Nothochodaeus martensi Huchet, 2020

Huchet, Jean-Bernard, 2020, Two new species of Nothochodaeus Nikolajev, 2005 from the Himalayan region (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Ochodaeidae), Insecta Mundi 2020 (778), pp. 1-11 : 7

Nothochodaeus martensi Huchet , new species ( Fig. 12-14 )

Type material. Holotype female (SMNS), labeled: a) white paper, rectangular, printed: “NEPAL- Expeditionen / Jochen Martens ”; b) white paper, rectangular, printed: “373 Taplejung Distr. , lower Gun- / sa Khola to Lungthung, open for- / est, bustes, 1650–1870 m, 18 may / 1988, MARTENS & SCHAWALLER”; c) white yellowish paper, rectangular, both handwritten and printed: Ochodaeus / det. SCHEUERN 91”; d) rectangular, red paper: “TYPE”; e) red paper: “ Nothochodaeus / martensi n. sp. / HOLOTYPE ♀ / J.-B. Huchet det. 2020”.

Diagnosis. Small-sized species, body short, robust, strongly convex, and densely pubescent. Bicolored, predominantly orange-brown with a darkened median patch on pronotum, and two transverse elytral stripes. Underside and legs orange-brown. The stridulatory peg is present.

Description. Holotype female ( Fig. 12, 14 ). Coleoptera : Scarabaeoidea: Ochodaeidae . Length: 8.2 mm (from the apex of the mandibles to the apical part of the tergite VIII). Width: 4.1 mm. Head: t ransverse, sub-hexagonal in outline, surface dull, covered with small setose granules separated by 1 to 1.5× their diameter. Clypeus transverse, subtrapezoidal, slightly declivous in front, the anterior margin sublinear, ciliate, with short testaceous bristles oriented forward; clypeal marginal membrane transverse, hyaline, reaching the labrum forward. A strong procurved clypeal carina reaching the anterior angles of the head. Labrum very transverse, widely emarginate and pubescent in front; eyes large, prominent, globose, lacking ventral projection of canthus. Mandibles subequal, falciform, slightly concave dorsally, apically pointed, their outer edge distinctly darkened. Mentum subquadrangular, the anterior margin slightly emarginate in the middle, the disc flat with sparse testaceous setae, tegument microreticulated. Antenna 10-segmented, 3-antennomere club, scape, pedicel, and funicle testaceous, club darkened, reddish-brown, shortly pubescent. Pronotum transverse, convex, entirely margined and with long pubescence on edges; front angles obtuse, projecting forward, slightly tilted down, the posterior angles obtusely rounded. Anterior margin slightly emarginate behind the head, with a thin hyaline orange membrane in front. A distinct fovea on both sides, distally darkened. Pronotal surface roughly and densely granulate, the granules setose with long setae; tegument orange-brown, with the exception of a darkened medio-basal transverse patch and a median triangular area, rearward facing top, extending from the anterior margin to the basal edge. Elytra transverse, narrower than pronotum, densely pubescent, entirely margined except from the area in front of the humeral callus; punctation of interstriae strong and tight consisting of small setose granules on a microreticulate background, setae distinctly darker than those present on head and pronotum; elytra punctato-striate, striae well impressed, consisting of a single row of sunk punctures separated by 0.5 to 1× their diameter; juxtasutural interstria narrowly margined on its inner edge, orange colored. Elytral tegument orange-brown, a median darkened transverse strip, consisting of staggered spots, extending from interstriae 2 to 7; a second transverse strip at the apical third, complete with the exception of two lighter rounded spots located in the apical declivity. Humeral callus present, well-marked, distinctly darkened. Scutellum black, triangular elongate, surface slightly concave with coarse setose punctures. Abdomen convex, shiny, yellowish orange; surface of ventrites with sparse minute setigerous granules on the disc and larger long pubescent granules along the anterior margin of each ventrite; basal edge of each ventrite finely darkened. Tergite VIII (pygidium) pubescent, orange-brown, with the exception of yellowish para-median spots along anterior margin. Tergite VII (propygidium) yellowish, with trapezoidal interlocking mechanism. Metasternal process transverse, flat, with sparse setae on both sides of the median area. Mesocoxae widely separated. Stridulatory peg (sternite VI) present. Legs: Protibia tridentate externally, the basal tooth very reduced. Femurs without accessory teeth, their surface with two parallel rows of setose punctures. Upper spur of metatibia as long as the first metatarsomere.

Sexual dimorphism. Unknown.

Etymology. This species is cordially dedicated to Professor Jochen Martens, famous German zoologist, specialist of the biodiversity of the Nepalese and Indian Himalayas.

Distribution. Nepal ( Fig. 17 ).

Figures

Figure 17. Distribution map of Nothochodaeus yeti Huchet, new species (red dots, the type locality with a black spot) and N. martensi Huchet, new species (blue square with a white spot) in Northern India (Sikkim) and Nepal.

Figures 12–14. Nothochodaeus martensi Huchet, new species, female holotype. 12) Habitus, dorsal view. 13) Labels. 14) Habitus, latero-dorsal view.