Monolepta alticola, Lei & Xu & Yang & Nie, 2021

Lei, Qi-long, Xu, Si-yuan, Yang, Xing-ke & Nie, Rui-E, 2021, Five new species of the leaf-beetle genus Monolepta Chevrolat (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae) from China, ZooKeys 1056, pp. 35-57 : 35

Monolepta alticola sp. nov.

Figs 11-20

Type material.

Holotype: China • ♂; Yunnan, Zhongdian, Gezan; 3000 m; 3-VIII-2003 (IZAS). Paratypes: China • 1♂; Yunnan, Zhongdian, Gezan; 3000 m; 3-VIII-2003 • 2♀♀; Yunnan, Lunan, Shilin; 1700 m; 9-VII-1956; Kryzhanovskiy leg. (IZAS).

Description.

Length: 2.5-3.5 mm, width: 1.5-2.0 mm. Holotype: length 3.5 mm, width 2.0 mm.

Vertex orange, frons yellow, mouthparts dark brown; antennae dark brown except segments 1-3 brown; dorsal and ventral side of prothorax, coxae of front legs, femora yellow; scutellum, elytra, ventral side of mesothorax, metathorax, middle and hind legs dark brown; tibiae and tarsi of front legs pale brown, apex of middle and hind legs pale yellow.

Vertex convex, punctures sparsely and irregularly distributed; frontal tubercle developed; antennae longer than half of body, 1st segment arc-shaped, length ratio of 2nd and 3rd segment 16: 15, length ratio of 4th segment and the combination of 2nd and 3rd 45: 31.

Pronotum transverse, around 1.6 times as broad as long; disc slightly convex, shallowly depressed on each side, punctures unapparent, sparsely distributed; space between punctures wider than diameter of punctures.

Scutellum triangular, smooth and impunctate. The elytron about 1.6 times as long as broad; basal part wider than pronotum, humeral angle obvious; punctures on elytra irregularly distributed, space between punctures about 3 times as diameter of punctures. Epipleuron strongly narrowed after basal 1/3 and disappearing at beginning of apex.

Ventral surface of mesothorax, metathorax, and abdomen covered with long hairs.

Width and length ratio of median apical lobe 1.1 (apex part width to length), 2.2 (basal part width to length) (Fig. 15 ). 1st segment of hind tarsi about 1.7 times as long as remaining segments combined.

Male. Aedeagus slender, ratio of length and width around 5; greatest width in basal 1/3, and suddenly narrowed from basal 1/2 and parallel sided; apex slightly cuspidate. Tectum extends almost to the apex of aedeagus, cuspidate apically (Fig. 18 ).

Female. Last ventrite of female normal, male with trilobite concavities. Spermathecal cornu slender, apex slightly pointed, middle part short, curved, nodulus nearly spherical, large.

Etymology.

The specific epithet Monolepta alticola , altus (meaning 'living in high altitude’) is a Latin adjective and the Latin col, ( ‘lives’); it refers to the high-altitude habitat of this species.

Distribution.

China: Yunnan.

Diagnosis.

This species is similar to M. schereri Gressitt & Kimoto, 1963 and M. epistomalis Laboissière, 1935. The main differences are the following: the ventral side of the meso- and meta-thorax and the abdomen of M. schereri are yellowish brown, whereas these are dark brown in M. alticola sp. nov. M. epistomalis has a dark-brown head and a yellowish-brown abdomen, whereas M. alticola sp. nov. has a yellow head and a black abdomen, and with the aedeagus tapering towards its apex.

Figures

Figures 11 - 20. Monolepta alticola sp. nov. (holotype) 11 dorsal view 12 lateral view 13 frontal view 14 ventral view of 5 th ventrite, female 15 ditto, male 16 spermatheca 17 bursa sclerites 18 aedeagus, dorsal view 19 ditto, lateral view 20 ditto, ventral view. Scale bars: 1 mm (11 - 15, 18 - 20); 0.5 mm (16, 17).