Nepaloserica cheemaensis Bhunia, Gupta, Chandra & Ahrens, 2021

Bhunia, Debika, Gupta, Devanshu, Chandra, Kailash & Ahrens, Dirk, 2021, New species and records of Sericini of India (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae Melolonthinae) II., Zootaxa 5081 (4), pp. 594-600 : 598-599

Nepaloserica cheemaensis Bhunia, Gupta, Chandra & Ahrens , new species

( Figs. 9–12 )

Type locality. India: Sikkim, Cheema , 27.570030N, 88.477300E .

Type material. Holotype, ♂: “ India: Sikkim, Cheema , 27.570030N, 88.477300E, 25.vii.1989,leg. S. Chatterjee ” ( NZSI). The specimens bear a red printed label: “ Maladera cheemaensis sp. n., HOLOTYPE, Debika Bhunia, Devanshu Gupta, Dirk Ahrens & Kailash Chandra, Det. 2021”.

Description of holotype. Body. Length: 12.8 mm, length of elytra: 8.5 mm, width: 8.1 mm. Body oblong-oval; dorsal face dark reddish-brown; ventral face dark reddish-brown dull; head moderately shiny, surface glabrous, except few single setae.

Head. Labroclypeus trapezoidal, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins moderately convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, anteriorly weakly sinuate medially, margins moderately reflexed; surface flat and shiny, densely punctate, glabrous fine punctures mixed with coarse ones each bearing a long erect seta; frontoclypeal suture distinctly incised, flat and distinctly curved medially; smooth area anterior to eye moderately wide, weakly convex, approximately 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long (length =1/3 of ocular diameter) and slender, glabrous, with a long terminal seta. Frons completely dull, with fine and dense punctures, each bearing a long seta; setae behind frontoclypeal suture erect, remaining setae bent posteriorly. ocular canthus short and moderately narrow (1/4 of ocular diameter), finely and densely punctate, terminal seta absent. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly. Frons with dense, but fine punctures and with a single, long seta beside eyes. Eyes moderately large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.75. Antenna with ten antennomeres, club with seven antennomeres and weakly reflexed, twice as long as the remaining three antennomeres combined; antennomere 3 more than three times as long as the pedicellus. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly. Labrum distinctly produced medially, with a deep median sinuation.

Pronotum moderately transverse, widest at middle, lateral margins distinctly convex and weakly convergent posteriorly in basal half, but strongly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles distinctly produced and slightly rounded at tip, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin convexly produced medially, with a marginal line widely interrupted medially; surface densely and finely punctate, punctures each bearing moderately long, erect setae; setae of anterior and lateral border sparse being twice as long as setae on disc; hypomeron basally distinctly carinate but not produced. Scutellum slender and moderately long, triangular with the apex slightly rounded, with fine, moderately dense punctures, with only minute setae in punctures.

Elytra oblong, widest in posterior third, striae weakly impressed, finely and moderately densely punctate, intervals weakly convex, with sparse, fine punctures concentrated along striae, intervals with a very few fine white setae; epipleural edge fine, ending at moderately curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border with a very fine fringe of microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, metasternum densely covered with long setae on disc, glabrous on sides; metacoxa glabrous, with a few single setae laterally; abdominal sternites finely and unevenly densely punctuate, almost glabrous, with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a robust short seta; last abdominal sternite bearing a pair of minute tubercles medially separated from each other by the width of the metatibia. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as the slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/

metacoxa: 1/ 1.52. Pygidium weakly convex and dull, coarsely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, with a few semi-erect setae.

Legs slender; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate between the rows; metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, behind anterior edge without serrated line, posterior margin in apical half ventrally smooth and only weakly widened, posterior margin dorsally weakly serrated, on its basal portion with a few very long setae being subequal to width of metafemur. Metatibia slender and moderately long, widest at apex, ratio of width/ length: 1/ 3.6, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group at one third, apical group at two third of metatibial length, basally without strong setae; outside longitudinally convex, very finely and sparsely punctate; ventral edge finely serrated, with three robust setae, the apical one more widely separated from the middle one, medial face smooth, apex moderately sinuate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres ventrally with protarsomeres smooth, meso- and metatarsomeres with a few very fine punctures; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally, first metatarsomere a little shorter than the two following tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than the upper tibial spur. Protibia long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw sharply truncate at apex.

Aedeagus. Figs. 9–11 . Habitus. Fig. 12 . Female unknown.

Etymology. The name (adjective in the nominative singular) refers to the type locality Cheema, Sikkim ( India).

Distribution ( Fig. 13 ). Only known from the type locality.

Diagnosis. Nepaloserica cheemaensis new species is in the shape of the male genitalia and its external morphology similar to Nepaloserica vilya Ahrens & Sabatinelli, 1996 . Nepaloserica cheemaensis new species differs from the latter in the dense pilosity on pronotum, the longer antennal club in the male, and the more elongate phallobase ( Figs. 9–11 ).

Figures

FIGURE 13. Map of India showing type localities of the species.

FIGURES 1–12. 1–4. Microserica nicobarensis (Redtenbacher, 1868); 5–8. Maladera reyaensis Bhunia, Gupta, Chandra & Ahrens, new species; 9–12. Nepaloserica cheemaensis Bhunia, Gupta, Chandra & Ahrens, new species. (1, 5, 9) Aedeagus in lateral view (left); (2, 6, 10) Aedeagus in dorsal view; (3, 7, 11) Aedeagus in lateral view (right); (4, 8, 12) Habitus, dorsal view. Scale 0.5 mm; habitus not to scale.