Serica (Serica) liyitengi Ahrens, Zhao, Pham & Liu, 2024

Ahrens, Dirk, Zhao, Ming-Zhi, Pham, Phu Van & Liu, Wan-Gang, 2024, Taxonomic updates on Pachyserica Brenske, 1898 and Serica MacLeay, 1819 reveal 38 new species and new challenges of Sericini systematics regarding DNA barcodes and genus-level diagnostic key characters (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Sericinae), Zootaxa 5491 (1), pp. 1-89 : 22-23

Serica (Serica) liyitengi Ahrens, Zhao, Pham & Liu , new species

Fig. 8A–F

Type material examined. Holotype ♂ “ CHINA: Guangxi, Guilin, Xing’an, Mts. Yuechengling 25°52′21″N, 110°25′2″E 2008m 7.VI.2023 Yi-Teng Li leg.” ( SCAU) . Paratypes: 3 ♂♂ “ CHINA: Guangxi, Guilin, Xing’an, Mts. Yuechengling 25°52′21″N, 110°25′2″E 2008m 7.VI.2023 Yi-Teng Li leg.” ( CZMZ) , 7 ♂♂ “ CHINA: Guangxi, Guilin, Xing’an, top of Mao’ershan 2087m 25.866187°N, 110.413211°E 2023.V.23 Xiao-Han Ye leg.” ( CZMZ) , 1 ♂ “ CHINA: Guangxi, Guilin, Xing’an, top of Mao’ershan 2087m 25.866187°N, 110.413211°E 2023.V.23 Xiao-Han Ye leg. / Se-YC-03” ( CZMZ) .

Additional material examined. 1 ♂ [ China] “ Qiujiaba , Wen County, Gansu, 19.VI.1999, 2500m, leg. Wang Hongjian / LW-147 / Asia Sericini 1323 spec.” ( IZAS) .

Description of holotype. Length: 10.2 mm, length of elytra: 7.5 mm, width: 4.9 mm. Body oblong, dark brown, head even darker, legs reddish brown, antenna yellow, elytra with more or less large, dark spots, punctures on elytra lighter, dorsal surface dull; elytra with sparse, short, adpressed, white setae, except dense and long pilosity on frons glabrous.

Labroclypeus little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margin convex and moderately convergent anteriorly, anterior angles weakly rounded, anterior margin widely and deeply emarginate medially, margins strongly reflexed; surface flat, shiny, finely punctate, densely and transversely wrinkled, with a few long, erect setae behind anterior margin; frontoclypeal suture distinct, finely incised and weakly curved; smooth area anterior to eye large and convex, as wide as long; ocular canthus short and narrow triangular (1/6 of ocular diameter), smooth, with a short terminal seta. Frons flat, entirely dull; surface with fine and dense punctures and with dense, fine, long setae. Eyes large, ratio diameter/interocular width: 0.9. Antenna with nine antennomeres; antennomeres six and seven transverse and short; club with three antennomeres, 1.3 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined and weakly reflexed. Mentum strongly elevated and anteriorly flattened. Labrum transverse, short, moderately produced, deeply emarginate medially.

Pronotum transverse, almost twice as wide as long, widest at base, lateral margins moderately convex and strongly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles weakly produced and rounded, posterior angles blunt, rounded at tip; anterior margin medially convex, anterior marginal line medially incomplete; surface densely and finely punctate, on disc with two transverse impressions, midline narrowly impunctate, with a few fine, white, adpressed, short setae, otherwise only with minute setae in punctures or glabrous; anterior and lateral margins with moderately long and sparse setae; hypomeron not carinate. Scutellum slender and long, dull, triangular, finely and densely punctate, base and midline widely impunctate.

Elytra oblong, widest at apical third, striae weakly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals flat, with fine, moderately dense punctures, dark spots completely smooth; all intervals with sparse, short, adpressed, white, setae; epipleural edge fine, ending at moderately curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border chitinous, without membranous rim of fine microtrichomes (magnification 100x).

Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, metasternum partly densely setose, metacoxa glabrous, only with a few long setae laterally; abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, with a transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short, robust seta, otherwise finely densely setose. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as the slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.24. Pygidium moderately convex and dull, finely and densely punctate, smooth midline lacking, with dense, long and short setae.

Legs slender; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, between rows coarsely and not densely punctate, with robust setae on basal half; metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, without a continuously serrated line behind anterior margin, ventral posterior margin serrated in apical half and not widened, dorsal posterior margin completely serrated, in basal half with a few long setae which are half as long as width of metafemur. Metatibia slender and long, widest at apex, ratio of width/length: 1/4.5; dorsal margin sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group shortly before middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few single, robust setae; lateral face longitudinally concave, impunctate but irregularly wrinkled; ventral margin serrated, with two widely separated, robust setae; medial face with a shallow longitudinal groove medially, sparsely punctate and glabrous; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation distinctly but bluntly truncate. Tarsomeres ventrally with sparse, minute setae, dorsally impunctate and without wrinkles; metatarsomeres laterally and dorsally carinate, ventrally with a strongly serrated ridge, glabrous; first metatarsomere distinctly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and twice as long as dorsal tibial spur. Protibia long, bidentate, external margin with a few small teeth in base half; anterior claws asymmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw wide, with an acute and produced apex, basal tooth of external claw normal, sharply pointed at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 8A–D . Habitus: Fig. 8E–F . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Serica liyitengi new species differs from all other species of the subgenus Serica by the rather voluminous phallobase as well as its dorsomedial apical impression; in a similar way, also the parameres are rather high (in lateral view) compared to most species of the subgenus Serica .

Etymology. This new species (genitive singular case) is named after Mr. Yi-Teng Li ( Macau) who presented a series of this new species to one of us. Based on this series we were able to recognize which might be the right type locality of the species. The collection labels of the specimen from Gansu are probably incorrect.

Variation. Length: 10.0– 10.2 mm, length of elytra: 7.5–8.1 mm, width: 5.0– 5.4 mm.

Figures

FIGURE 8. A–F: Serica liyitengi new species (holotype); G–L: S. gongtonggouensis new species (holotype); A, I: aedeagus, left side lateral view; D, L: aedeagus, right side lateral view; C, K: parameres, dorsal view; B, J: aedeagus, dorsal view; E, G: habitus, dorsal view; F, H: habitus, lateral view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm. Habitus images not to scale.