Bothrichara skalei, Telnov, 2023

Telnov, Dmitry, 2023, New and poorly-known taxa of Lagriinae Latreille, 1825 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) predominantly from the collections of the Naturkundemuseum Erfurt. 1, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 23 (1), pp. 1-33 : 1-33

Bothrichara skalei sp. nov. ( Figs 9–11 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:F028740B-697B-4C5B-869B-C7487031FD43

Type material designated. Holotype male NME: W-PAPUA Manokwari Prov. ca. 18 km NW Ransiki, Anggi Gida, Kampung Itkau, 1890 m, 01°24.28'S, 133°55.53'E, 04.III.2007 leg. A. Skale cutting area /prim. forest [printed].

Paratypes 62 specimens. 8 males & females ASC, 1 female BMNH , 2 males & females DTC: same label as holotype; 1 male DTC: Manokwari Pr. vic. Mokwam (Siyoubrig [sic!]), 1400-1800m, 01°06.26'S, 133°54.41'E, 24.-28.II.2007 leg. A. Skale [printed] ; 2 males & 1 female DTC, 1 male & 1 female NME : W-PAPUA Manokwari Pr. vic. Mokwam (Siyoubrig [sic!]), 1400- 1800m, 01°06.26'S, 133°54.41'E, 24.- 28.II.2007 leg. A.Weigel UWP /UWS [printed]; 1 male DTC & 2 females NME : W-PAPUA Manokwari Prov. vic. Mokwam (Siyoubrig [sic!]), 1400-1800m, 01°06.26'S, 133°54.41'E 24.-28.II.2007 leg. A. Skale [printed] ; 1 male DTC, 2 males & 1 female NME : W PAPUA Manokwari Pr Vic Mokwam (Siyoubrig [sic!]) 1400-1800 m, 01°06.26'S 133°54.41'E 24-28.ii.2007 leg. A. Weigel UWS/ UWP [printed]; 4 males NME : W PAPUA Manokwari Pr. Vic.Mokwam ( Siyoubrig [sic!]) 1400- 1800m, 01°06.26'S 133°54.41'E, 24- 28.ii.2007 leg. A. Weigel UWS/ UWP [printed]; 1 female DTC: W-PAPUA Manokwari Pr. Vic. Mokwam ( Siyoubrig [sic!]) 1400-1800 m, 01°06.26'S, 133°54.41'E, 24.-28.II.2007 leg. A.Weigel UWP /UWS [printed]; 1 female BMNH , 1 male & 13 females NME : W-PAPUA Manokwari Pr. Vic. Mokwam ( Siyoubrig [sic!]) 1400-1800 m, 01°06.26'S, 133°54.41'E, 24.-28.II.2007, leg. A.Weigel [printed] ; 1 male & 4 females NME : WESTPAPUA, Prov. Manokwari , vic. Mokwam, Slyoubrig [sic!] 1400-1800m NN // 01°06.26'S 133°54.41'E 24.-28.II.2007 leg. A. Skale [printed] ; 3 females NME : New Guinea, West-Papua Arfak Mts. , Mokwam (Siyoubrig [sic!]) 1400-1800 m S0106.25.86'E13354.40.86 24.- 28.2.2007, R . Gerstmeier [printed] ; 1 male DTC, 1 male & 2 females NME : WESTPAPUA, Prov. Manokwari 14 km NE Ransiki, Warbiati, (Oransari) 1°18.25'S, 134°14.14'E 02.III.2007, leg. A. Weigel fresh cutting area [printed] ; 1 male DTC, 1 male & 3 females NME : WESTPAPUA, Prov.

13 Manokwari , ca. 10km NW Ransiki, Kali Way 1300m, 1°25.03'S 134°01.49'E, 03.III. 2007, leg. A.Weigel, riverside [printed]; 1 female NME: WESTPAPUA, Prov. Manokwari, 6 km N Manokwari, Desa Pami 160 m, 0°48.34'S, 134°03.15'E, 09. III.2007, leg. A.Weigel, cut. area/sec. for. [printed]. Correct name of one of the collecting localities is Syoubri (the name is misspelt on all labels where applicable) .

Derivatio nominis. Named for one of the first collectors, André Skale (Gera, Germany).

Measurements. Holotype male, total body length 8.1 mm; head length 1.2 mm, maximum head width across compound eyes 1.2 mm, pronotal length 1.2 mm, maximum pronotal width across base 1.4 mm, elytral length 5.7 mm, combined maximum elytral width across postmedium 3 mm. Selected male paratypes 7.1–8.5 mm, female paratypes 10.4–12.5 mm long.

14 Description. Holotype male ( Fig. 9A ). Dorsal and ventral forebody uniformly black. Elytra black with dark blue metallic lustre, abdomen and legs uniformly black. Mouthparts, maxillary palps, antennae and legs dark brown. Head elliptical, about same wide as long, opaque dorsally and ventrally. Labrum subtruncate to shallowly emarginate medially at anterior margin. Epistoma broadly U-shapely emarginate at anterior margin. Frontoepistomal impression moderately deep, distinct. Anterolateral area of frons moderately projected laterodorsad to hold insertion of antenna. Compound eye large, kidney-shaped, strongly emarginate at anterior, shallowly and broadly - at posterior margin in lateral view, not touching insertion of antenna, moderately prominent in lateral and dorsal aspects. Interfacetal setae not observed. Minimum interocular distance about 0.8× a length of dorsal eye portion. Tempus about half a length of dorsal eye portion, constricted posteriad, posterior temporal angle rounded, head base subtruncate. Head dorsum densely punctate with flat punctures. Intervening spaces generally as wide as punctures, subopaque to in part glossy. Head dorsal setation inconspicuous, whitish to yellowish, short, appressed, in part concealing dorsal surface of head, directed generally anteriad. Epistoma and labrum with few much longer suberect setae. Antenna long, filiform, extending well beyond mesocoxa when directed posteriad. Basal antennomere slightly thickened, about 1.8× as long as antennomere two. Antennomere two shortened. Antennomere three about 3.3× as long as antennomere two, as long as to 1.1× as long as antennomere four. Antennomeres 5–11 slightly thickened, of them 9–10 slightly widened distally. Terminal antennomere asymmetrical, apically acutely pointed, 0.8 mm long, about twice as long as penultimate antennomere and about as long to slightly longer than combined length of two preceding antennomeres. Terminal maxillary palpomere strongly securiform. Cranial ‘neck’ glossy, sparsely punctate. Pronotum trapezoid, slightly transverse, opaque and flattened dorsally, subtruncate at both anterior and posterior margin. Maximum width across base, slightly expanding medially on lateral margins about midlength, slightly constrict- ed anteriad. Anterior and posterior margin not beaded or rimed. Antero- and posterolateral angles rounded in dorsal view. Dorsal pronotal punctures small, flat, very dense. Intervening spaces narrow, opaque while microreticulate. Dorsal pronotal setae yellowish, short, strongly appressed, dense, effectively concealing sculpture of pronotal disc. Scutellar shield small, subtriangular, apically rounded, punctured and appressedly setose. Elytron widened postmedium, dorsally moderately convex, slightly glossy. Apical sutural angle rounded. Elytral sculpture of dense, moderately deep, large punctures and slightly glossy, variably wide intervening spaces. Whole dorsum, including both punctures and elevated rugules, covered with inconspicuous, sparse to dense, short, curved silvery setae. Setae becoming apparently denser on postbasal and apical area and randomly on some parts of subglabrous median area of elytron. Subglabrous median part of elytron with several weak, moderately large impressions, three to four along suture, three between suture and lateral margin and three at lateral margin. Epipleuron complete, broad at most of its length except at elytral apex, densely punctured and rather densely white setose. Metathoracic wings fully developed (functional). Ventral pterothorax and abdominal sternites densely white setose by short setae, in part effectively concealing their ventral sculpture. Legs long, slender, femora and tibiae subopaque, with whitish, inconspicuous, moderately dense appressed setae. Femora slender, not clavate or thickened. Tibiae subequally long to corresponding femora, male meso- and metatibia somewhat flattened and denticulate/serrate at inner margin ( Fig. 9C ). Tarsomeres somewhat widened likely pointing on arboreal lifestyle. Basal metatarsomere short- er than combined length of remaining metatarsomeres. Tergite VII and morphological sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin. Aedeagus as in Fig. 11 .

Sexual dimorphism. Female ( Fig. 10 ) is much larger and strongly globose compared to male. Minimum interocular distance 1.25× a length of dorsal eye portion. Tempus slightly over a half a length of dorsal eye portion, constricted posteriad with rounded posterior temporal angle, head base subtruncate. Female antenna moderate, filiform with somewhat thickened antennomeres 8–11, extending or nearly so towards metacoxa when directed posteriad. Basal antennomere shortened and thickened, about 1.4× as long as antennomere two. Antennomere two shortened.

15 Antennomere three about 2.6–2.7× as long as antennomere two, as long as antennomere four. Antennomeres 5–10 subcylindrical, slightly widened distally. Terminal antennomere elongated, slightly arched, apically bluntly pointed, 0.8 mm long, about 2–2.1× as long as penultimate antennomere and about as long as combined length of two preceding antennomeres. Pronotum trapezoid, transverse, opaque and flattened dorsally, subtruncate at both anterior and posterior margin. Maximum width across base, slightly expanding medially on lateral margins about midlength, constricted anteriad. Elytron widened in apical third, dorsally strongly convex except at base, glossy except on densely setose areas where subopaque. Two densely setose and punctured areas on elytra – basal one occupying about a fourth of elytral length, broadly emarginate posteriad and a narrow, oblique preapical band. Elytral punctures on densely setose areas small and dense with narrow but glossy intervening spaces. Extensive glabrous to nearly glabrous areas of elytra with variably large glabrous circular depressions. On each elytron there are 3–5 depressions along suture, three sublateral and 2–3 somewhat smaller lateral nearly touching lateral margin of elytron. Punctures irregular, circular to strongly elliptical, on glossy areas, intervening spaces as wide as to 3× as wide as punctures; also depressions are punctured. Each puncture on glossy areas with a fine curved seta not surpassing length of corresponding puncture. At densely punctured and setose areas setae are silvery, short, appressed, fully concealing dorsal sculpture of these areas. Apical sutural angle subacute, rounded. Tibiae subequally long to corresponding femora, without modifications. Basal metatarsomere about 0.9× as long as combined length of remaining metatarsomeres. Female tergite VII and morphological sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin.

16 Interspecific variability. Elytra pale brown with weak blue metallic lustre or black with purple metallic lustre in some male paratypes. Dense patches of silvery elytral setation reduced to basal and apical areas in several male paratypes, not extending to a generally glabrous median part of elytra. In some male paratypes, posterolateral area of elytral apex is glabrous, in other whole elytral apex densely setose. Size, depth, and number of elytral circular impressions varies in males and females. Glabrous areas of elytra with purple metallic lustre in several female paratypes. Dorsal vestiture of pronotum yellowish in several female paratypes.

Differential diagnosis. The new species is specifically different from the similar congeners due to the combination of the following features: the glossy elytral area without clusters of the dense whitish pubescence as in B. argyrostigma Merkl, 1990 (Central Cordillera of New Guinea), the elytral impressions on median (main) part of the elytral disc are not surrounded by short, dense setae as in B. iridescens Merkl, 1988 (Central Cordillera of New Guinea), the number and position of the elytral impressions is different from that in B. iridescens and the apical area of the elytra with the areas of dense setae which are not present in B. iridescens ,the elytra with the distinct metallic lustre and the glabrous elytral impressions large and distinct and the apex of the aedeagus prolonged into a process (the elytra are not metallic and the elytral impressions shallow and less conspicuous, the apex of the aedeagus subtriangular in B. pulchella (Guérin-Méneville, 1830) (New Guinea). The aedeagus is very similar in shape to that of B. iridescens .

Ecology. Occurs in primary and disturbedlowland to mid-montane rainforests and forest edges and clearings at 160– 1890 m.

Distribution. Doberai Peninsula of New Guinea.

Figures

Fig. 9.Bothrichara skalei sp. nov. A – Holotype male, habitus, dorsal view; B – Paratype male, habitus, dorsal view; C – Paratype male, metatibia, dorsal view [not to scale].

Fig. 10. Bothrichara skalei sp. nov., paratypes females, habitus dorsal view. A – Specimen with yellowish pronotal setation; B – Specimen with greyish pronotal setaetion [not to scale].

Fig. 11. Bothrichara skalei sp. nov., holotype male, aedeagus in dorsal (A), ventral (B) and lateral (C) view.