Dietomorpha gonzalesi S. Chigray & Nabozhenko, 2022

Chigray, Svetlana N., Nabozhenko, Maxim V., Chigray, Ivan A. & Abakumov, Evgeny V., 2022, A revision of the Palaearctic Pimeliini (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae): a comparative analysis and systematic position of Eastern European and Asian taxa with dorso-lateral eyes, European Journal of Taxonomy 809, pp. 1-71 : 27-29

Dietomorpha gonzalesi S. Chigray & Nabozhenko sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:391D6624-EE07-4DC5-AE48-811D8A915504

Fig. 3B–G

Etymology

The new species is named after David Gonzales (Saint-Laurent-du-Pape, France), who made a great contribution to the Tenebrionidae of the New and Old Worlds.

Material examined

Holotype PAKISTAN • ♀; Balochistan, Khuzdar ; May 2009; Hafiz Akhtar leg.; V.2009; coll. David Gonzales; MNHP.

Paratypes PAKISTAN • 1 spec.; Webb Ware Quetta , Balochistan [handwritten]; “ Dietomorpha sp. n. det. Kaszab ”; HNHM • 1 ♀; WEBB WARE/ QUETTA [Printed]; “2355 / 14” [Printed: Indian Museum accession number?]; “ D. pardella obliterata n. [handwriting of K.G. Blair] det. K.G. Blair [printed]”; Dietomorpha pardalis V. obliterata Blair in litt. 1973. N. Skopin [handwriting of Skopin]; “Brit. Mus. [printed] 197[printed]3- 38. [handwritten]”; “MANUSCRIPT NAME” [red frame and text, printed]; BMNH • 1 ♀; same labels, but “2352/ 14”; BMNH.

Notes on paratypes (Maxwell Barclay, personal communication)

Ernest Vredenburg (the donor of the specimens, Superintendant of the Geological Survey of India) and Captain Frank C. Webb Ware (the collector of the paratypes, at Quetta, ‘Political Assistant’ at Chagai and who was working on the Sistan-Quetta caravan route) went to Quetta together. It is likely that the beetles were collected at Quetta in 1899, given the Indian Museum registration in 1914, and eventually given the BMNH registration in 1973.

Description

Female

Body oval, covered by creamy scales, with striped pattern of dark spots on pronotum and elytra; scales lanceolate, longitudinally striated. Anterior margin of epistoma widely emarginated. Epistoma and frons sparsely covered with erected, yellowish setae. Genae rounded. Eyes large, circular, convex in dorsal view; surface behind eyes covered by anterior margin of pronotum. Ratio of head width across eyes to interocular distanceon frons is 1.3. Antennae long, with ultimate antennomere extending elytral base. Ratio of length (width) of 2 nd –11 th antennomeres: 0.5(0.5), 2.4(0.5), 0.9(0.4), 0.8(0.5), 0.8(0.5), 0.8(0.5), 0.7(0.8), 0.7(0.8), 0.2(0.5), 0.3(0.4). Head covered with fine, sparse spinose granules (granule diameter 2–3 × less than intergranular spaces).

Pronotum transverse (1.7 × as wide as long), widest before middle, where it 1.2 × as wide as head, with two dark, broad fields and pale spot in middle; lateral margins at base together with contiguous part of prothoracic hypomera with glabrous and smooth black spot. Ratio of width of pronotum at anterior margin to its maximum width and to width at base: 8: 8.5: 8. Anterior margin and base of pronotum widely weakly emarginated at middle. Lateral margins rounded, emarginated at base. Anterolateral angles not expressed, posterolateral angles obtuse, widely rounded. Disc of pronotum transversely convex, with two triangular depressions at base. Apical half and middle of pronotum covered with projecting spine-like spinose tubercles (mainly on sides of pronotal disc). Prosternal process narrow, elongated (3× as long as wide), not raised between procoxae, slightly protruding beyond procoxae.

Elytra weakly elongate (1.2× as wide as long), 3.4 × as long and 1.8× as wide as pronotum, 2.1× as wide as head. Each elytron with five brown, longitudinal stripes on creamy background. Elytra without humeral ribs, with four longitudinal rows of spine-like tubercles: one row on each lateral vertical side, one humeral row and four discal rows. Apex of elytra with dense tubercles. Scutellar shield not concealed by base of elytra; surface around scutellar shield with triangular depression. Metepisterna, meso- and metaventrites with fine sparse spinose granules. Transverse length of one metacoxa subequal to intercoxal process of abdominal ventrite 1.

Abdominal ventrites covered with fine, sparse granules (granule diameter 1.5–3 × as short as intergranular spaces).

Trochanters with elongated, sparse, yellowish setae. Meso- and metafemora curved outward. Protibiae sharply widened at apex, outer margin with row of short, acutely angulate spines and several sparse, long setae; spines closely spaced at apex. Outer and inner margins with row of long, thin setae. Tibial terminal spurs flattened, straight, acutely angulate at apex (except for metatibial terminal spurs), widened to apex and rounded apically. Pro- and mesotibial terminal spurs moderately elongated, extending base of tarsomere 2, metatibial terminal spurs extending to midlength of metatarsomere 1. Meso- and metatibiae slightly curved outward, with similar spines and dorsal setae as on protibiae. All tarsi flattened from sides, protarsi only with spines, meso- and especially metatarsi with dense, long setae dorsally and spines ventrally. Tarsal claws large, thin, visibly curved outward. Length ratio for femur, tibia, and tarsus: 6.5: 4: 2 in fore leg, 7.5: 5.5: 3.5 in middle leg, 8.5:8: 6 in hind leg.

Body length 12 mm, width 7.5 mm.

Comparative diagnosis

This new species differs from D. pardalis by the more elongated body, the slightly protruding prosternal process (strongly protruding beyond procoxae in D. pardalis ), the striped pattern (spotted in D. pardalis ), the longitudinal rows of spine-like setae on elytra (the tubercles located only in spots in D. pardalis ), the absence of elytral humeral ribs and not concealed scutellar shield.

Figures

Fig. 3. Species of the genus Dietomorpha Kühnelt, 1957, habitus. A. D. pardalis Kühnelt, 1957, ♂ (ZIN), dorsal view. B. Ditto, ventral view. C. D. gonzalesi S. Chigray & Nabozhenko sp. nov., ♀, holotype (MNHP), dorsal view. D. Ditto, ventral view. E. Ditto, anterior view. F. Ditto, posterior view. G. Ditto, dorso-antero-lateral view. C–G: photographs by David Gonzales.