot ” ( MNHN).

ETYMOLOGY. — This new species is dedicated to Marc Lacroix (Paris) for his merits in study of melolonthine chafer beetles of Madagascar.

DESCRIPTION OF HOLOTYPE

Length: 8.2 mm; length of elytra: 5.9 mm; width: 4.2 mm. Body surface brown with greenish shine. Head and antenna as in E. metallica ; eyes small, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.58. Antennomeres 3-5 not fused; club a little longer than the remaining antennomeres combined. Pronotum and scutellum as in E. metallica , except the basal marginal line of pronotum being more distinct and widely interrupted medially and its surface bearing a single long seta on the center of each pronotal half. Elytra as in E. metallica . Metacoxa and pygidium as in E. metallica . Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/1.89. Legs as in E. metallica ; ratio of metatibial width/length: 1/4.17, medial face of metatibia with one or two punctures beside the dorsal margin.

Aedeagus: Figure 1 E-G.

VARIATION

Length: 8.2-9.9 mm; length of elytra: 5.9-6.2 mm; width: 4.2-5.3 mm. The colour varies from blackish green to reddish purple. The female has the antennal club slightly shorter and the punctures on pygidium are very indistinct.

REMARKS The species is very similar in external morphology to E. metallica and may externally only be distinguished by the unfused antennomeres 3-5. The shape of parameres provides more confidence for separating both taxa; parameres are longer in E. lacroixi n. sp. with a widely curved apical hook.

Figures

FIG. 1. — A, Distribution of the species of Emphania (Emphania erichsoni n. sp.could not be localized due to insufficient label information “Madagascar”),the habitus of the type species E.metallica (Blanchard,1850) is shown (not scaled) in upper left corner;B-D, E. metallica (Blanchard, 1850) (lectotype); E-G, E. lacroixi n. sp. (holotype); B, E, aedeagus, left side lateral views; C, F, aedeagus, dorsal views; D, G, aedeagus, right side lateral views. Scale bars: 1 mm.