Anthelephila insperata, Kejval & Cz, 2010

Kejval, Zbyněk & Cz, Domažlice, 2010, Studies on the genus Anthelephila (Coleoptera: Anthicidae) 11. New species and records from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Oman, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (1), pp. 189-234 : 201-203

Anthelephila insperata sp. nov.

( Figs. 24–30 , 97 )

Type locality. Oman, Jabel Shans.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, ‘ Oman, Jabel Shans , 2000 m, 3 july 1995 leg. B. Skule // Formicomus nemrod Laferté det. G. Uhmann 1996’ ( SMNS) . PARATYPES: 6 ♀♀, same data as holotype ( SMNS, 2 specimens ZKDC).

Description (male, holotype). Body length 4.0 mm. Head reddish brown; pronotum reddish; elytra brown with reddish base and paired, vaguely outlined posthumeral spot; legs, antennae and palpi reddish, tarsi and 3–4 apical antennomeres darkened, reddish brown.

Head 1.4 times as long as wide, nearly evenly rounded posteriorly; tempora distinctly narrowing posteriad, their posterior angles absent; base clearly differentiated from short neck. Eyes conspicuously large, rather convex. Dorsal surface glossy, longitudinally corrugated along median margins of eyes, finely but distinctly punctate; punctation rather evenly developed, somewhat more distinct in anterior half. Setation pale, subdecumbent, with scattered, moderately longer erect setae. Antennae slightly enlarged in terminal third; antennomere X 2.1 times and antennomere XI 2.6 times as long as wide.

Pronotum 1.5 times as long as wide, slightly narrower than head across eyes, somewhat unevenly rounded anteriorly and distinctly impressed postero-laterally in dorsal view; pronotal disc evenly shaped, its outline more or less convex in lateral view. Surface glossy, largely smooth, rugose to transversely corrugated postero-dorsally shortly before base, postero-lateral impressions shortly and finely wrinkled, adjacent basal area somewhat rugose; dorsal median punctation similar to that on head. Setation as that on head.

Mesosternum and metasternum simple.

Elytra elongate, 2.1 times as long as wide, conjointly rounded apically; humeri protruding; postscutellar impression at most slightly indicated. Surface glossy, distinctly punctate; punctures simple, evenly spaced, about as coarse as but sparser than those on head. Setation pale, generally moderately longer than that on head, decumbent, with a few more raised (erect) setae.

Metathoracic wings fully developed.

Fore legs modified ( Figs. 24, 25 ); profemora with long and narrow process, flattened, truncate apically, with a dense row of short and stiff black setae on apical margin; protibiae moderately dilated on inner side at midlength and more distinctly lobed on their outer side distally; penultimate tarsomere widened and flattened distally, with terminal tarsomere articulated dorsally in all tarsi. Setation normally developed.

Abdominal characters as in Figs. 26–30 ; sternum III with a pair of conspicuous median projections shortly before posterior margin ( Fig. 26 ); tergum VII simple, evenly rounded posteriorly; paired prongs of sternite VIII strongly, arcuately curved in basal half in lateral view, nearly bilobed in apical half, their surface rather distinctly, densely setose along dorsal and ventral margins; apical portion of tegmen 0.6 times as long as basal piece, trilobed apically. Female. Externally differing from male by simple fore legs and shape of abdominal sternum III (lacking median projections) and sternum VII (evenly rounded posteriorly).

Variation. Body length (J ♀) 3.3–4.2 mm.

Differential diagnosis. Anthelephila insperata sp. nov. undoubtedly belongs to A. angustiformis species-group ( KEJVAL 2002b). It resembles especially A. macilenta (Bonadona, 1962) and A. multiformis Kejval, 2002 (both occurring in Oman and adjacent countries) by the rather elongate head and simply punctate elytra. It differs from the latter two species mainly by the much longer and conspicuous paired projections of male sternite III and bilobed prongs of male sternite VIII. Furthermore, it displays rather uneven posterior margin of male sternum VII with a slight median protuberance (with a quite distinct, rounded median process in A. macilenta ), wider protibiae armed with a smaller process on the outer edge (narrower with a conspicuous dent-like process in A. multiformis ) and nearly equally long apical lobes of tegmen (lateral lobes distinctly longer than median lobe in A. macilenta ).

Etymology. From Latin insperatus (unexpected); named in reference to the rather surprising discovery of another unknown species in Oman.

Distribution. Oman.

Figures

Figs. 24–30. Anthelephila insperata sp. nov., holotype (male). 24 – profemur and tibia; 25 –profemur in a different view; 26 – sternum III, median part in ventro-cranial view; 27 – sternum VII; 28 – sternite VIII in dorsal view (one half); 29 – tergite VIII; 30 – apical portion of tegmen of aedeagus. Scale = 0.2 mm: A – Fig. 30; B – Fig. 24; C – Figs. 26, 28; D – Figs. 27, 29.

Figs. 93–100. Anthelephila spp., body in dorsal view (males, holotypes). 93 – A. adivasi sp. nov.; 94 – A. bacillipes sp. nov.; 95 – A. bheri sp. nov.; 96 – A. comes sp. nov.; 97 – A. insperata sp. nov.; 98 – A. interposita sp. nov.; 99 – A. kailasa sp. nov.; 100 – A. kali sp. nov.