Araboplia, Uliana & Sabatinelli, 2017

Uliana, Marco & Sabatinelli, Guido, 2017, Araboplia lorisi new genus and species of Rutelinae from Saudi Arabia (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae), with comments on the subtribe Popilliina, European Journal of Taxonomy 373, pp. 1-12 : 4

Araboplia gen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:BE8189F2-2044-4EB2-BAE8-43C00824B437

Type species

Araboplia lorisi gen. et sp. nov.

Differential diagnosis

Within Popilliina , it is most close to the genus Dicranoplia Reitter, 1903 , from which it is distinct by the following characters states (on male): clypeus simple, not raised; peculiar shape of the anterior claw; spur of the anterior tibia short and blunt.

Description

Clypeus with anterior margin regular, poorly raised from lateral margins, not sinuate or notched in the middle.

Basal margin of pronotum broadly rounded, with the three-segmented partition typical of Popilliina (median part appearing truncate) almost imperceptible.

Elytra narrow, flattened, with maximum width just below the humeral region, then narrowing towards the apex. In dorsal view, the lateral margin is completely visible and straight in its medial part. In lateral view, the lateral margin is strongly sinuate, protruding in a large sub-humeral lobe and retreating in a broad concavity until the apical round.

Fore legs: tibia with two well-developed apical teeth, the position of the third tooth is marked by a hardly noticeable knob, apical tooth acute but with blunt apex, proximal tooth obtuse, both non-spiniform; apical spur vestigial, not visible from above as almost non-emerging from its socket; internal claw broader than the external one, asymmetrically separated at the apex, the internal margin bearing a broad and low expansion defining a deep and narrow basal notch, external claw simple. Mid legs: external claw separated at the apex, longer and much more curved than the internal one, which is not separated. Posterior legs: tibia enlarged from the base to the apex, not sinuated, with two lateral carinae; the proximal carina vestigial, placed at about mid length, only developed near the dorsal edge, and bearing 4–5 long setae, thick but not spiniform; the distal carina complete (covering the whole width of the tibia), placed near the apex, at about 5/6 of the whole length, and bearing short spiniform setae; both claws not separated, the external larger than the other but similar in shape.

Etymology

The name of the genus is derived from the area of occurrence of the species (the Arabian Peninsula) and the suffix – oplia, for assonance with other genera of Rutelinae including Dicranoplia Reitter, 1903 , the closest genus.