Ischalia (Telnovia) danieli, Bukejs, 2017

Bukejs, Andris, 2017, New fossil taxa of Ischalia Pascoe (Coleoptera: Ischaliidae) from Eocene Baltic amber, Zootaxa 4323 (2), pp. 229-238 : 233-237

Ischalia (Telnovia) danieli sp. nov.

( Figs 6–12 )

Type material. Holotype No. C 2490 [GPIH], adult, male. Complete beetle included in small and thin amber piece with approximate dimensions: 22 × 10 × 4 mm. Syninclusions are represented by one stellate fagacean trichome and few small gas vesicles.

Type strata. Baltic amber, mid-Eocene to Upper Eocene.

Type locality. Yantarny settlement (formerly Palmnicken ), Sambian (Samland) Peninsula, the Kaliningrad region, Russia.

Etymology. Patronymic, the specific epithet is dedicated to the son of the second author – Daniel Bukejs.

Diagnosis. As stated for the new subgenus. Additionally, I. (Telnovia) danieli sp. nov. differs from the similar looking fossil I. (Eupleurida) dohnaturris sp. nov. due to its wider habitus, short apical spur on mesothoracic and metathoracic tibiae, absence of long recumbent pubescence on anterior portions of elytra, shorter median longitudinal carina, and subtrapezoidal scutellar shield.

Description. Body length 5.6 mm; maximum body width 2.5 mm; pronotum 0.9 mm long, maximum width 1.2 mm; elytral length 4.3 mm; maximum combined width of elytra (postmedially) 2.5 mm. Body color dark brown; ventral surface, tarsi, palpi, and apical antennomeres apparently lighter in colour. Head, pronotum and elytra sparsely covered with short (about 2× as long as one puncture diameter), semi-erect setae; ventral surface and legs with finer, short, recumbent setae, in denser arrangement than setae on dorsal surface. Head, pronotum and elytra shiny, densely covered with large punctures (2–4× diameter of one eye facet), distance between punctures smaller than diameter of one puncture; pro-, meso-, metasternum, and abdomen with fine and dense punctation.

Head transverse, about 2.4× as wide as long, constricted posteriorly; frons slightly convex, inflated at antennal insertions. Compound eyes large, with vertical diameter about 2.2× transverse diameter, slightly convex, reniform; distinctly emarginate on inner margin; glabrous with coarse facets. Antennae 11-segmented, filiform, robust and moderately long, extending to basal one-fourth of elytra, densely pubescent (scape and pedicel with less conspicuous pubescence); scape subcylindrical, 1.6× as long as wide; pedicel nearly quadratic, 1.1× as long as wide, and 0.8× as long as scape; antennomeres 3–10 slightly dilated apically; antennomere 11 tapered, with pointed apex. Relative length ratios of antennomeres 1–11: 14-8-12- 10-10-10-10 -10-8-8-10. Clypeus transverse, rectangular, almost flat; frontoclypeal suture distinct. Maxillary palpus 4-segmented; apical palpomere large, securiform, elongate, about 1.8× as long as wide. Labial palpus 3-segmented, short; apical palpomere distinctly transverse, 1.8× as wide as long, about as long as palpomeres 1–2 combined.

Pronotum slightly transverse, about 1.3× as wide as long, distinctly narrower than anterior part of elytra; with short median longitudinal carina in posterior one-sixth of pronotal length and slightly produced posteriorly beyond margin; with two transverse, semicircular impressions in posterior half, and with longitudinal median impression in anterior half. Anterior margin almost straight, shallowly emarginate mesally; lateral margins rounded in anterior half and almost straight posteriorly; posterior margin slightly convex. Anterior angles widely rounded; posterior angles nearly rectangular, vaguely protruding. Scutellar shield large, subtrapezoidal, about 1.5× as long as wide, impunctate, dull, densely covered with fine pubescence, apical margin shallowly emarginate medially.

Elytra subparallel-sided, relatively flat, elongate (1.7× as long as combined width), irregularly punctate, completely covering abdomen, with concave anterior margin; humeral calli well-developed, distinctly protruding. Elytra with sutural, discal, lateral discal, and lateral carinae; humeral carinae absent; sutural carinae slightly convex, complete; discal carinae short, distinct in basal one-fourth of elytral length; lateral discal carinae gradually curved toward sutural carinae, becoming obsolete and not fusing with sutural carinae; lateral carinae fine, indistinct, apparently complete. Epipleura well-developed, wide, reaching apex of elytra. Mesosternal ventrite flat, with wide, rounded anterior margin; mesepisternae widely separated by mesosternal ventrite. Disc of metasternal ventrite sligthly convex; metepisterna with nearly straight lateral margins, about 4.8× as long as wide. Metathoracic wings are not visible in examined specimen.

Abdomen with five freely articulated, visible ventrites of subequal length. Abdominal sutures straight.

Legs moderately long and slender. All coxae transverse; prothoracic coxae apparently contiguous, meso- and metathoracic coxae narrowly separated. Femora and tibiae subequal in length. Tibiae slightly curved; mesothoracic and metathoracic tibiae with thin, short apical spur. Tarsal formula 5-5-4. All penultimate tarsomeres distinctly bilobed. Each metathoracic tarsus about 0.7× as long as metathoracic tibia, each metathoracic tarsomere 1 about as long as metathoracic tarsomeres 2–4 combined. Claws simple, narrow, and symmetrical.

Figures

FIGURES 6 – 8. Ischalia (Telnovia) danieli sp. nov., holotype: 6 – habitus, dorso-lateral view; 7 – habitus, lateral view; 8 – habitus, ventro-lateral view. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURES 9 – 11. Ischalia (Telnovia) danieli sp. nov., holotype: 9 – details of forebody, dorsal view; 10 – details of forebody, ventro-lateral view (for better visualization, the outline of lateral margin of mesosternal ventrite is indicated by a dotted line); 11 – apex of metatibia, arrow points to apical spur. Not reproduced to the same scale. Abbreviations: dc = discal carina, lpt = terminal labial palpomere, mpt = terminal maxillary palpomere, msv = mesosternal ventrite.

FIGURE 12. Ischalia (Telnovia) danieli sp. nov., reconstruction, dorso-lateral view. Scale bar = 1 mm.