Neoserica (s. str.) mengsongensis Liu & Ahrens, 2015

Liu, Wan-Gang, Bai, Ming, Yang, Xing-Ke & Ahrens, Dirk, 2015, New species and records of the Neoserica (sensu stricto) group (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Sericini), Journal of Natural History 49 (39), pp. 2379-2395 : 2382-2384

Neoserica (s. str.) mengsongensis Liu & Ahrens , sp. nov.

( Figure 1A–D )

Type material examined

Holotype ♂ ‘ Mengsong, Xishuangbanna , Yunnan, 28.IV.1958, 1600 m, leg. Wang Shuyong’ ( IZAS).

Description

Length: 6.5 mm; length of elytra: 4.2 mm; width: 3.2 mm. Body oval, surface reddish brown, frons and disc of pronotum darker, antenna and legs yellowishbrown, dorsal surface with dense and fine, white adpressed setae and moderately dense, long erect setae on head and pronotum directed anteriad.

Labroclypeus subelliptical, widest at middle, lateral margins convex, convergent towards base and to broadly rounded anterior angles, lateral border and ocular canthus producing a distinct obtuse angle, anterior margin nearly straight, margins moderately reflexed, surface weakly convex medially and moderately shiny, very coarsely and densely punctate, with several long erect setae; frontoclypeal suture slightly impressed and moderately curved, smooth area anterior to eye twice as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and narrow, finely and densely punctate, without terminal seta. Frons finely and densely punctate, with dense, fine, white adpressed setae and a few long erect ones. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.64. Antenna partly destroyed in holotype, with seven remaining antennomeres; club with one remaining antennomere (the other, likely three, club joints are missing on both sides), club distinctly longer than remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum moderately wide, widest at middle, lateral margins in basal half subparallel, moderately sinuate before posterior angles, strongly curved and convergent in anterior half, anterior angles not produced and strongly rounded, nearly obsolete, posterior angles acute, anterior margin straight, with distinct and fine marginal line, base without marginal line; surface with fine and dense punctures each bearing a fine white adpressed seta, interspersed with moderately dense and coarse punctures each bearing a long erect seta (many of them abraded in the holotype), anterior and lateral borders sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate, basal margin of hypomeron moderately produced ventrally. Scutellum subtriangular, apex moderately rounded, with fine, dense punctures and fine white setae.

Elytra oblong, widest at middle, striae moderately impressed, with fine and dense punctures, intervals moderately convex, with fine and dense punctures, punctures with fine white adpressed setae, each interval with large, single punctures each bearing a long erect seta (most discal setae lost in the holotype); epipleural edge moderately strong, ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, setae of epipleura nearly absent in holotype, apical border chitinous, without short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, with large, dense punctures and dense, short adpressed setae, metacoxa with similar punctation and pilosity and with some robust and long setae laterally. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, with fine, dense, adpressed setae, each sternite with a transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short, robust seta. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.79. Pygidium weakly convex, with fine and dense punctures each bearing a fine, adpressed seta interspersed with a few coarse punctures each bearing a robust and longer seta, without smooth midline.

Legs moderately slender and moderately shiny, femora with fine and dense punctures, densely setose; anterior edge of metafemur acute lacking an adjacent serrated line, posterior margin weakly convex, with a few fine setae medially, weakly widened in apical half ventrally but not serrate, serrate dorsally. Mesofemora and -tibiae as well as metatibia and subsequent parts are missing in the holotype.

Aedeagus

Figure 1A–C .

Diagnosis

The new species differs from all other known species of the Neoserica (s. str.) group in having the dorsolateral apex of the phallobase on the right side produced into a sharply pointed process; the insertion of the parameres is strongly asymmetrical ( Figure 1A–C ).

Etymology

The new species is named after the type locality, Mengsong.

Figures

Figure 1. (A-D) Neoserica (s. str.) mengsongensis Liu & Ahrens sp. nov. (holotype); (E-H) Neoserica (s. str.) pseudosangangana Liu & Ahrens sp. nov. (holotype). (A, H) Aedeagus, left side lateral view; (C, G) aedeagus, right side lateral view; (B, F) parameres, dorsal view; (D, H) habitus. Scale: 0.5 mm.