Menimus (Menimus) arunachalus, Schawaller & Bellersheim, 2024

Schawaller, Wolfgang & Bellersheim, Aron, 2024, A new species of Menimus Sharp (Tenebrionidae: Gnathidiini) from Arunachal Pradesh, India, Zootaxa 5458 (4), pp. 597-599 : 597-598

Menimus (Menimus) arunachalus sp. n.

( Figs. 1–3 )

Type material. Holotype: ♂, NE India, Arunachal Pradesh, 11 km SSE Tenga, Eagles Nest Sanctuary , 27°06‘23‘‘N 92°26‘02‘‘E, 2510 m, 4.V.2008, primary evergreen mountainous cloud forest with very sparse undergrowth vegetation, sifting wet leave litter, leg. M. Ficáček, H. Podskalská & P. Šipek, NMPC.

Description. Body length 4.0 mm, body shape oval. Dorsal side brown without colour pattern or metallic shine, surface shiny and without distinct setation; antennae and legs lighter brown. Head with similar punctures as on pronotum, sparser on clypeus. Clypeal membrane not exposed. Eyes small, slightly globose. Antennae ( Fig. 1 ) 10-segmented with separated 3-segmented club. Pronotum widest across middle, 1.5x as wide as long; anterior corners rounded and not protruding, posterior corners rectangular; lateral margins rounded and slightly excavated before posterior corners, without dentation; basal margin finely beaded; surface shiny with similar punctures as on head, disc convex without any impressions; prothoracic hypomera with a few separate punctures, surface smooth and shiny; prosternal apophysis conical, pointing posteriorly. Elytra oval, 1.27x as long as wide, widest across middle, with punctures irregularly arranged in rows, and distinctly larger than pronotal punctures; lateral margins with fine dentation and visible in dorsal view nearly over complete length of elytra; humeral angles not pronounced; epipleura diminishing somewhat before apex, scattered with a few punctures similar as those on metasternum. Hind wings completely absent. Abdominal ventrites ( Fig. 2 ) laterally with punctures as large as in rows on elytra, last visible ventrite 5 unbeaded and without modifications. Legs without specific characters; tibiae rounded in cross section and exteriorly without any keels. Aedeagus as in Fig. 3 ; apicale short and broad triangular, with rounded apex.

Diagnosis. Menimus arunachalus sp. n. can be recognised by the 3-segmented antennal club in combination with the shapes of the pronotum and the aedeagal apicale. This combination of characters is unknown among the so far known five species from India. The structure of the distal antennomeres of M. caraboides (Allard, 1894) and M. ovalis (Allard, 1894) from southern India are unknown (missing in the lectotypes of both species), however, the shapes of the pronotum and the aedeagal apicale are different (compare Figs. 4, 7 in Schawaller 2016). M. belousovi Medvedev, 2007 from southwestern Yunnan and northeastern Myanmar with 3-segmented antennal club is similar as M. arunachalus sp. n. however the pronotum is widest across base, and the aedeagal apicale is longer and narrower (compare Figs. 1 , 6 in Schawaller 2016). Another clear difference is the elytral punctation. In M. belousovi they are much more irregularly distributed, not forming any row. While in M. arunachalus sp. n. it is possible to see most rows, and only few puncture between the rows.

Etymology. Named after the northeastern Indian province Arunachal Pradesh, where the holotype was collected.

Figures

FIGURES 1–3. Menimus arunachalus sp. n., ♂ holotype. 1. Dorsal view. 2. Ventrites. 3. Aedeagus. Scale line: 1.0 mm (1, 2), 0.5 mm (3).