Moronoserica renong Ahrens, Lukic

Ahrens, Dirk, Liu, Wangang, Lukic, Daniel & Bai, Ming, 2023, A taxonomic review of Microserica Brenske, 1894 from continental Asia (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Sericini), Zootaxa 5241 (1), pp. 1-115 : 65-66

Moronoserica renong Ahrens, Lukic & Liu, new species

Figs. 20K–O , 31

Type material examined. Holotype: Ô “ Siam Renong / Doherty / Fry Coll. 1905.100. / 529 Asia Sericini spec.” ( BMNH) . Paratype: 1 Ô “ Mt. Phu Rua Summit Loei Prov. NE Thailand 24.V.2004 Y. Komiya leg.” ( ZFMK) .

Description of the holotype. Length: 5.2 mm, length of elytra: 3.6 mm, width: 3.2 mm. Body oval, brown; antenna yellow; frons, small spots elytral intervals, and multiple smaller, symmetric spots on each side of pronotum darker, with greenish shine; dorsal surface iridescent shiny, partly dull, labroclypeus simply shiny; dorsal surface almost evenly and moderately densely covered with small white setae, elytra with single long erect setae, dark spots glabrous.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal and narrow, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles convex, lateral border and ocular canthus produce an indistinct obtuse angle, anterior and lateral margins moderately reflexed, anterior margin weakly emarginate medially; surface weakly convex medially and shiny, finely and densely punctate, with a few erect setae; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly impressed and weakly curved; smooth area in front of eye 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and triangular, almost sparsely finely punctate, with a short terminal seta. Frons dull, anteriorly narrowly shiny, glabrous, with fine and moderately dense punctures, beside eyes with a few long, single setae. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/ interocular width: 0.61. Antenna yellow, with ten antennomeres; club with four antennomeres subequal in length, club as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum weakly convexly elevated anteriorly.

Pronotum narrow, widest at base, lateral margins weakly curved and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles moderately produced and acute, posterior angles moderately blunt; anterior margin convex, with a distinct and fine marginal line; basal margin without marginal line; surface with dense and fine punctures, with adpressed, moderately dense, white, short setae, darker sport with less dense punctures; anterior and lateral borders sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate, its basal margin weakly produced ventrally. Scutellum narrow and short, apex weakly rounded, with fine and moderately dense punctures, with minute setae in punctures.

Elytra oval, widest at middle, striae finely impressed and finely densely punctate; intervals moderately convex and finely punctate, punctures concentrated long striae, throughout with fine, white setae in punctures, odd intervals with single, long, erect setae; before apex a large dark spot, also smaller dark spots impunctate; interior apical angle of elytron with a robust seta; epipleural edge robust but convex, ending at strongly convex external apical angle of elytra; epipleura densely setose, apical border broadly membraneous.

Ventral surface dull, with fine and dense punctures, with dense short setae, setae adpressed; metacoxa minutely setose, laterally with robust adpressed setae; each abdominal sternite with indistinct transversal row of coarse and dense punctures, sternite bearing short strong setae between fine and dense punctation, all sternites bearing minute white setae. Mesosternum between mesocoxae almost as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/1.62. Pygidium weakly convex, with fine and moderately dense punctures bearing fine white setae, with larger setae along on apical half, without smooth midline.

Legs moderately slender; femora on ventral surface dull, finely and moderately densely punctate, glabrous, with two longitudinal rows of setae; anterior edge of metafemur acute, with a robust adjacent continuously serrated line, posterior margin weakly convex and glabrous, ventrally weakly widened in apical half but not serrate, posterior margin dorsally not serrate. Metatibia moderately slender and long, widest at middle, ratio width/length: 1/2.7, dorsally longitudinally convex, with two groups of spines, the basal group at middle, apical one at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few single spines in the punctures; lateral face longitudinally convex, with dense and moderately coarse punctures, along the middle of lateral face narrowly impunctate, punctures with minute setae, with a straight serrated line from base to posterior group of spines which is interrupted by anterior group of spines; ventral margin sharp and serrated, with four robust, equidistant spines; medial face impunctate and smooth, apex interiorly (near tarsal articulation) distinctly truncate. Tarsomeres dorsally glabrous and impunctate, ventrally with a very few sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres ventrally with a single strongly serrated carina, a subventral carina lacking, first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined and distinctly longer than dorsal metatibial spur. Protibia short, bidentate, protarsal claws symmetrical.

Aedeagus: Fig. 20K–N . Habitus: Fig. 20O . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Moronoserica renong Ahrens, Lukic & Liu, new species differs from Mor. helferi ( Bohacz &Ahrens, 2020) by the long, erect setae on odd intervals of elytra, the narrower and more strongly curved right paramere as well as by the left lamina of phallobase, which has in Mor. renong Ahrens, Lukic & Liu, new species a large hooked before apex (lateral view); in Mor. helferi the preapical ventral hook of phallobase is only small.

Etymology. The name of the new species (noun in apposition) is derived from the type locality of the species, Renong.

Variation. Length: 5.1–5.2 mm, length of elytra: 3.5–3.6 mm, width: 3.1–3.2 mm.

Figures

FIGURE 20.A–E: Moronoserica squamulatoidesAhrens, Lukic & Liu, new species (holotype); F–J: Mor. banmethout Ahrens, Lukic & Liu, new species (holotype); K–O: Mor. renong Ahrens, Lukic & Liu, new species (holotype). A, F, K: Aedeagus, left side lateral view; D, I, N: Aedeagus, right side lateral view; C, H, M: Parameres, dorsal view; B, G, L: Phallobase, dorsal view; E, J, O: Habitus (not to scale). Scale: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 31. Distribution of the genus MoronosericaAhrens, Lukic & Liu, new genus.The unlocalized records of Moronoserica helferi (Bohacz & Ahrens, 2020) and Mor. tenasserimensis (Bohacz & Ahrens, 2020) from Myanmar are not shown here.