Paulianellus andrei Minkina & Král, 2018

Minkina, Łukasz & Král, David, 2018, An unusual new species of the genus Paulianellus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae) from Yunnan, China, Zootaxa 4483 (1), pp. 197-200 : 197-200

Paulianellus andrei Minkina & Král , new species ( Figs. 1–9 )

Type locality. China, Yunnan, Near Tengchong, Gaoligong Shan Mts. , ca 2100 m a. s. l.

Type material. Holotype (♂) labelled: “ CHINA, Yunnan, Nea [probably Near] Tengchong , Gaoligong Shan Mts. , h.= 2100m., 30.6.2016, leg. A. Gorodinski [printed label]”; deposited in Łukasz Minkina collection ( Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals in Kraków, Poland) .

Description of holotype (Ƌ). Dorsum ( Fig. 1 ). Body elongate, moderately convex, dark brown except for somewhat paler extremities; shiny. Dorsal surface almost glabrous.

Head ( Fig. 4 ) trapezoidal, slightly convex, shiny, without microreticulation. Clypeus clearly bordered, almost truncate, very slightly sinuate anteriorly, widely rounded laterally, not notched before genae, clypeal border with extremely short macrosetae. Genae obtuse, distinctly exceeding eyes, with few, rather long macrosetae. Frontal suture indistinct, flat (without gibbosities); central epistomal gibbosity very low. Clypeus distinctly, doubly punctate: larger punctures sparse, rather moderate in size, irregularly spaced, with diameter three to four times larger than smaller ones; smaller punctures moderately dense, fine, almost regularly spaced.

Epipharynx ( Fig. 6 ) transverse, with sides broadly rounded, anterior margin distinctly concave at middle. Corypha with two distinct celtes laterally, and one shorter celte at middle, few spinules visible slightly below. Epitorma small, triangular with inwardly sinuate sides. Tormae thin, long.

Pronotum transverse, approximately as wide as base of elytra, widest before posterior angles, moderately convex, shiny, without microreticulation, punctation double: larger punctures irregularly spaced, moderately large, sparse, located mainly at sides, with diameter five to nine times larger than smaller ones; smaller punctures very fine, intermixed with larger ones, regularly and densely spaced. Anterior angles rounded; posterior angles widely rounded. Lateral margins very distinctly, thickly bordered, edge with few moderately long macrosetae, anterior and basal margins not bordered.

Scutellum small, subpentagonal, with few moderately fine punctures at middle, shiny; without microreticulation.

Elytra elongate, moderately convex, slightly widened posteriorly, widest approximately at middle, glabrous, shiny, without microreticulation; humeral denticles completely absent; with ten striae and ten intervals. Striae finely impressed, distinctly, moderately and finely punctate; punctures feebly but clearly indenting margins of intervals. Stria 1 and 10 and stria 5 and 6 joined together before apex; striae 6–9 shortened before base. Intervals shiny, very slightly convex, punctate, punctation fine, simple, dense, rather irregular.

Legs. Femora shiny, without microreticulation, finely and rather densely punctate, with few punctures near border, bearing long macrosetae. Protibiae distinctly tridentate laterally, proximally with row of few, very small teeth; dorsal side smooth, shiny, with few very fine punctures; apical spur long, broad, bent rather distinctly downwardly and before apex very gently inwardly; apex widely truncate ( Fig. 9 ). Meso- and metatibiae with two strong transverse carinae, fimbriate apically with row of spinules of alternately unequal length. Metatibiae superior apical spur as long as basimetatarsomere, latter nearly as long as next three following metatarsomeres combined. Claws long, thin, distinctly arcuate.

Macropterous.

Venter ( Fig. 2 ). Meso-metaventral plate ( Fig. 5 ) shiny, nearly flat, very slightly concave at middle, with longitudinal line visible only at middle; surface moderately densely, finely punctate. Abdominal ventrites moderately shiny, very densely, moderately coarsely punctate; without microreticulation; all punctures bearing rather long and thin macrosetae. Pygidium with similar structure to ventrites.

Aedeagus ( Figs. 7–8 ). Parameres shorter than phallobase, both parameres with very slightly upturned and acute apices. Left paramere in dorsal view with triangular process at middle; right paramere in 2/3 of apical part with rounded, slightly upturned process before apex.

Measurements. Total body length 8.5 mm.

Distribution. China (Yunnan).

Etymology. Patronymic; dedicated to its collector, Russian entomologist André Gorodinski.

Affinities. Almost all features of Paulianellus andrei new species agree with the diagnosis of “Group 1” i.e. the diagnosis of “true Paulianellus ” proposed by Stebnicka (1986), with only the clypeus (nearly truncate and gently sinuate at middle) differing. Nevertheless Paulianellus andrei new species shows affinities with the genus Acrossus Mulsant, 1842 due to its general structure of body (size, colour, structure of legs, head, border and punctation of pronotum, slightly similar, elongate structure of scutellum). This is probably indicative of a close association between both genera. However, the shape of the clypeus (see comments), genae, almost pentagonal scutellum, epipharynx (with anterior margin distinctly concave in the middle), proportion of parameres to phallobase of the aedeagus, are in our opinion sufficient to justify the placement of the newly described species in the genus Paulianellus . The newly described species is very characteristic and can be easily distinguished from all known species. The first couplet of Mencl et al. (2015) key is modified to include it as follows:

1 (2) Total body length 8.5 mm. Aedeagus, in dorsal view, with different shape of left and right paramere ( Fig. 8 ). Clypeus distinctly bordered, almost truncate anteriorly, very slightly sinuate at middle ( Fig. 4 ). Protibia in male with broad, widely truncate apical spur ( Fig. 9 ) .......................................................................................................... Paulianellus andrei Minkina & Král , new species

2 (1) Length of body at most 7.2 mm. Aedeagus, in dorsal view, with right and left parameres with the same shape (see Figs. 56, 58, 60, 62, 64 in Mencl et al. (2015)). Clypeus less distinctly bordered, rather distinctly sinuate at middle anteriorly (see Figs. 16–24, 71) in Mencl et al. (2015)). Protibiae in male with apical spur narrower, acute at apex (see Figs. 13–24, 71 in Mencl et al. (2015)).

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Paulianellus andrei Minkina & Král, new species, habitus of holotype, ♂. 1, habitus, dorsal view; 2, habitus, ventral view; 3, habitus, lateral view; 4, head, dorsal view. Scale bar: 1.0 mm.

FIGURES 5–9. Paulianellus andrei Minkina & Král, new species. 5, meso-metaventral plate in dorso-lateral view; 6, epipharynx; 7, aedeagus in lateral view; 8, same but in dorsal view; 9, protibiae in dorsal view. Scale bar: 5,7–9: 1.0 mm; 6: 0.2 mm.