Disciferella kabakovi, Kataev & Muilwijk, 2020

Kataev, Boris M. & Muilwijk, Jan, 2020, A remarkable new lebiine genus with two new species from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Lebiini), Zootaxa 4763 (1), pp. 73-84 : 76-79

Disciferella kabakovi sp. n.

( Figs 1–14 , 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 30 a)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:DF46AD36-5BF0-48B7-8F0C-4D407FCD0E88

Type material. Holotype: ♂, “ Afghanistan / Jalalabad 600 m / 10.5.1971 Kabakov ” ( ZIN) . Paratypes: 1 ♀, Pakistan, “bridge over the Indus River / 70 km E Peshavar / 30.08.2005 ” (in Cyrillic) // ex coll. / S.V. Ovchinnikov / Donation to ZIN ” ( ZIN) .

Description. Habitus as in Figs 1 and 2 . Body length 4.7–5.2 mm, width 2.6–2.7 mm.

Colour: Brownish yellow, mat, with elytra slightly paler than head and pronotum; apex and inner margin of mandibles as well as tibiae basally blackish brown; elytra with rows of indistinct small brown spots corresponding positionally to elytral striae; general fine setation of body yellow.

Head (Fig. 18): Medium-sized, with moderately deep neck constriction, slightly narrower than pronotum, narrowest just behind tempora (HWmax/PWmax 0.95–0.96 and HWmin/PWmax 0.59–0.60); neck slightly widened posteriorly. Eyes large, convex, touching ventrally buccal fissure. Tempora long and very convex, about 0.8 times as long as eye. Labrum with three pairs of setigerous pores, flat, transverse; its anterior margin almost straight or with shallow incision at middle. Clypeus flat, sloped to labrum, transverse, with almost straight anterior margin and rounded posterior margin, with one setigerous pore at each apical angle. Fronto-clypeal suture distinct, not deepened. Frons somewhat flat, with very fine elongate wrinkles along inner margins of eyes. No frontal foveae, frontal and supraorbital furrows. Two pairs of very small, indistinct supraorbital setigerous pores: anterior pore situated at middle of upper margin of eye, and posterior one located behind eye, close to neck constriction. Mandibles elongate, similar to each other, very slightly widened at base and with distinct basal scrobe; their apices acute. Maxillae ( Fig. 5 ) with ultimate palpomere slightly longer than penultimate one, fusiform. Lacinia with moderately dense row of straight slender setae along occlusal margin; tooth acute, long. Mentum ( Fig. 4 ) with acute apical angles and with acute median tooth, completely fused with submentum; epilobes very narrow; two mental setigerous pores at apical margin laterally of median tooth. Ligular sclerite wide and short, with almost right, slightly prominent laterally apical angles and with two ventroapical setae. Paraglossae membranous, glabrous, wide, rounded at apex, longer than ligular sclerite and touching it by their inner ventral margin. Labial basal palpomere comparatively wide; penultimate palpomere slightly widened anteriorly, with one seta at anterior margin; ultimate palpomere approximately as long as penultimate one, fusiform, narrowed to truncate apex. Dorsal microsculpture very distinct throughout, consisting of large granulate meshes. Setigerous micropunctures very fine, indistinct, present both dorsally and ventrally; setae inclined anteriorly. Antennae long and slender, surpassing elytral base approximately by three apical antennomeres and densely pubescent from antennomere 4; antennomere 3 covered with sparser setae and antennomeres 1–2 with a few scattered short setae; antennomere 1 short, slightly longer than antennomere 2, with one longer dorsoapical seta; antennomeres 3–11 similar to each other in length, each only slightly longer than antennomeres 1+2; antennomeres 1–4 almost circular in cross section, other ones flattened, each with a narrow glabrous strip on outer margin.

Pronotum (Fig. 20): Relatively small, cordate, slightly transverse (PWmax/PL 1.22–1.26), widest approximately at the end of anterior fifth, strongly narrowed posteriorly (PWmax/PWmin 1.42–1.48, PWmax/PWbas 1.37–1.44). Sides rounded almost along entire length, with very short sinuation just before very small and sharp basal angles; the latter removed ahead from rounded basal margin and bearing each a strong seta; lateral margins of pronotum behind basal angles very fine, not reaching the rounded basal margin, making basal portion of proepipleuron visible in dorsal view; visible margins of proepipleura behind basal angles slightly divergent posteriorly; lateral groove narrow, gradually widened posteriorly and vanishing just before basal angles; anterior lateral seta absent. Apical margin nearly straight, not bordered; apical angles rounded, not projecting ahead, each with a short seta at apex; this seta only slightly longer than background pubescence. Basal margin not bordered. Disc moderately convex, more strongly sloped to apical angles and latero-basally; base of pronotum behind basal angles slightly depressed. Anterior transverse depression long, arcuate, slightly deepened. Median line fine, present only in central part of pronotum. Surface impunctate, covered with very fine transverse wrinkles. Setigerous micropunctures very fine, indistinct, their setae inclined posteriorly. Dorsal microsculpture very distinct throughout, consisting of granulate meshes, slightly finer than on head.

Scutellum small, with acute apex.

Elytra: Discoidal, very wide, widest at middle (EL/EW 1.13–1.18, EL/PL 3.39–3.54, EW/PWmax 2.38–2.47) and slightly obliquely, almost transversely truncate at apex. Humeri widely rounded. Sutural angle nearly right, with apex sharp in male and very narrowly rounded in female. Basal border incomplete, very thin, curving along humerus up to mesothoracic peduncle. Disc moderately convex, with wide explanation along sides and with basal depression at pronotal base. Striae, including parascutellar striole, absent; at places of striae rows of indistinct slightly darker spots. Parascutellar setigerous pores present, small, removed from elytral base. Each elytron in position of interval 3 with one very small discal setigerous pore located at the end of basal quarter and with one larger preapical pore. Marginal umbilicate series removed rather far from elytral sides, continuous, consisting of 12–14 large setigerous pores; one pore located separately at outer apical angle. Setigerous micropunctures very fine, indistinct, their setae inclined posteriorly. Microsculpture visible throughout, somewhat similar to that on pronotum, consisting of very distinct isodiametric meshes. Epipleura markedly widened prebasally, distinctly bordered along inner margin.

Wings fully developed.

Ventral surface of thorax and abdomen: Proepisterna (propleura) impunctate, covered with very distinct isodiametric microsculpture and very short setae. Prosternum throughout covered with finer microsculpture and slightly longer setae; prosternal process not bordered and without long setae at apex. Metepisternum ( Figs 9 , 22) impunctate, about 1.5 times as long as wide, narrowed posteriorly. Three penultimate abdominal sternites (ventrites), in addition to fine background setae, each with a pair of long setae at posterior margin. Apex of last visible abdominal sternite with one pair of marginal setae, in male concave in middle ( Fig. 6 ) and in female subtruncate ( Fig. 7 ) [since only two specimens are available, these differences should be checked on the additional material].

Legs: Slender, comparatively long. Protibia with one slender apical spur (ca 0.5–0.6 as long as protarsomere 1). Inner apical spur of meso- and metatibia ( Fig. 3 ) short (ca 0.4–0.5 as long as meso- and metatarsomere 1, respectively) and not serrate. Metafemur with one longer seta at middle of posterior margin. Tarsomeres slender, parallel-sided, finely and densely setose; tarsomere 4 truncate at apex; tarsal claws elongate, not dentate, not pectinate; metatarsomere 1 long, only slightly shorter than 2+3 ( Fig. 8 ); male protarsomeres 1–4 slightly dilated and covered ventrally with sparse spongy adhesive vestiture.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 10 ): Laterotergite about as long as wide, asymmetrical, with deep emargination on mesal margin anteriorly, widely membranous apically, asetose; gonosubcoxite elongate, as long as laterotergite, without setae and spines; gonocoxite short and wide, with a sensory pit just after middle of inner margin.

Male genitalia: Median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 13, 14 ) slender, with relatively small basal bulb, in lateral view arcuate, in dorsal view almost straight, with terminal lamella short, narrowed apically; apical orifice shifted to left, not clearly delimited proximally. Internal sac medially with oval spiny patch and with a small, nearly transverse row of fine spines on the right side ( Fig. 24, 25 ). Parameres, especially the right one, very narrow, both rounded at apices ( Figs 11, 12 ).

Etymology. Named after the geologist and coleopterologist Oleg N. Kabakov (1928–2009), an excellent specialist on Scarabaeidae , who first collected this species.

Distribution ( Fig. 30a ). This species is known from Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.

Bionomics. Unknown, but based on the body shape, the species seems to be a psammophile like D. psammophila sp. n., species of the genus Discoptera and some species of the genus Graphipterus having wide discoidal elytra (e. g. the species of the G. serrator group).

Figures

FIGURE 30. Disciferella gen. n., distribution. a, D. kabakovi sp. n.; b, D. psammophila sp. n.

FIGURES 1–3. Disciferella kabakovi sp. n. (1, 2, habitus; 3, metatarsomere 1). 1, 3, male (holotype); 2, female (paratype). Scale bars: A, B = 1.0 mm (1, 2), C = 0.5 mm (3).

FIGURES 4–14. Disciferella kabakovi sp. n. 4, labium; 5, left maxilla; 6, apex of last abdominal sternite (holotype), 7, same (female paratype); 8, hind leg; 9, left metepisternum; 10, left laterotergite (ltg), gonosubcoxite (gscx) and gonocoxite (gcx); 11, left paramere; 12, right paramere; 13, median lobe of aedeagus, left lateral view; 14, same, dorsal view. Scale bars: A = 1.0 mm (8), B = 0.5 mm (9), C = 0.5 mm (4–7, 10–14).

FIGURES 24–29. Disciferella gen. n. 24, 25, D. kabakovi sp. n. (holotype); 26–29, D. psammophila sp. n. (26–28, holotype; 29, paratype). 24–26, median lobe of aedeagus, right lateral view (24, in transmitted light; 25, 26, in reflected light); 27, left paramere; 28, right paramere; 29, left laterotergite (ltg), gonosubcoxite (gscx) and gonocoxite (gcx). Scale bar = 0.5 mm.