Androsus philippinus, Ando, Kiyoshi & Ruzzier, Enrico, 2016

Ando, Kiyoshi & Ruzzier, Enrico, 2016, New species of Tenebrionidae Latreille, 1802 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidea) from the Philippines, Zootaxa 4175 (5), pp. 480-486 : 481

Androsus philippinus sp. nov.

( Figs. 1A, B )

Type material. Holotype: male, Philippines, Mt. Halcon , Mindoro, XI. 2012, Native collector leg. ( BMNH).

Description. Dimensions. Body length. 7.7 mm. IE/TD = 2.73; PW/PL = 1.64; EL/EW = 1.66.

Male. Oblong-oval, gently convex, shiny. Colour dark reddish brown; head and pronotum blackish, with dark brassy sheen; elytra purple, with obscure metallic green spot on humeri and along lateral margins in apical third; antennae, mouthparts and gula lighter in colour ( Fig. 1A ).

Head transversely elliptical, with outer margin sinuate between frontoclypeus and genae; anterior margin of the head produced forwards, gently convex in middle, broadly depressed laterally, rounded at apex though a little sinuate in middle, densely and finely punctate; fronto-clypeal suture tenuous, very fine, obscured laterally; genae depressed, raised latero-anteriorly, sparsely punctate, with gently rounded outer margins; frons weakly convex, sloping forwards, punctures dense and coarse, distinctly larger than those on frontoclypeus; eyes coarsely facetted, strongly convex above, weakly produced laterally, inner ocular sulci narrow and deep. Antennae short, not reaching base of pronotum; eight distal antennomeres densely pubescent; six distal antennomeres dilated and forming weak club; eleventh oval, with uneven surface. Ultimate maxillary palpomere weakly securiform. Mentum hexagonal, weakly rounded at base and truncate at apex, triangularly raised in middle and excavate at sides, with some long setae. Gula linguiform, microsculptured.

Pronotum subquadrate, widest at base, gently convex, steeply sloping antero-laterally, not sulcate along lateral margins, punctures dense, oblong and irregular in size, becoming smaller apically and medially; anterior margin round and strongly emarginate, faintly bordered in each lateral fourth; lateral margins evenly narrowed forwards and slightly sinuate backwards from the middle, weakly bordered; basal margin gently bisinuate, roundly and distinctly produced in middle, not bordered; anterior angles acute, strongly produced; posterior angles rectangular, not produced. Scutellum wider than long, flattened, pointed at apex, with a few minute punctures.

Elytra oblong, gently convex, widest at apical third; striae gently impressed, strial punctures minute and rather sparse, becoming a little minuter and denser apically; intervals slightly convex, more convex in apical portions, subcarinate in apical portions of seventh intervals, finely and rather densely punctate, punctures slightly smaller than in striae; humeral calli small, weakly humped; epipleura unevenly flat, microsculptured, obscurely rugulose and punctate.

Prothoracic hypomera densely microsculptured, sparsely punctate and faintly rugose. Prosternum rather short, microsculptured, with rough and uneven surface; prosternal process broadly lanceolate, depressed and nearly horizontal, shallowly sulcate in middle, minutely and very sparsely punctate. Mesoventrite coarsened, carinate in middle; V-shaped ridge short and horizontal, with anterior angles obtusely angulate. Metaventrite rather weakly convex, finely and sparsely punctate; punctures becoming larger laterally until completely replaced by dense microsculpture. Abdomen finely and longitudinally rugose with dense punctuation; punctures on the three basal ventrites larger than in the last two; fifth ventrite subtriangular.

Aedeagus slender, weakly curved ventrally; parameres flattened dorsally, weakly rounded at sides in basal fourth, thence steeply and evenly narrowed to pointed apices ( Fig. 1B ).

Legs short; anterior margin of profemora, between basal sixth and basal third, posterior margin of mesofemora, between basal fifth and middle and posterior margins of metafemora, between basal third and apical four-ninths, deplanate, with a tuft of weak pubescence each; tibiae short, densely punctate and rugulose, inner margin of metatibiae densely pubescent in apical two-thirds; tarsi simple.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. phillippinus (Latin, adjec.) = from Philippines.

Diagnosis. A. philippinus sp. nov. can be easily separated by the other Philippine species based on its colouration; A. philippinus possesses a dark pronotum and purple elytra, while A. corporaali and A. fasciatus have monochromatic integuments: green or blue coloured the first, metallic green with orange, blue and purple shines the second. The new species resembles A. javanus Kulzer, 1951 (typ. loc. Java), due to its strongly produced pronotal anterior angles, but can be separated from the latter by the following characters: body fusiform; head more coarsely and densely punctate on frons, with frontoclypeus and genae strongly produced; interocular space less than three times of the diameter of eye; punctures on pronotum oblong; elytra violet with metallic green spot on humeri, intervals slightly convex; legs blackish brown, posterior margin of male metafemora with pubescent deplanate area near base.

Figures

FIGURE 1 A, B. Androsus philippinus sp. nov., holotype. A—habitus in dorsal view, scale bar 5 mm. B—aedeagus in dorsal (left) and lateral view (right), scale bar 0.5 mm.