Neoserica (s.l.) heishuiana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2014

Ahrens, Dirk, Liu, Wangang, Fabrizi, Silvia, Bai, Ming & Yang, Xing-Ke, 2014, A revision of the species of the Neoserica (sensu lato) vulpes group (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Sericini), Journal of Natural History 49 (17), pp. 1073-1130 : 1096-1098

Neoserica (s.l.) heishuiana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu sp. nov.

( Figures 3A–D , 10 )

Type material examined

Holotype. ♂ ‘ China, Yunnan 1994 Heishui env. 28–30.VI. 35 km N of Lijiang leg. B. Šiška & T. Spevár’ ( ZFMK).

Description

Length. 9.4 mm, length of elytra: 6.4 mm, width: 5.0 mm. Body oblong, reddish brown, antenna yellow, dorsal surface dull and nearly glabrous.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins convex and strongly convergent to widely rounded anterior angles, lateral border and ocular canthus producing an indistinct blunt angle, margins weakly reflexed, anterior margin distinctly sinuate medially; surface weakly convex medially and shiny, finely and densely punctate, partly punctures fusing with each other, with a few long erect setae in coarser punctures; frontoclypeal suture feebly incised and medially weakly angled; smooth area in front of eye approximately twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and triangular, very finely and sparsely punctate, with a fine terminal seta. Frons dull, with fine and sparse punctures, with a few long setae beside eyes and behind frontoclypeal suture. Eyes small, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.54. Antenna composed of 10 antennomeres; club with four antennomeres, slightly longer than remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum convexly elevated anteriorly.

Pronotum narrow, widest a quarter before base, lateral margins evenly curved and weakly narrowed anteriorly and posteriorly, anterior angles moderately produced and sharp, posterior angles blunt and strongly rounded at tip, anterior margin convexly produced medially, broad marginal line widely missing, basal margin without marginal line; surface with moderately dense and fine punctures, with minute setae only; anterior and lateral borders setose; hypomeron distinctly carinate at base. Scutellum narrow and long, sharp at apex, with fine and moderately dense punctures and minute setae.

Elytra oblong, widest in posterior third, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals weakly convex and not densely punctate, intervals with punctures concentrated along striae and odd intervals with some single, fine setae; epipleural edge robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border chitinous, with a very narrow rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, with large and dense punctures, sparsely and shortly setose, setae partly adpressed; metacoxa glabrous, with fine setae laterally, apical margin convex and external apical angle rounded; each abdominal sternite with a distinct transversal row of coarse punctures each bearing a short seta between fine and moderately dense punctation. Mesosternum between mesocoxae nearly half as wide as mesofemur, with irregularly scattered, fine setae. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/1.42. Pygidium moderately convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, without smooth midline, punctures with sparse, short setae, a few longer setae beside apical margin.

Legs slender; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate; metafemur ventrally dull, anterior margin sharply carinate, without a submarginal serrated line, posterior margin moderately convex, with a few strong setae medially, only weakly widened externally in apical half and not serrated ventrally in distal half, finely serrated dorsally, with dense, short setae. Metatibia slender and moderately long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/3.48, dorsal margin moderately carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group of spines shortly before half of metatibial length, apical one at about three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few single fine spines; external face longitudinally convex, with moderately coarse, sparse punctures; ventral margin finely serrated, with four fine, equidistant spines; medial face impunctate, apex concavely truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres smooth and glabrous, with evenly spaced, short setae ventrally; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ventral ridge and a fine longitudinal carina immediately beside it; first metatarsomere slightly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia long, bidentate, protarsal claws symmetrical, basal tooth of inner protarsal claw bluntly truncate apically.

Aedeagus. Figure 3A–C . Female unknown.

Diagnosis

The new species is quite similar in shape of aedeagus to N. ningyuanensis sp. nov., it differs from N. ningyuanensis by the narrower parameres, and the ventral lobe of left paramere being not truncate as in N. ningyuanensis but simply convexly pointed.

Etymology

The new species is named after its type locality, Heishui (Latin adjective in the nominative singular).

Figures

Figure 3. A–D: Neoserica heishuiana Ahrens, Liu & Fabrizi sp. nov. (holotype), E–H: N. kereni Ahrens, Liu & Fabrizi sp. nov. (holotype), I–L: N. baoshana Ahrens, Liu & Fabrizi sp. nov. (holotype). A, E, I: aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, G, K: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, F, J: parameres, dorsal view; D, H, L: habitus (not to scale). Scale: 0.5 mm.

Figure 10. Distribution of the species of the Neoserica (s.l.) vulpes group: N. baishuiensis, N. heishuiana, N. kereni, N. lateriuncinata, N. luzhouana, N. nykli, N. parausta, N. pseudovulpes, N. ruzickai, N. usta, N. vulpes and N. kunmingensis.