Monolepta rubripennis, Lei & Xu & Yang & Nie, 2021

Lei, Qi-long, Xu, Si-yuan, Yang, Xing-ke & Nie, Rui-E, 2021, Five new species of the leaf-beetle genus Monolepta Chevrolat (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae) from China, ZooKeys 1056, pp. 35-57 : 35

Monolepta rubripennis sp. nov.

Figs 35-44

Type material.

Holotype: China • ♂; Sichuan, Mount Emei, Baoguo temple; 550-750 m; 2-VI-1957; Ke-ren Huang leg. (IZAS). Paratypes: China • 2♀♀; Hunan, Guiding, Sidu, Xinlong village; 12-VII-2008; Hong-bin Liang leg. • 1♂; Fujian, Chongan, Xing village, Sangang; 740 m; 4-VI-1960; Yong Zuo leg. • 1♀; Sichuan, Mount Emei, Baoguo temple; 550-750 m; Ke-ren Huang leg.; 2-VI-1957 • 1♀; Mount Emei; 28-II-1955; Ke-ren Huang leg. • 1♀; Sichuan, Mount Emei, Baoguo temple; 550-750 m; 29-V-1957; Zong-yuan Wang leg. (all IZAS).

Description.

Length: 4.5-5.5 mm, width 2.2-3.0 mm. Holotype: length 5.5 mm, width 2.8 mm.

Head, pronotum, prothorax, and legs black; scutellum, elytra, mesothorax, metathorax, and abdomen orange to reddish brown. Basal 1/2 of hind femur orange.

Vertex slightly convex with transverse wrinkle visible only laterally, punctures sparsely and irregularly distributed; frontal tubercle developed, deeply divided by ecdydial suture, triangular, not very glabrous and with many wrinkles on; antennae reach half of the body, 1st segment arc-shaped, length ratio of segment 2nd and 3rd 19:21, length ratio of 4th and the combination of 2nd and 3rd 23:18.

The pronotum is about 1.7 times as broad as long; disc slightly convex, shallowly depressed on each side; surface with irregular strong punctures, densely distributed near anterior margin, sparsely near basal margin. Anterior coxal cavities open.

Scutellum triangular, smooth and impunctate. Elytra is about 1.4 times as long as broad; basal part wider than pronotum, humeral angle obvious; punctures on elytra evenly distributed, with very short seta, space between punctures about 2-4 times as diameter of punctures; epipleuron strongly narrowed after basal 1/3 and disappearing at the beginning of apex. Ventral side of mesothorax, metathorax and abdomen glabrous, covered with longhairs.

The width and length ratio of median apical lobe is 1.2 (apex width to length), 2.3 (basal width to length) (Fig. 39 ). The 1st segment of hind tarsi is about 1.5 times as long as remainder combined.

Male. Last ventrite of male with trilobite concavities. Aedeagus very slender and evenly narrowing from base to apex, apex rounded with a small cuspidate process. Tectum not reaching the apex of aedeagus, acute angle apex and curved towards ventral side (Fig. 43 ).

Female. Last ventrite of female normal. Spermathecal cornu curved strongly, middle part short, curved, very slender, nodulus small, nearly spherical. Ventral part of bursa sclerites fusiform, dorsal pair triangular, pointed at apex.

Etymology.

The specific epithet Monolepta rubripennis , rubripenne (meaning 'having red feathers or wings’) is a New Latin adjective formed from the Latin adjective ruber, rubra, - um ( ‘red’) and the Latin noun penna, - ae ( ‘feather’, ‘wing’); it refers to the red elytra of this species.

Distribution.

China: Hunan, Fujian, Sichuan.

Diagnosis.

This species is similar to M. rufipennis Jacoby, 1899 and M. langbianica Kimoto, 1989. The main differences are the following: M. rubripennis sp. nov. has. an orange abdomen and black antennae, whereas M. rufipennis has a black abdomen and yellow antennae, and M. langbianica has yellowish-brown antennae and a yellowish-brown abdomen.

Figures

Figures 35 - 44. Monolepta rubripennis sp. nov. (holotype) 35 dorsal view 36 lateral view 37 frontal view 38 ventral view of 5 th ventrite, female 39 ditto, male 40 spermatheca 41 bursa sclerites 42 aedeagus, dorsal view 43 ditto, lateral view 44 ditto, ventral view. Scale bars: 1 mm (35 - 39, 42 - 44); 0.5 mm (40, 41).