Hycleus hayki Serri & Bologna, 2020

Serri, Sayeh, Bologna, Marco A. & Riccieri, Alessandra, 2020, Revision of the Hycleus sexmaculatus species group (Coleoptera: Meloidae Mylabrini), Zootaxa 4790 (1), pp. 1-42 : 20-21

Hycleus hayki Serri & Bologna n. sp.

Figs 6, 18, 63–69

Hycleus pirata, Serri, 2015: 235 , nec Bologna & Turco, 2007.

Type material. Holotype ♂ ( HMIM) “ [ Iran] Dogonbadan / 15. V.68/ [leg.] Zairi, Ayat ”. 4 ♂ 2 ♀ Paratypes ( HMIM) with the same label of holotype ; 3 ♂ 1 ♀ paratypes ( HMIM) “Dogonbadan/ 11. V.68 [leg.] Ayat., Zairi” ; 3 ♂ 2♀ paratypes ( HMIM) 1 ♂ ( MABC); “Dogonbadan/ 9. V.67/ [leg.] Zairi, Ayat‘; 1♂ paratype ( HMIM): Behbahan/ 1. V.69/[leg.] Zairi, Ayat“; 1 ♂ paratype ( HMIM): Behbahan/ 3. VI.69/ [leg.] Zairi, Ayat” .

Type locality: “ Iran, Dogonbadan ” (hoc opus) .

Records from literature. Iran. Khuzestan, Kuhgiloyeh & Boyerahmad ( Serri, 2015 as pirata ; Ghahari & Campos-Soldini 2019 as pirata ).

Description. Body black, elytra testaceous with black pattern; setation black, short, sparser shorter and obliquely recumbent on elytra. Golden dense pubescence on ventral side of fore tibiae and tarsi of male, only on tibiae of female. Body length 8–14 mm. Head subquadrate ( Fig. 18 ); with maximum width at level of eye; punctures relatively wide, deep and irregular, surface among punctures relatively shiny; eye globose, with antero-dorsal margin slightly sinuate, just behind antennal insertion. Temples parallel, only slightly curved posteriad and shorter than longitudinal diameter of eye; frons almost flat; clypeus transverse, convex, with slightly rounded anterior and lateral margins, fronto-clypeal suture clearly visible; labrum only slightly shorter than clypeus, anterior margin slightly sinuate, weakly depressed in middle; mandibles robust, curved, longer than clypeus and labrum together; maxillary palpomeres subcylindrical, IV flattened; antennae (male Fig. 63 , female Fig. 64 ) not extending to posterior margin of pronotum, antennomere III more than 1/3 time longer than IV, IV–VII progressively longer and widened, VIII as long as IX, IX slightly narrower than VIII, X narrower than IX, IX widest before middle and narrowed to apex, with a transverse depressed line right in middle of curved part; in female last antennomere short. Pronotum ( Fig. 18 ) convex, slightly longer than wide, bulging on sides and slightly narrowing anteriad, fore portion without depression, posterior margin slightly depressed just in front of mesonotum; with one middle longitudinal furrow, punctation deep, interstices shiny, mesosternun as in Fig. 68 . Elytral pattern as in Fig. 69 , each elytron with two black spots on anterior third, middle fascia with sinuate posterior margin, and a wide black fascia on apical part with straight fore margin. Last male ventrite convex, posterior margin with a deep middle emargination; aedeagus ( Fig. 67 ) with endophallic hook slightly narrow, distal aedeagal hook scarcely curved, far from proximal one and almost at apex; gonoforceps ( Figs 65–66 ) in ventral view regularly narrowed, in lateral view sinuate in last third but not curved.

Taxonomic remarks. This new species is very similar to H. sexmaculatus and in some ways to H. pirata , but can be distinguished by the shape of last antennomere of male which has a transverse depressed line in the middle of the curved part, by the shape of the pronotum which is slightly longer than wide, by the elytral pattern which middle fascia is wide and has always sinuate hind margin, and by the shape of male genitalia. We failed to find fresh material for this species for DNA extraction, but we hope future molecular studies may reveal the phylogenetic relationships among these species.

Distribution. Hycleus hayki sp. n. is hitherto known from southwestern Iran.

Etymology. The species is named after Hayk Mirzayans, orthopterist and founder of Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum (HMIM), the largest insect collection of Iran. He was the first to draw up the blister beetles of the HMIM coleoptera collection and to publish a contribution to the knowledge of Meloidae of Iran.

Figures

FIGURES 13–24. Head and pronotum of: 13. Hycleus apicipennis; 14. H. balteatus; 15 H. bipunctatus; 16. H. cingulatus; 17. H. colligatus; 18. H. hayki; 19. H. lindbergi; 20. H. pirata; 21. H. schauffelei; 22. H. sexmaculatus; 23. H. tenuepictus; 24. H. trianguliferus.

FIGURES 63–69. Hycleus hayki Serri & Bologna: 63. male antenna; 64. female antenna; 65. tegmen, ventral view; 66. tegmen, lateral view; 67. aedeagus, lateral view; 68. mesosternum; 69. elytral pattern. Scale bar: 1 mm.