Uloma kergoati L. Soldati

Soldati, Laurent, Kergoat, Gael J., Clamens, Anne-Laure, Jourdan, Herve, Jabbour-Zahab, Roula & Condamine, Fabien L., 2014, Integrative taxonomy of New Caledonian beetles: species delimitation and definition of the Uloma isoceroides species group (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Ulomini), with the description of four new species, ZooKeys 415, pp. 133-167 : 149-151

Uloma kergoati L. Soldati sp. n. Figs 3 K–L, 8A, B, C, D, E

Type specimens.

Holotype male, pinned, with genitalia glued on the same card as the specimen itself. Original label: “Nouvelle-Calédonie, Massif du Kouakoué, 17-23.III.2008, H. Jourdan, G. Kergoat & L. Soldati leg. / 21°57.427'S, 166°32.294'E, ca 1280 m alt. / Uloma kergoati m. n. sp. L. Soldati det. 2013, HOLOTYPE ♂" (red printed label) (MNHN); Allotype female, pinned. Original label: “Nouvelle-Calédonie, Massif du Kouakoué, 17-23.III.2008, H. Jourdan, G. Kergoat & L. Soldati leg. / 21°57.427'S, 166°32.294'E, ca 1280 m alt. NC16-2b" / Uloma kergoati m. n. sp. L. Soldati det. 2013, ALLOTYPE ♀ (MNHN); Paratypes, same data as holotype: one female (MNHN), one male (HNHM), two males (CBGP), three males and one female (CS).

Diagnosis.

The completely glabrous and flat mentum of Uloma kergoati males is also found in Uloma caledonica , Uloma isoceroides and Uloma jourdani . It differs from Uloma caledonica by its shorter metaventrite (hardly longer than half of the length of a mesocoxa), by the reduced humeri and also by differences in male aedeagus. It can easily be distinguished from Uloma jourdani by the shining surface of the upper face of all male antennomeres and the aedeagus. It also differs from Uloma isoceroides by the elytral striae of punctures that become finer and blurred toward apex; in addition, the male aedeagus of these two species are also very distinctive.

Description.

Length 8.0-11 mm; width 3.8-4.2 mm. Shining, pitchy dark brown. Antennae, mouthparts, legs and elytra reddish-brown.

Head (Fig. 8E).

Male: Transverse, genae straight in front of the eyes, then continuous in curved line with the clypeus. Frontoclypeal suture faintly impressed. Frons and clypeus fused in a flat shagreened and dull surface covered with extremely fine, sparse and barely visible punctures. Vertex separated from the frons by a superficial transverse impression. Tempora coarsely punctured. Vertex with very fine and obsolescent punctures, the background dull like the frontoclypeal area.

Female: contrary to the male, the frontoclypeal area is finely punctate and shining and, at the location of the suture, there is a shallow curved depression.

Antennae (Fig. 8E) gradually becoming transverse and expanded from antennomere 5. Antennomeres 5-9 flattened with the apical edges more or less protruding.

Mentum (Fig. 8E) cordate, flat, with two oblique divergent lateral grooves near the base. In the female, the mentum is narrower, the two oblique lateral grooves are closer, larger and less oblique (i.e. more parallel), the anterior margin is truncate.

Pronotum. Male: about 1.2 times wider than long, sides nearly straight in the basal half, then regularly arcuate toward the anterior angles, widest in front of the middle. Rim on the anterior margin disappears in the middle at level of the antero-median depression; at the same place, the anterior margin is emarginate and concave. Base without rim, except two very short folds located at the level of the two concave curves of external margin. Anterior angles 90°, posterior ones slightly obtuse. Whole upper surface of the pronotum densely punctate, sparser on the disc but denser and finer on the sides. Antero-median depression of pronotum quite deep, not reaching half of pronotal length, its posterior edge arcuate with a slight median impression. Interior of antero-median depression more coarsely punctate than rest of pronotal surface, the ground dull and shagreened.

Female: regularly convex, without antero-median depression and overall sharply and densely punctate, the punctures finer on the sides. Pronotum widest at base, then narrowed toward the front; the anterior edge tri-sinuate.

Prosternal process in lateral view obliquely bent beneath procoxae.

Elytra. Elytra quite convex transversally, humeri reduced. Humeral angles of lateral margin protruding and divergent (especially in the males); sides subparallel on one-third of the basal part, then regularly acuminate. Lateral margin visible in dorsal view except at level of ventrites 1-2. Each elytron bears nine grooved striae of punctures that tend to obliterate at the apex and a scutellary striole. Strial punctures are slightly wider than grooves. Elytral intervals nearly flat, covered with fine punctuation on a shining ground.

Metaventrite short, between meso- and metacoxae about as long as half the length of a mesocoxa.

Abdomen. Abdominal ventrites 1-4 (Fig. 8C) finely and densely punctate on a narrow median longitudinal strip. On each side of this longitudinal strip, the punctation becomes progressively larger and sparser toward the sides before mixing up with longitudinal striae, except on the 4th ventrite where the striae are less developed. The anal ventrite finely punctate, sparsely toward the sides, its outer margin without rim.

Legs. Anterior tibiae (Fig. 8D) without carina on their upper surface and strongly notched at base of about one fourth of the inner side length.

Aedeagus. On tergal face (Fig. 3K), basal two-third of the parameres are bottleneck-shaped, then suddenly enlarged and arcuate at the apex, with two lateral teeth on each side. In lateral view (Fig. 3L), parameres are bisinuate and narrowed toward apex.

Etymology.

This new species is named after Dr. G.J. Kergoat researcher at the CBGP, member of the "All Blaps" team and one of the “survivors” of the Kouakoué expedition.

Distribution.

Uloma kergoati is currently known only from New Caledonia where it is endemic.