Serica (s. str.) therathumensis, Sreedevi, Kolla, Speer, Jana, Fabrizi, Silvia & Ahrens, Dirk, 2018

Sreedevi, Kolla, Speer, Jana, Fabrizi, Silvia & Ahrens, Dirk, 2018, New species and records of Sericini scarab beetles from the Indian subcontinent (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae), ZooKeys 772, pp. 97-128 : 108-110

Serica (s. str.) therathumensis sp. n. Figures 4 A–D, 5

Type material examined.

Holotype. ♂ "NEPAL, E, Therathum distr. N Basantapur 2650-2700m, 28/29.V.2016, leg. J. Schmidt 27°10'21"N, 87°25'14"E / 958 Sericini : Asia spec." (NME). Paratypes: 3 ♂ "NEPAL, E, Therathum distr. N Basantapur 2650-2700m, 28/29.V.2016, leg. J. Schmidt 27°10'21"N, 87°25'14"E " (NME).

Description.

Length: 7.0 mm, length of elytra: 5.4 mm, width: 3.8 mm. Body oblong, dark brown, antenna yellowish, elytra, legs, and lateral pronotal margins reddish brown, with a few dark impunctate spots on elytra, dorsal surface dull; sparsely setose.

Labroclypeus narrowly subtrapezoidal, wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins moderately convex and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles weakly rounded, anterior margin deeply and widely sinuate medially; lateral margins weakly reflexed, anterior margin strongly reflexed; surface flat and shiny, finely and densely punctate, with shallow transverse wrinkles, with a few long, erect setae; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly incised, weakly convex; smooth area anterior to eye large and convex, approximately 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus very short and triangular (1/4 of ocular diameter), smooth, with one short terminal seta. Frons completely dull and flat, with fine and moderately dense punctures, with a few erect setae beside eyes and on disc. Eyes moderately large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.76. Antenna yellowish with ten antennomeres; antennomeres three to seven transverse and short; club with three antennomeres, three times as long as remaining antennomeres combined and strongly reflexed. Mentum weakly elevated, anteriorly flattened. Labrum transverse, short, moderately produced, moderately sinuate medially.

Pronotum transverse, widest at base, lateral margins nearly straight, moderately convergent anteriorly; anterior angles weakly produced and rounded, posterior angles moderately rounded; anterior margin strongly convexly and with a robust marginal line; surface moderately densely and finely punctate, a few punctures with white, short and appressed setae; anterior and lateral borders sparsely setose; hypomeron not carinate at base. Scutellum slender and long, triangular, finely and densely punctate, with a few adpressed setae.

Elytra oblong, widest in apical third, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals slightly convex, with fine, moderately dense punctures concentrated along striae, intervals with sparsely scattered fine, short, adpressed, white setae; epipleural edge fine, ending at moderately curved external apical angle of elytra; epipleura densely setose, apical border chitinous, without microtrichomes (magnification 100 ×).

Ventral surface dull, finely and not densely punctate, moderately densely setose, metacoxa glabrous, with a few long setae only laterally; abdominal sternites finely and densely punctuate, with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a short seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.31. Pygidium moderately convex and dull, finely and densely punctate, with smooth midline, with sparsely scattered, moderately dense, long setae.

Legs very slender and long; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, coarsely and not densely punctate between the rows; metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, without a continuously serrated line behind anterior edge, posterior margin serrated ventrally in apical half and not widened, completely serrated dorsally, in basal half with a few long setae which are half as long as width of metafemur. Metatibia slender and long, widest at apex, ratio of width/ length: 1/ 4.2, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group well before middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few single robust setae; external face slightly longitudinally concave, very finely and sparsely punctate, with numerous longitudinal wrinkles; ventral margin serrated, with two short but robust widely distant setae; medial face flat, glabrous and impunctate, apex interiorly near tarsal articulation distinctly but bluntly truncate. Tarsomeres ventrally with sparse, short setae, dorsally smooth; metatarsomeres laterally and dorsally carinate, with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally; first metatarsomere slightly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and one third of its length longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia long, bidentate, external edge with numerous small teeth, anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw not lobiform but straight and truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 4 A–C. Habitus: Fig. 4D. Female unknown.

Diagnosis.

Serica therathumensis sp. n. is very similar to S. tropdeana Ahrens, 1999 and S. thibetana Brenske, 1897 in external and genital morphology. The new taxon differs from the two by the basal tooth of the inner protarsal claw being straight (not lobiform as in S. tropdeana and S. thibetana ) and truncate at apex as well as the shape of parameres: the left paramere is laterally not widened while the right one is slightly shorter than in S. thibetana but distinctly narrower at apical half than in S. tropdeana .

Etymology.

The name (adjective in the nominative singular) refers to the Therathum district (Nepal).

Variation.

Length: 6.5-8.0 mm, length of elytra: 4.9-5.5 mm, width: 3.7-3.8 mm.