Anthelephila bheri, 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 : 195-196

Anthelephila bheri sp. nov.

( Figs. 13–18 , 95 )

Type locality. Nepal, Bheri zone, Dailekh district, Dailekh, south of Katia Khola, 800 m a.s.l.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, ‘ NEPAL, Prov. Bheri Distr. Dailekh , Dailekh, S Katia Khola 800 m, 31.V.1995, leg. A. Weigel // Anthelephilus imperator (Laf.) det. G. Uhmann 1996’ ( NKME).

Description (male, holotype). Body length 4.3 mm. Head and pronotum reddish brown; elytra brown black with reddish base; legs and palpi dark brown to brown black, basal narrowed portion of meso- and metafemora distinctly paler, yellowish brown; antennae with basal antennomeres reddish brown, darkening towards apex, apical 3–5 antennomeres brown black to black.

Head 1.2 times as long as wide, nearly evenly rounded posteriorly; posterior temporal angles indistinct, rounded. Eyes small, moderately convex. Surface largely smooth, glossy, somewhat uneven/rugose anteriorly on frons, conspicuously punctate; dorsal punctures large and rather shallow, rather densely spaced, sparser near base. Setation evenly short, subdecumbent to appressed, with sparse and short erect setae. Antennae moderately but distinctly enlarged in apical third; antennomere X 1.1 times and antennomere XI 1.9 times as long as wide.

Pronotum 1.4 times as long as wide, much narrower than head across eyes, nearly evenly rounded anteriorly, strongly narrowing posteriad and distinctly impressed and constricted postero-laterally in dorsal view ( Fig. 95 ); dorsal outline of pronotum convex in anterior two thirds, then impressed and distinctly bulging before base in lateral view; pronotal disc anteriorly with conspicuous median longitudinal impression/groove, apex of antebasal bulge vaguely divided medially by shallow impression. Surface smooth, glossy, posterior constriction of pronotum distinctly wrinkled laterally to dorso-laterally; dorsal punctation uneven, generally much finer and sparser than that on head, more distinct at convex places of anterior portion. Setation as that on head. Both mesosternum and metasternum simple.

Elytra 1.6 times as long as wide, convex, clearly truncate apically; humeri entirely obsolete; postscutellar impression absent. Surface glossy; punctation uneven, much finer and mostly sparser than that on head, with densely spaced, nearly contiguous punctures forming two paired oblique bands; anterior bands composed of short band and isolated median patch, posterior bands more conspicuous, directing from lateral sides antero-mediad. Setation similar to that on head but setae of dense punctures contrastingly whitish, thicker, quite appressed and forming distinct setose bands ( Fig. 95 ) and erect setae somewhat longer and more conspicuous and numerous. Metathoracic wings almost entirely reduced.

Fore legs modified ( Fig. 13 ); profemora slightly angulately produced on inner side; protibiae moderately widened and flattened in apical third; each protrochanter projecting into robust, blunt process; penultimate tarsomere narrow, terminal tarsomere articulated rather below its apex in metatarsi. Metatibiae rather distinctly and densely punctate, especially on inner side; setation normally developed.

Abdominal characters as in Figs. 14–18 ; sternum VI with a pair of postero-median protuberances. Sternum VII excavated and with peculiar bilobed median process; lateral sides of median process angulate and margins with long setae; tergum VII elongate, subtruncate, with apical margin slightly angulately produced medially, mostly rather convex, becoming flattened in apical fourth; paired prongs of sternite VIII arcuately curved ventrad; apical portion of tegmen 0.5 times as long as basal piece, trilobed apically.

Differential diagnosis. Anthelephila bheri sp. nov. belongs to the A. imperatrix speciesgroup ( KEJVAL 2007); it is very closely related to A. imperatrix LaFerté-Sénectère, 1849 and mainly to A. aratrix Kejval, 2007 . It differs from them by a larger body size (at most 3.7 mm in the other two species), rather less globose head, male protrochanters produced into conspicuous projection (simple in A. imperatrix , slightly angulately produced in A. aratrix ), slightly modified male profemora and protibiae (quite simple in the latter two species), the presence of a pair of protuberances on male sternum VI and the morphology of male sternum VII and sternite VIII.

Etymology. Named after the type locality (Bheri zone), noun in apposition.

Distribution. Nepal.

Figures

Figs. 13–18. Anthelephila bheri sp. nov., holotype (male). 13 – fore leg without tarsus; 14 – sternum VII; 15 – tergum VII; 16 – sternite and tergite VIII in dorso-caudal view; 17 – the same in lateral view; 18 – apical portion of aedeagus. Scale = 0.5 mm: A – Fig. 13; B – Fig. 15; 0.2 mm: A – Fig. 18; C – Figs. 14, 16, 17.

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.