Serica fengensis Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, 2023

Su, Xie, Li, Wei, Liu, Wan-Gang, Ahrens, Dirk, Zheng, Ying-Juan & Liu, Yang, 2023, An update to the taxonomy of Serica MacLeay, 1819 (sensu lato) from China (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Sericinae, Sericini), ZooKeys 1185, pp. 181-198 : 181

Serica fengensis Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su sp. nov.

Figs 2A-E , 3

Type materials examined.

Holotype: ♂ [China] "Feng County, Shaanxi, end of June.1974/ LW-174/ Asia Sericini 1325 spec." (SENU). Paratypes: 1 ♂ "LW-1034 China: Shaanxi Huangbaiyuan" (ZFMK), 1 ♂ "LW-1273 China: Shaanxi Liuba Huoshaodian, 2012-VI-19" (ZFMK), 1 ♂ "LW-1177 China: Shaanxi, Liuba, 2012-VI-22" (ZFMK), 1 ♂ "LW-1280 China: Shaanxi Liuba Huoshaodian, 2012.VI.23, 33.576°N, 106.961°E, 966m" (ZFMK), 1 ♂ "LW-1273bis China: Shaanxi Liuba Huoshaodian, 2012-VI-19" (ZFMK), 1 ♂ "X-DA3562 - China, Sichuan prov., W of Heishui, 2500m, 32.0465°N, 103.0168°E, 3.-10.VI.2012 leg. M. Murzin" (ZFMK).

Description of the holotype.

Length 8.4 mm, elytral length 6.0 mm, width 3.9 mm. Body oblong, narrow, dark brown; ventral surface, legs, and labroclypeus reddish brown; antenna yellow, with moderately dense, long setae on dorsal surface.

Labroclypeus wide, trapezoidal, shiny; lateral margins moderately convex and convergent, producing a blunt angle with ocular canthus; anterior angles moderately convex; anterior margin distinctly emarginate medially; margins moderately reflexed; surface flat, finely and densely punctate, with numerous long and erect setae; frontoclypeal suture distinct, moderately curved; ocular canthus long and narrow (ca 1/3 of ocular width), smooth and glabrous, with two terminal setae. Frons dull, with fine, dense punctures and dense, long, erect setae. Antenna with nine antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, 2.5 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined, strongly reflexed. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter to interocular width 0.67. Mentum weakly elevated and anteriorly flattened.

Pronotum moderately wide, widest at middle; lateral margins moderately convex and convergent anteriorly, slightly narrowed towards base; anterior angles rectangular, moderately produced, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin weakly convex, marginal line fine and complete; basal margin without marginal line; surface with fine, dense punctures and minute setae in punctures, with sparse, erect, long setae. Hypomeron not ventrally carinate. Scutellum triangular, with fine, dense punctation and minute setae; basal midline with a triangular smooth area.

Elytra elongate, narrow, widest in posterior third; striae distinctly impressed, finely punctate; intervals weakly convex and finely, densely punctate; glabrous, lateral intervals with a few moderately long, erect setae, otherwise with only minute setae in punctures; epipleural margin robust, ending at convex external apical angle of elytra; epipleura sparsely setose; apex of elytra with a fine, membraneous rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface finely, densely punctate, and metasternum sparsely setose. Metacoxa glabrous, laterally with numerous, robust, fine, longer setae. Mesosternum between mesocoxae almost as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum to metacoxa 1:1.52. Abdominal sternites finely, moderately, and densely punctate, each sternite with a row of coarse punctures, each puncture bearing a robust seta. Pygidium almost flat and finely, densely punctate, with moderately dense, short and long setae.

Legs long, narrow, shiny; femora finely, sparsely punctate, with two longitudinal rows of setae, but anterior row reduced to a few setae. Hind legs missing in holotype. Tarsomeres dorsally finely punctate, ventrally with moderately dense, fine setae. Protibia long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical; interior tarsal claws sharply pointed.

Aedeagus: Fig. 2A-C . Habitus: Fig. 2D . Female unknown.

Diagnosis.

Serica fengensis sp. nov. differs from the quite similar S. allonanhua sp. nov. in the long basal lobes of the parameres; these lobes are absent in the latter species.

Etymology.

The name of the new species is derived from the location of type locality in Feng County. (Used as an adjective in nominative singular case.)

Variation.

Length 6.8-8.4 mm, elytral length 5.3-6.5 mm, width 3.8-4.0 mm. Most paratypes with dense pilosity on pronotum and elytra, suggesting that pilosity of holotype has been widely abraded. Metafemur with anterior margin acute, without adjacent serrate line; posterior ventral margin almost straight, weakly widened in apical half, ventrally and dorsally not serrate, sparsely setose. Metatibia long and moderately narrow, widest at middle, ratio of width to length 1:3.3, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one shortly behind middle, apical one at four-fifths of metatibial length, basally with a number of robust, single setae in line; lateral face longitudinally convex, coarsely and densely punctate, with a numerous short setae in basal half; apex shallowly concavely truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Ventral margin finely serrate, with five or six robust equidistant setae. Metatarsomeres ventrally with a strongly serrate carina, subventrally with a second, smooth, longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere distinctly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and little longer than dorsal tibial spur.

NCBI accession numbers.

Paratypes of the species have been sequenced as Serica sp. by Liu et al. (2015b) for two mitochondrial and one ribosomal marker (voucher number LW-1034: 16s: KJ959207, CO1: KJ959135, 28s: KJ959052; LW-1273: 16s: KJ959208, CO1: KJ959136, 28s: KJ959053). The locality data of the LW-1273 specimen were erroneously given in the supplementary table 1 of Liu et al. (2015b) as "China: Yunnan, Pianma" instead of "Shaanxi Liuba Huoshaodian, 2012-VI-19".

Figures

Figure 2. A-E S. fengensis Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, sp. nov. (holotype) A aedeagus, left side view C aedeagus, right side view B aedeagus, dorsal view D habitus, dorsal view E habitus, lateral view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm (A-C).

Figure 3. The distribution map of Serica breviantennalis Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, sp. nov., S. allonanhua Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, sp. nov., S. fengensis Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, sp. nov., including updated records of S. nanhua Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2022 and S. baishuitaiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2022.