Pseudaspidimerus palatus Huo & Wang

Huo, Lizhi, Li, Wenjing & Wang, Xingmin, 2017, Pseudaspidimeruspalatus, a new species of the genus Pseudaspidimerus Kapur, 1948 from the Malay Peninsula (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae), ZooKeys 706, pp. 109-115 : 110-113

Pseudaspidimerus palatus Huo & Wang sp. n. Figures 1, 2, 3

Types.

Holotype: 1♂, "Thailand, Ranong prov. Ban Na env., 22-26.III.1996, 9°34'N, 98°42'E, K Majer leg" (NMPC); Paratypes (5): 2♀, "S Thailand, Betong Gunung Cang dun vill., Yala dist., 25.3.-22.4.1993, J. Horák leg" (NMPC, SCAU); 2♂, "Singapore, 29 Dr. Baum" (MIZ, SCAU); 1♀, "Malacca Biró / Kwala-Lumpur/" (HNHM).

Diagnosis.

Elytra black with apical part yellowish brown, maculae oblique expending from apical 1/3 of suture to lateral 1/2 length of lateral margin; Penis extremely robust, arcuate, swollen anteriorly with small inner branch, narrowest at middle; Penis guide, in lateral view, widest at base, gradually narrowing to pointed apex. In ventral view, shovel shaped, only a little longer than broad, slightly narrowing to basal 1/3, thence gradually narrowing to small rounded apex.

Description.

TL: 1.91-2.07 mm, EL: 1.43-1.49 mm, TW: 1.56-1.66 mm, TH: 1.00-1.06 mm, PL: 0.64-0.73 mm, PW: 1.13-1.25 mm, HW: 0.76-0.81 mm, ID: 0.40-0.43 mm, TL/TW: 1.22-1.25, PL/PW: 0.57-0.58, EL/EW: 0.90-0.92, HW/PW: 0.65-0.67, PW/EW: 0.72-0.75, ID/HW: 0.53.

Body oblong oval, densely covered with short, silvery white pubescence (Fig. 1a). Head yellow in male (Fig. 1b) and black in female. Pronotum black with anterior margin narrowly reddish brown and ante-lateral corners with a small triangular yellow spot. Elytra black with apical part yellowish brown, maculae oblique expending from apical 1/3 of suture to lateral 1/2 length of lateral margin. Underside dark brown to black except mouthpart, prothoracic hypomeron, and legs yellow. Mentum dark brown. Posterior margin of ventrite 6 strongly emarginate in male and broadly rounded in female (Fig. 1 d–e). Punctures on frons fine and dense, 0.5-1.0 diameters apart; on elytra and pronotum sparse, 1.0-2.0 diameters apart; on metaventrite fine and sparse on middle part, coarse and densely distributed laterally (Fig. 2a). Ventral surface with short, dense, silvery pubescence.

Male genitalia. Penis extremely robust, arcuate, swollen anteriorly with small inner branch, narrowest at middle (Fig. 1g). Tegminal strut slightly shorter than main part of tegmen. Parameres slightly longer than phallobase length and a little shorter than penis guide, apex with long sparse setae (Fig. 1h). Penis guide, in lateral view, widest at base, gradually narrowing to pointed apex. In ventral view, shovel shaped, only a little longer than broad, slightly narrowing to basal 1/3, thence gradually narrowing to small rounded apex (Fig. 1i).

Female genitalia. Coxites fairly broad, 0.5 times as long as wide, with a projection on basal end, apical and outer margin with dense, long setae. Spermatheca curved, C-shaped, ramus and nodulus not clearly differentiated (Fig. 1f).

Distribution.

Thailand (Ranong, Yala), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Singapore.

Remarks.

In general appearance, this species is similar to a variation of P. mauliki ( Huo et al. 2014, Fig. 2e) with elytral apical third with an oblique yellowish brown spot laterally extending up to nearly the half length of elytra. The penis of male genitalia is also very similar to that of P. mauliki ( Huo et al. 2014, Fig. 2j): penis extremely robust, arcuate, swollen anteriorly with a small inner branch, narrowest at middle. The only difference is the ventral view of penis guide. In P. mauliki , penis guide is about 1.2 times as long as broad at base, widest at basal third and then gradually narrowing to a fairly broad apex, which is weakly emarginate at middle ( Huo et al. 2014, Fig. 2k). In P. palatus , penis guide is shovel shaped, only a little longer than broad, widest at basal third, gradually narrowed thereafter to a rounded apex. The shape of the penis guide is also close to that of P. lambai Kapur, 1967 and P. flaviceps (Walker, 1859). In P. lambai and P. flaviceps , penis guide is more slender in lateral view and longer in ventral view, and about two times as long as broad.

Etymology.

The specific name is derived from the Latin noun “pala” and postfix “-atus”, referring to that its penis guide looks like a shovel in ventral view.