Cornucistela anichtchenkoi, Novák & Nabozhenko, 2019

Novák, Vladimír & Nabozhenko, Maxim, 2019, A new species of Cornucistela Campbell, 1980 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae: Gonoderina) from Iran, Zootaxa 4612 (2), pp. 267-274 : 268-271

Cornucistela anichtchenkoi sp. nov.

( Figs 1–7 , 11 )

Type locality. Iran, South Khorasan Province, 10 km west of Deh Salm.

Type. Holotype (male): wl with bf: IRAN /S Khorasan prov.,/ 10 km W of Deh Salm / 26.V.2008 /leg. A.Anichtchenko. Coordinates: 31°12ʹ60ʺN, 59°17ʹ40ʺ ( ZIN).

Holotype is provided with printed red label: Cornucistela anichtchenkoi sp. nov. / Holotype /V. Novák & M. Nabozhenko det. 2018.

Description. Habitus as in Fig. 1 , body elongate oval, from pale brown to reddish brown, dorsal surface moderately shiny, with very short pale setation (visible only from lateral view) and long and dense, pale setae near posterior angles of pronotum and humeri, BL 6.23 mm. Widest near half of elytral length; BL/EW 2.37.

Head ( Fig. 2 ) dark reddish brown, rather matte, distinctly wider than long. Posterior part with a few dark setae behind eyes, dense and coarse punctuation (puncture diameter subequal to distance between punctures), punctures behind eyes smaller than medium sized punctures between eyes, interspaces between punctures narrow, with microgranulation. Anterior part with shallower and sparser punctuation than posterior part, apex and epistome pale brown, with microgranulation, punctuation indistinct. HW 1.28 mm; HW/PW 0.55; HL (visible part) 0.95 mm. Mandibles pale brown with outer sides and apex darker. Eyes relatively large, transverse, distinctly excised. Space between eyes relatively wide, distinctly wider than transverse diameter of one eye, OI equal to 40.23. Maxillary palpomeres ochre yellow with short, yellow setae.

Antennae ( Fig. 3 ). Short (with only three apical antennomeres extending beyond base of pronotum), pale brown, with short, pale setation, fine microgranulation and small, sparse and shallow punctures. Antennomere 1 transverse and slightly darker, antennomeres 1 and 2 slightly shiny, antennomeres 3–11 rather mat. antennomeres 3–10 serrate, antennomeres 4–10 wider than long. AL 2.15 mm; AL/BL 0.35. Antennomere 2 shortest, antennomere 3 longest, antennomeres 4–11 shorter than length of antennomere 3. Antennomere 11 narrow, elongate, with obtuse comeshaped apex.

RLA(1–11): 0.52:0.41:1.00:0.80:0.74:0.74:0.80:0.75:0.65:0.63:0.84.

RL/WA(1–11): 0.85:1.00:1.56:0.97:0.77:0.76:0.82:0.82:0.76:0.80:1.84.

Pronotum ( Fig. 2 ). Pale brown, slightly darker than elytron, broadly transverse, 1.84 times as wide as head, sides slightly arcuate, widest at base, distinctly wider than elytra at base, strongly narrowed to truncate apex. Dorsal surface with sparse and very short pale setae (visible only from lateral view), dense and shallow punctuation, punctures small sized, interpuncture space distinctly wider than puncture diameter. Base truncate medially, then abruptly concavely emarginate at lateral third. Disc slightly impressed medially, broadly deeply impressed before central third of base. PL 1.11 mm; PW 2.35 mm; PI equal to 47.23. Border lines not conspicuous, lateral margins slightly arcuate. Margins not beaded. Posterior angles roundly sharp angled, anterior angles obtuse, rounded. Anterior margin slightly emarginate.

Elytra 1.3 times as wide as pronotum and 2.05 times as wide as head. Pale brown, widest at middle, moderately shiny, dorsal surface with very short, pale suberect setation (visible only from lateral view). Strial punctures sparse, round and forming indistinct striae, especially at middle, where punctures depressed. Interstriae with very fine and sparse rasp-shaped punctuation and fine microgranulation ( Fig. 4 ). Humeri and elytral base with long and dense pale pubescence. EL 4.17 mm; EW 2.63 mm; EL/EW 1.59. Elytral suture narrowly depressed in basal half.

Scutellum. Pentagonally shaped, pale brown, slightly darker than elytra itself, with microgranulation.

Elytral epipleura. Pale brown as elytra itself, delimited by groove extending from near base to apical quarter of elytra.

Legs. Pale brown, narrow and long, with microgranulation and sparse, small punctures and pale setation. Pro- and metatibiae straight, mesotibiae very weakly bent. Penultimate tarsomere of each tarsi without membranous lobes. RLT: 1.00:0.65:0.64:0.60:2.02 (protarsi); 1.00:0.55:0.37:0.32:1.07 (mesotarsi); 1.00:0.37:0.29:0.61 (metatarsi).

Anterior tarsal claws with 8 or 9 visible teeth.

Ventral side of body. Pale brown, slightly shiny, with short pale setation and small punctures. Abdomen pale reddish brown with relatively dense and short, pale setation, very small punctures and microgranulation.

Aedeagus ( Figs. 5, 6 ). Ochre yellow, shiny. Basal piece slightly rounded laterally and distinctly narrowing dorsally. Apical piece beak shaped dorsally and laterally. Ratio of length of apical piece to length of basal piece 1: 1.98.

Female. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. See table 1 .

Etymology. A new species is dedicated to the collector, known specialist on Carabidae Aichtchenko (Daugavpils University, Latvia).

Bionomics. The species was collected under light trap in north of Dasht-e Lut desert with sand-stony habitats ( Fig. 7 ).

Distribution. Iran (South Khorasan Province).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Cornucistela anichtchenkoi sp. nov. (Holotype): 1—Habitus.

FIGURES 2–6. Cornucistela anichtchenkoi sp. nov. (Holotype): 2—head and pronotum; 3—antenna; 4—punctuation of elytron, 5—aedeagus, lateral view; 6—aedeagus, dorsal view.

FIGURE 7. Cornucistela anichtchenkoi sp. nov. (Holotype): 7—habitat of Cornucistela anichtchenkoi sp. nov.: Dasht-e Lut desert W of Deh Salm, Southern Khorasan Province, Iran (photo of Alexander Anichtchenko, 2008).

FIGURE 11. Distribution of the genus Cornucistela. Black circle—C. serrata, white circle—C. anichtchenkoi.