Microhoria quercus, Telnov, 2022

Telnov, Dmitry, 2022, Revisional notes on the genus Microhoria Chevrolat, 1877 (Insecta: Coleoptera: Anthicidae) from the Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey, with new descriptions, an annotated catalogue, and a key, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 22 (2), pp. 195-312 : 279-280

Microhoria quercus sp. nov. ( Fig. 44 , 55B–C ) urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:59C9B2F4­E2B3­4004­99BF­2F933B87EEC6

Type material designated. Holotype male BMNH: Turkey, Kizilen. 50 km N. Erdemli, old oak 12W, 2005­ 07­ 07 N. Jansson / M. Coskun [printed].

Etymology. Named for the Oak Tree genus Quercus . The type specimen was collected from an oak tree. Noun in the nominative case, standing in apposition.

Description. Holotype male, total body length 2.6 mm. Head 0.65 mm long, across compound eyes 0.6 mm wide. Pronotum 0.5 mm long, 0.5 mm wide. Elytra 1.4 mm long, maximum combined width 0.85 mm. Forebody dorsally and ventrally reddish brown (head darker), elytra black­brown, abdomen brown.Antennae, palps and legs brown, basal five antennomeres and tibiae in basal third paler. Head barely longer than wide, head base broadly rounded, tempora subparallel, posterior temporal angles rounded. Compound eye small, about as long as tempus, moderately protruding from lateral outline of head. Head dorsum moderately glossy, moderately dense punctate. Intervening spaces smooth, as wide as to 3× as wide as punctures. Dorsal cranial setae dirty yellowish, moderately long, subdecumbent. Antennae moderately enlarged in apical third.Antennomeres 8–10 transverse, of them antennomere 10 strongly transverse. Terminal antennomere elongate, blunt, about 2.5–2.6× as long as penultimate antennomere. Pronotum about as long as wide, robust, narrower than head across eyes, broadly rounded at anterior margin. Pronotal disc barely convex in dorsal aspect. Lateral margins strongly converging in posterior half. Latero­basal pronotal fovea broad, densely setose laterally. Pronotal surface moderately glossy, variably densely punctate; punctures large on median part of pronotal disc. Intervening spaces smooth, as wide as to 3× as wide as punctures. Pronotal setation similar to that on head. Elytra about 1.5× as long as wide, laterally subparallel, subtruncate at apex, dorsally flattened. Humerus broadly rounded. Apex of elytron modified, with an inconspicuous, broad denticle at opening of gland channel. Elytral surface moderately glossy, moderately dense punctate. Intervening spaces about as wide as to twice as wide as punctures. Elytral setae whitish to dirty yellowish, moderately long and dense, subdecumbent, directed posteriad. Metathoracic wings fully developed. Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII truncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII narrow, broadly rounded at posterior margin. Spiculum gastrale as in Fig. 44B . Aedeagus ( Fig. 44C–D ) with tegmen apex hooked, endophallic armature with a bunch of subparallel sclerites. Lacking apical or subapical spines or hooks.

Sexual dimorphism. Female is unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Microhoria quercus sp. nov. belongs to the M. terminata species group. It can be distinguished from all congeners by its bicolorous body, the comparatively short male antenna with the transverse antennomeres 8–10, and the shape of the aedeagus and its endophallic armature. The aedeagus appears most similar to that of M. boyadjeani ( Pic, 1904) (S Turkey) but the endophallic armature evidently lacking a paired, curved apical spine, the head shape (in dorsal view) is somewhat different (temporal angles more regularly rounded in M. boyadjeani ), the male terminal antennomere is shorter than the combined length of the antennomeres 8–10 (as long as three preceding antennomeres in M. boyadjeani ).

Ecology. Sampled using flight interception trap installed on hollow trunk of a veteran Quercus infectoria Oliv. tree in an open pasture woodland at 1170 m a.s.l. ( Fig. 55B–C ). The trap was installed 1.8 m above the ground on a hollow trunk of 270 cm circumference.

Distribution. Southern Turkey.

Figures

Fig. 44. Microhoria quercus sp. nov. male holotype. A – Habitus, dorsal view; B – Spiculum gastrale; C – Aedeagus, lateral view with endophallic armature inverted; D – Apical portion of aedeagus with endophallic armature inverted [not to scale].

Fig. 55. Veteran tree­connected habitats of Microhoria in Turkey.A – Sampling plot near Antakya, Turkey; B–C – Sampling plots near Erdemli, Turkey [images courtesy Nicklas Jansson, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden].