Selasia jenisi, Kundrata & Sormova, 2018

Kundrata, Robin & Sormova, Eliska, 2018, Selasia dembickyi sp. nov., the first member of Drilini (Coleoptera: Elateridae) from South East Asia, with the description of S. jenisi sp. nov. from Nepal, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 58 (2), pp. 513-518 : 514-517

Selasia jenisi sp. nov.

( Figs 3–4, 6, 8, 14–17 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♂, ‘ NEPAL, from Pokhara to Dana road , 12.–25. 8. 1997, 1000–2000 m, A. Křížová lgt.’ ( NMPC; ex coll. Ivo Jeniš).

Description of holotype. Body ( Figs 3–4 ) 2.60 times as long as width at humeri; brown to dark brown, antennomere branches and elytra darker, antennomeres I and II, prothorax and legs yellowish brown; body surface covered with yellow semi-erect pubescence.

Head ( Fig. 3 ) including eyes 0.75 times as wide as pronotum, surface slightly uneven, with shallow median depression between antennal insertions, sparsely and finely punctate, covered with sparse, long, semi-erect pubescence. Fronto-clypeal region relatively wide, slightly convex, overreaching base of labrum. Eyes rather large, their frontal distance 1.45 times eye diameter. Labrum transverse, sparsely punctate, with several long, semi-erect setae. Mandibles robust, relatively long, bidentate; base with long setae, apical part bare, shiny. Maxillary palpi slender, penultimate palpomere shortest, longer than wide, apical palpomere about twice as long as penultimate palpomere, slightly widened medially, apically flattened, obliquely cut. Antenna ( Fig. 6 ) with 11 antennomeres, flabellate; scape robust, gradually widened apically, pedicel short, length ratio of antennomeres II–IV 1.00: 2.60: 1.15; antennomere III elongate, slightly longer than following antennomeres, with elongate branch which is about 1.3 times as long as stem; antennomeres IV–X short, subequal in length, with long, flattened branches, branches about eight times as long as their stems; ultimate antennomere simple, longest, slightly longer than branch of penultimate antennomere; all antennomeres covered with moderately dense pubescence.

Pronotum ( Fig. 8 ) transverse, slightly convex, widest at anterior third, 1.65 times wider than long. Anterior margin slightly bisinuate, lateral margins unevenly rounded, gradually narrowed toward posterior angles, posterior margin simple, widely arcuately emarginate medially. Anterior angles inconspicuous; posterior angles short, subrectangular. Lateral pronotal carina almost complete; sublateral carinae near posterior angles short. Surface of disc almost smooth, sparsely shallowly punctate, with sparse and long semi-erect pubescence. Hypomeron smooth. Prosternum transverse, medially transversely slightly grooved, with long semi-erect setae; prosternal process minute, short, sharp.

Scutellar shield flat, subtriangular, very slightly longer than wide; sparsely punctate, anterior margin convex, gradually declivitous, posterior margin narrowly rounded. Mesoventrite widely v-shaped, with frontal margin widely concave; mesoventral cavity with indistinct borders. Elytra ( Figs 3–4 ) subparallel-sided, both combined 1.85 times as long as wide, 0.70 times as long as body, 3.85 times as long as pronotum, rugose, basally indistinctly striate, with apices separately rounded, very sparsely punctate, covered with long, semi-erect pubescence.

Legs slender, slightly compressed, with sparse, long, semi-erect setae; tarsomere I slightly shorter than tarsomere II, widened apically, tarsomere II elongate, slightly longer than tarsomere III, tarsomere IV shortest, minute, lobed ventrally, apical tarsomere slender, elongate; claws simple, slender, slightly curved, each with long seta basally.

Abdomen soft, ventrites with moderately sparse shallow punctures, covered with semi-erect pubescence; penultimate ventrite widely emarginate medially. Tergite IX ( Fig. 15 ) transverse, about twice as wide as long; tergite X about as wide as long, apically membranous, covered with sparse setae. Sternite IX ( Fig. 14 ) about 1.6 times as long as wide, slightly notched basally, rounded apically, apex finely punctate and sparsely setose.

Male genitalia ( Figs 16–17 ) 1.9 times as long as maximum phallobase width; median lobe robust, slightly longer than phallobase, curved in lateral view, basally with two short struts, dorsally with robust subapical hook; parameres relatively short and wide, widely rounded apically, apex partly membranous, with sparse short setae; phallobase robust, u-shaped, about as wide as long.

Measurements. BL 6.80 mm, WHum 2.60 mm, EL 4.80 mm, WHe 1.55 mm, PL 1.25 mm, PW 2.05 mm, Edist 0.90 mm, Ediam 0.60 mm.

Differential diagnosis. Selasia jenisi sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from S. nigrobrunnea Kundrata, 2017 and S. atriventris Pic, 1914 (both also from Nepal) by its characteristically robust habitus and body coloration ( S. nigrobrunnea has the pronotum distinctly darker than remaining body parts, S. atriventris has the whole body light-colored, i.e., yellowish brown to brown). The new species shares similar body coloration (i.e., the antennal branches and elytra darker than remaining body parts) with S. boruckae Kundrata, 2012 from central Nepal. The latter species differs in having the body narrower with relatively long elytra which are usually more than 4.50 times as long as pronotum (3.85 times in S. jenisi sp. nov.), relatively small eyes with their frontal distance 1.65–1.80 times eye diameter (1.45 times in S. jenisi sp. nov.), distinctly diverging posterior angles of pronotum (short and subrectangular in S. jenisi sp. nov.), and the phallobase longer than wide (about as long as wide in S. jenisi sp. nov.).

Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym in honor of Ivo Jeniš (Lutín, Czech Republic).

Distribution. Central Nepal ( Fig. 20 ).

Figures

Figs 1–17. Habitus images of Selasia species. 1 – Selasia dembickyi sp. nov., dorsal view; 2 – S. dembickyi sp. nov., lateral view. 3 – S. jenisi sp. nov., dorsal view; 4 – S. jenisi sp. nov., lateral view. 5–6 – antenna (5 – S. dembickyi sp. nov.; 6 – S. jenisi sp. nov.). 7–8 – pronotum (7 – S. dembickyi sp. nov.; 8 – S. jenisi sp. nov.). 9–13 – Selasia dembickyi sp. nov.: 9 – abdominal sternite IX; 10 – abdominal tergite IX; 11 – abdominal tergite X; 12 – aedeagus, dorsal view; 13 – aedeagus, lateral view. 14–17 – Selasia jenisi sp. nov.: 14 – abdominal sternite IX; 15 – abdominal tergites IX–X; 16 – aedeagus, dorsal view; 17 – aedeagus, lateral view. Scale bars = 2.0 mm (Figs 1–4), 0.5 mm (Figs 5–9, 14–15), 0.2 mm (Figs 10–13, 16–17).

Fig. 20. The distribution of Selasia species in the southern part of Asia. Selasia decipiens Guérin-Menéville, 1843 is not included in the map because its exact distribution in India is not known.