Nipponoserica elliptica (Murayama, 1938)

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 : 65

Nipponoserica elliptica (Murayama, 1938) Figures 2 I–L, 4

Serica elliptica Murayama, 1938: 17; Kim and Lee 1991: 55, 60 (fig. 7a,b).

Nipponoserica elliptica : Nomura 1973: 139; Murayama 1954: 20.

Material examined.

South Korea: 1 ♂ "27.06.2010 Beomeosa, Busan ( Südkorea) leg. T. Kölkebeck” (ZFMK). China: 1 ♂ "Yiyang, Jiangxi, 16.V.1975, leg. Zhang Youwei" (IZAS), 1 ♂ "Yiyang, Jiangxi, 13.V.1975, leg. Zhang Youwei" (IZAS).

Redescription.

Length: 9.6 mm, length of elytra: 7.6 mm, width: 5.1 mm. Body oblong, including legs dark brown, antenna yellowish brown, dorsal surface dull and glabrous.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal and wide, widest at base; lateral margins convex and strongly convergent, with weakly rounded anterior angles; lateral border and ocular canthus producing a distinct blunt angle; margins weakly reflexed; anterior margin distinctly sinuate medially; surface flat and weakly shiny, finely and densely punctate, with a few short, erect setae anteriorly.

Frontoclypeal suture indistinctly incised and weakly curved medially; smooth area in front of eye 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and triangular, finely and sparsely punctate with a short single terminal seta. Frons dull, with fine and moderately dense punctures, with a few long setae beside eyes. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.7. Antenna with nine antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, 1.3 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined, weakly reflexed. Mentum elevated and flattened anteriorly. Labrum produced and deeply sinuate medially.

Pronotum transverse, widest at base, lateral margins moderately convex and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles weakly produced and blunt; posterior angles blunt, 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, 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 convex, with fine and sparse punctures concentrated along striae, glabrous; epipleural border robust, ending at strongly curved external apical angle; epipleura densely setaceous; apical border chitinous with a fine rim of microtrichomes (visible at 100 × magnification).

Ventral surface dull, metasternum partly shiny, with moderately dense, large punctures, sparsely setose, only on 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. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as mesofemur, with irregularly scattered, strong setae. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/1.4. Pygidium dull, weakly convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, without smooth midline, glabrous except a few longer setae on apical half.

Legs slender, dull; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate. Metafemur dull, 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: 1/4.6; 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, sparsely finely punctate, with some longitudinal, superficial wrinkles; ventral margin finely serrate, with four fine nearly equidistant setae; medial face impunctate but superficially wrinkled; apex bluntly truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres glabrous and impunctate dorsally, with sparse, short setae ventrally; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a fine longitudinal carina laterally; first metatarsomere slightly shorter than following two combined, slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, protarsal claws symmetrical. Aedeagus: apical part of parameres asymmetrical, basal lobes symmetrical.

Remarks.

We were unable to locate and examine the type material of this species; possibly the types are lost. Specimens were identified according to Kim and Lee (1991).

Distribution.

The species was known only from South Korea ( Ahrens and Bezdek 2016). Now it is recorded for the first time from China, Jiangxi province.