Gynaecoserica vogleri, Ahrens & Fabrizi, 2009

Ahrens, Dirk & Fabrizi, Silvia, 2009, A review of the genus Gynaecoserica Brenske, 1896 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Sericini), Journal of Natural History 43 (25 - 26), pp. 1505-1584 : 1580-1581

Gynaecoserica vogleri sp. nov.

( Figures 5N–P , 8F , 10B )

Type material examined

Holotype. Ƌ “NE India, W.-Arunachal Pr. W of Bomdila ; 2600 m, 27°16¢N, 92°24¢E, 17.v.2005 L. Dembický leg./ 22/04” ( TICB) . Paratypes. 3 ƋƋ, 4 ♀♀ “NE India, W.- Arunachal Pr. W of Bomdila; 2600 m, 27°16¢N, 92°24¢E, 17.v.2005 L. Dembický leg.” ( CA, BMNH, TICB), 3 ♀♀ “NE India, W-Arunachal Pr., betw. Dirang & Bomdila Pass, 27°19¢ N 92°22 ¢E, 1900 ± 300m, L. Dembický leg. 12.–16.vi.2004 ” ( TICB) .

Description

Length 6.1 mm, length of elytra 4.2 mm, width 3.1 mm. Body oblong, dorsal surface yellowish brown with numerous dark brown dots on pronotum and elytra, antenna and legs yellowish brown, dorsal surface dull, very sparsely setose.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins convex and slightly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, lateral border and ocular canthus producing a distinct blunt angle, margins moderately reflexed, anterior margin shallowly sinuate medially; surface weakly convex medially and shiny, finely and densely punctate, distance between punctures less than their diameter, with a few coarser punctures behind the anterior margin bearing each a long, erect seta; frontoclypeal suture feebly incised and slightly elevated, strongly curved; smooth area in front of eye approximately as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and slender, finely and densely punctate, with a short terminal seta. Frons anteriorly shiny, in posterior half dull with some iridescent shine; on anterior half with coarse and dense punctures, behind frontoclypeal suture with a few setae, posteriorly punctures finer and sparser. Eyes small, ratio of diameter: interocular width 0.56. Antenna yellow, with 10 antennomeres; club dark, with six antennomeres, 1.2 times as long as the remaining antennomeres combined, antennomeres IV longitudinally slightly flattened. Mentum weakly elevated and flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum widest at base, lateral margins straight and subparallel in basal half, in anterior half weakly curved and stronger convergent anteriorly, anterior angles distinctly produced and rectangular, posterior angles blunt, anterior margin convexly produced medially, with a fine marginal line, basal margin without marginal line; surface with moderately dense and fine punctures, with a very few long setae on disc, otherwise with only very minute setae in the punctures; anterior and lateral borders finely setose; hypomeron distinctly margined at base but not ventrally produced. Scutellum long and narrow, triangular, with fine and very dense punctures, medially widely smooth, microscopic setae present in the punctures.

Elytra moderately long, widest at middle, striae feebly impressed and finely densely punctate, intervals almost flat, with fine, sparsely scattered punctures concentrated along the striae, punctures with microscopic setae, odd intervals with a few white single robust setae; interior apical angle of elytra with a robust seta; epipleural edge fine, ending at the strongly curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setaceous, apical border without short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, with fine and moderately dense punctures, sparsely setose, metacoxa only laterally with a few robust setae; each abdominal sternite with indistinct transverse row of coarse punctures bearing short setae between fine, dense punctation. Pygidium strongly convex, mixed with fine and coarse punctures, with a broad smooth midline, fine punctures with small or minute setae, coarse punctures with longer ones. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur, with irregularly scattered very strong setae. Ratio of length of metepisternum: metacoxa: 1: 1.35.

Legs slender and moderately long; femora dull, with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate; metafemur moderately shiny, sharply margined anteriorly and without a submarginal serrate line, posterior margin weakly convex and glabrous, its ventrally only weakly widened in apical half and not serrate, dorsally very finely serrate, with a few long setae. Metatibia slender and moderately long, widest at apex, ratio width: length: 1: 3.4, dorsally longitudinally convex at base but in apical half finely carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at onethird, apical one at two-thirds of metatibial length, basally with a few single, fine spines in the punctures; external face longitudinally convex, with dense fine punctures, glabrous; ventrally edged and serrate, with three strong equally distant spines; medially finely sparsely punctate, apex interiorly near tarsal articulation sharply and deeply truncate. Tarsomeres dorsally glabrous and impunctate, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres ventrally with a strongly serrate ridge, beside which is a fine longitudinal carina, first metatarsomere slightly shorter than the following two tarsomeres combined and twice as long as the upper tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, protarsal claws asymmetrical, basal tooth of internal claw bluntly truncated.

Aedeagus shown in Figure 5 (N–P).

Variation

Length 6.1–6.9 mm, length of elytra 4.2–4.7 mm, width 3.1–3.4 mm. Female: protarsal claws symmetrical, with the basal tooth of inner claw sharply pointed, antennal club composed of three antennomeres, eyes as large as in male.

Diagnosis

Gynaecoserica vogleri sp. nov. is very similar to G. lubosi sp. nov. and G. arunachalensis sp. nov. in habitus and shape of aedeagus. It may be differentiated from both by the parameres being laterally strongly widened apically on the right side (dorsal view).

Etymology

The new species is dedicated to my dear colleague Alfried Vogler (London) to celebrate his 50th birthday.

Figures

Figure 5. (A–C) Gynaecoserica obliqua sp. nov. (holotype), (D–F) G. rostrata sp. nov. (holotype), (G–J) G. schima sp. nov. (holotype), (K–M) G. seinghkuensis sp. nov. (holotype), (N–P) G. vogleri sp. nov. (holotype), (Q–S) G. ziyardamensis sp. nov. (holotype). (A, D, G, K, N, Q) Aedeagus, left side lateral view; (C, F, J, M, P, S) aedeagus, left side lateral view; (B, E, I, L, O, R) parameres, dorsal view; (H) parameres, subdorsal view. Scale bars 0.5 mm.

Figure 8. (A–F) Habitus of the species (not to scale). (G–K) Female genitalia (scale bars G,H, 0.5 mm; I–K, 0.25 mm), dorsal overview (G, H), sclerotized portion of ductus bursae, dorsal view. (A) Gynaecoserica nahangensis sp. nov. (4 mm; holotype), (B) G. singhikensis Ahrens (6.7 mm; paratype: Sikkim: Rangeli River), (C) G. tumba Ahrens (5.4 mm; holotype), (D) G. variipennis variipennis (Moser) (6.5 mm; Sikkim, Pemayangtse), (E) G. obliqua sp. nov. (5.3 mm; holotype), (F) G. vogleri sp. nov. (6.1 mm; holotype), (G, J) G. cymosa (Brenske) (Meghalaya; 9 km NW of Jowai), (H, I) G. lobiceps sp. nov. (paratype: West Garo Hills, Nokrek N.P.), (K) G. keithi sp. nov. (paratype: Meghalaya; 9 km NW of Jowai).

Figure 10. Distribution of Gynaecoserica species (A, upper panel; B, lower panel). “?” indicates the rather imprecise type locality (Tenasserim) of G. jelineki sp. nov. in Myanmar.