Nipponoserica alloshanghaiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi, & Liu

Liu, Wan-Gang, Fabrizi, Silvia, Yang, Xingke, Bai, Ming & Ahrens, Dirk, 2017, New species of Nipponoserica and Paraserica from China (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Sericini), ZooKeys 721, pp. 65-91 : 66-69

Nipponoserica alloshanghaiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi, & Liu sp. n. Figures 1 E–I, 4

Type material examined.

Holotype: ♂ "Mts. Lushan, 10.V.1977, leg. Zhang Youwei" (IZAS). Paratypes: 3 ♀♀ "Mts. Lushan, 10.V.1977, leg. Zhang Youwei" (IZAS, ZFMK).

Diagnosis.

Nipponoserica alloshanghaiensis sp. n. has distinctly longer parameres; each parameres has a sharp median tooth in the middle (at the level of its insertion to phallobase).

Description.

Length: 7.8 mm, length of elytra: 6.4 mm, width: 4.6 mm. Body oblong, yellow, frons darker brown, antenna yellowish brown, dorsal surface moderately shiny and glabrous.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal and moderately wide, widest at base; lateral margins weakly convex and moderately convergent with moderately rounded anterior angles, lateral border and ocular canthus producing a distinct blunt angle; margins weakly reflexed; anterior margin distinctly sinuate medially; surface weakly convex medially and shiny, finely and very densely punctate, distance between punctures less than their diameter, anteriorly with a few long, erect setae. Frontoclypeal suture feebly incised and medially weakly angled; smooth area in front of eye short, approximately 2.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and slender, finely and densely punctate with a short single terminal seta. Frons with fine and sparsely but regularly scattered punctures, with a few short setae beside eyes. Eyes large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.83. Antenna with nine antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, three times as long as remaining antennomeres combined, strongly reflexed. Mentum elevated and flattened anteriorly. Labrum slightly produced and deeply sinuate medially.

Pronotum wide and transverse, widest shortly before base, lateral margins weakly convex and weakly narrowed anteriorly; anterior angles moderately produced and blunt, posterior angles right angled but strongly rounded at tip; anterior margin strongly and convexly produced medially with a distinct and broad marginal line; basal margin without marginal line; hypomeron distinctly margined at base; surface with moderately dense and fine punctures, with microscopic setae in punctures, otherwise glabrous; anterior and lateral borders sparsely setaceous. Scutellum narrow and long, well pointed at apex, with fine and moderately dense punctures.

Elytra oblong, widest in posterior third, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate; intervals weakly convex, with fine and dense punctures concentrated along striae, glabrous except for a few fine setae on penultimate lateral interval; epipleural border robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle; epipleura densely setaceous; apical border chitinous with a very fine rim of short microtrichomes (visible at 100x magnification).

Ventral surface dull or shiny, with moderately dense, large punctures, sparsely setose, only metasternal disc with a few longer setae. Metacoxa glabrous, laterally with a few fine setae. Abdominal sternites with fine, dense punctation, each with indistinct transversal row of coarse punctures bearing a short seta; penultimate sternite with a shallow and short median furrow, apical margin of sternite tooth-like elevated beside furrow. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as mesofemur, with irregularly scattered, strong setae. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/1.2. Pygidium dull, moderately convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, without smooth midline, with sparse short setae and a few longer setae adjacent to apical margin.

Legs slender, shiny; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate. Metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, without a submarginal serrated line; posterior margin straight with a few strong setae medially, ventrally weakly widened in apical half and serrate; dorsally serrated with short setae. Metatibia slender and long, widest shortly before apex, ratio width/length: 1/4.5; dorsal margin sharply carinate, with one group of spines (basal group of spines reduced) at four-fifths of metatibial length, basally with a few single spines in punctures; external face beside dorsal margin longitudinally roof-like carinate, impunctate but with some longitudinal, very superficial wrinkles; ventral margin finely serrate, with three fine setae, of which the two apical are more distant; medial face impunctate but superficially wrinkled; apex bluntly truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres glabrous and impunctate dorsally, with sparse, short setae ventrally; metatarsomeres dorsally with weak longitudinal impressions, ventrally with a strongly serrated ridge and a fine longitudinal carina laterally; first metatarsomere little longer than second, one third of its length longer than the upper tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, protarsal claws symmetrical.

Etymology.

The name of the new species is combined from the Greek prefix allo- (other than) and the species name shanghaiensis , with reference to the very similar Nipponoserica shanghaiensis Ahrens.

Variation.

Length: 7.8-8.8 mm, length of elytra: 6.4-7.1 mm, width: 4.6-4.9 mm. Female: Antennal club short, slightly shorter than remaining antennomeres combined; eyes small, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.58.