Monolepta mengsongensis, 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 mengsongensis sp. nov.

Figs 28-34

Type material.

Holotype: China • ♂; Yunnan, Menglong, Banna, Mengsong; 1600 m; 27-IV-1958; Shu-yong Wang leg. (IZAS). Paratype: China • 1♂; Yunnan, Menglong, Banna, Mengsong; 1600 m; 27-IV-1958; Shu-yong Wang leg. (IZAS).

Description. Length: 5.5-6.5 mm, width 3-3.5 mm. Holotype: length 6.5 mm, width 3.5 mm.

Head, dorsal and ventral side of prothorax, mesothorax, metathorax, and femora orange; mouthparts darker; antennae dark brown, 1st segment pale; scutellum, tibiae, and tarsi black; a wide, transverse, pale, yellowish-brown stripe after middle part of elytra, which reaches middle sutures but not to lateral margins.

Vertex convex, with transverse wrinkle, punctures obvious and evenly distributed, space between punctures is about twice as diameter of punctures; frontal tubercle developed, deeply divided by ecdysial suture, not reaching compound eye, triangular, glabrous and with a few punctures; antennae reach apex of elytra, 1st segment arc-shaped, 2nd antennomere equal to 3rd, 4th segment longer than sum of 2nd and 3rd.

Pronotum about 1.5 times as broad as long; disc slightly convex, shallowly depressed on each side; punctures obvious, densely and irregularly distributed, space between punctures wider than diameter of punctures.

Scutellum triangular, smooth and impunctate. Elytron nearly 1.6 times as long as broad; basal part broader than pronotum, humeral angle obvious; punctures evenly distributed, space between punctures about 2-3 times diameter of punctures. Epipleura strongly narrowed after basal 1/3 and disappearing at beginning of apex. Ventral side of mesothorax, metathorax and abdomen covered with long hairs.

Male. Last ventrite of male with trilobite concavities. Width and length ratio of median apical lobe 0.76 (apex width to length), 1.3 (basal width to length) (Fig. 31 ). Aedeagus almost straight, parallel sided in apical 1/5, slightly widened in the middle part, narrowed after 1/3 of apex, rounded at apex, slightly curved towards ventral side (Fig. 33 ). Tectum not reaching apex of aedeagus, apex rounded (Fig. 32 ). 1st segment of hind tarsi about 1.5 times as long as remaining segments combined.

Etymology.

This species is named after its type locality at Mengsong.

Distribution.

China: Yunnan.

Diagnosis.

This species resembles M. leechi , M. liui , and M. lunata , but the length of the antennae reaches half of the body in M. leechi and M. liui , whereas in this species the length of the antennae reaches the apex of elytra. M. lunata has a rounded spot on the elytra, but in the new species there is a transverse band. This species has a transverse stripe on each elytron and its antennae reach the apex of the elytra, which can easily distinguish it from other species of Monolepta with transverse stripes.

Figures

Figures 28 - 34. Monolepta mengsongensis sp. nov. (holotype) 28 dorsal view 29 lateral view 30 frontal view 31 ventral surface of 5 th ventrite, male 32 aedeagus, dorsal view 33 ditto, lateral view 34 ditto, ventral view. Scale bars: 1 mm.