Merionoeda semenyaki, Barševskis & Medina, 2021

Barševskis, Arvīds & Medina, Milton Norman, 2021, Two new species of Merionoeda Pascoe, 1869 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) from Palawan Island, Philippines, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 21 (1), pp. 59-63 : 59-63

Merionoeda semenyaki sp. nov.

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Type material: HOLOTYPUS, male: Philippines: Palawan isl. / Roxas , 06.2020. / local collector leg. [handwritten] ; HOLOTYPUS / Merionoeda / semenyaki sp. nov. / A.Barševskis det. 2021. [red, handwritten] ( DUBC) .

Paratypes: 1 male: Philippines: Palawan isl. / Roxas , 09.2020. / local collector leg. [handwritten] ; 1 female: Philippines: Palawan isl. / Roxas , 10.2020. / local collector leg. [handwritten] ; 1 female: Philippines: Palawan isl. / Roxas, 12.2020. / local collector leg. [handwritten]. All paratypes with addition al r ed, h an dwr itten label : PARATYPUS / Merionoeda / semenyaki sp. nov. / A.Barševskis det. 2021 [red, handwritten] ( DUBC) .

General distribution: Palawan isl., Philippines.

Description. Body black, elongated, narrow, dorsal surface of elytra yellow-brown. Length: 5.34 – 5.9 mm, maximal width: 0.9 - 1.0 mm. Head flattened, relatively short, with convex, bilobate eyes. Dorsal surface of head black, shiny, with very sparse, fine punctures and without visible pubescence, with wide triangular impression between eyes. Labrum dark-brown, slightly pubescent, shiny. Apical margin of labrum concave. Clypeus brown, transverse, shiny. Mandibles black, with sharp apex, massive, wide, shiny, relatively short, with lateral pubescence. Cheeks small, with sparse pubescence. Antennal bases flattened, smooth, shiny. Antennae slender, relatively long, longer than body, covered with coarse punctures and fine, sparse pubescence, black, except for brown apical antennomere; antennomeres 1–4 thickened apically, relatively narrow; remaining antennomeres widened. Pronotum yellow - brown, cylindrical, neck-shaped narrowed and impressed in apical and basal portions, with several long and indistinct elevations on dorsal and lateral surfaces, with coarse punctation between them. Dorsal and lateral portions of pronotal disc without pubescence. Scutellum relatively large, rounded apically, with dense yellow pubescence. Pars stridens not visible below base of pronotum. Elytra flattened dorsally, with distinct, smooth shoulders humps. Elytra almost parallel-sided, slightly narrowed in middle, shorter than the body. Suture short, both elytra begin to move away from each other soon behind the scutellum. Elytra yellow-brown. Punctation of elytra arranged in longitudinal rows, stretching almost to preapical portion. Apical margins of each elyton smooth except for sharp and small extension near suture. Lateroventral surface of body with dense, grey pubescence. Legs dichromatic, covered with very fine pubescence, with yellow-red base of femur and dark tibia, tarsus and apical part of femur.

Male unknown. Differential diagnosis. Regarding the shape of the body, the new species is similar to M. formosana Heller, 1924 from Taiwan, China & Japan, but differs by the coloration of legs: femora of forelegs dark-brown and apical widened portion of middle and hind femora black. Merionoeda formosana Heller, 1924 have black thickened part of femora in hind legs only. Besides that, the new species have larger smooth apical portion of elytra compared with M. formosana Heller, 1924 .

Etymology. This species is named after our colleague, Belarusian coleopterologist Alexey Semenyak (Daugavpils, Latvia) in appreciation of cooperation.

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