Dicronychus bushrae, Al Dhafer, Hathal M. & Platia, Giuseppe, 2013

Al Dhafer, Hathal M. & Platia, Giuseppe, 2013, Contribution to the knowledge of the genus Dicronychus (Coleoptera: Elateridae) from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 3734 (1), pp. 15-22 : 19

Dicronychus bushrae n. sp.

Figs. 9–11 .

Material examined: Holotype: ♀ Saudi Arabia, Jizan Aiban, Sabia Road, Wadi Qusai, 17° 15’ 248”N, 42° 57’ 960”E, 257m, 12-XI-2012, light trap, H. Al Dhafer (KSUM). Paratypes: 4♀ same data as a holotype, 1♀ same data as a holotype, beating, H. Fadl (KSMA); 2♂ Jizan, Aiban, Sabia Road, Wadi Shahdan, 17° 28’ 266”N, 42° 51’ 191”E, 433m, 13-XI-2012, light trap, H. Al Dhafer (KSMA); 1♀ Jizan Aiban Sabia Road, Wadi Dafa, 17° 22’ 495”N, 43° 04’ 529”E, 870m, 12-XI-2012, hand collecting, H. Al Dhafer (KSMA); 6♂, 6♀, Jizan Abu Arish Al Redhah road W. Dhamad, 17° 12’ 324”N, 43° 01’ 580”, 258m, 11-XI-2012, light trap, H. Al Dhafer (KSMA); 1♀ Wadi Qounonah, 19° 24’ 673”N, 41° 36’ 388”, 348m, 11-III-2012, light trap, H. Al Dhafer & H. Fadl (KSMA); 1♂ same data, Abdeldayem and A. El Torkey (KSMA); 1♂ AlMajardah, Wadi Baqrah, 18° 55’ 642”N, 42° 02’ 829”E, 433m, 10-XI-2012, hand collecting, H. Al Dhafer (KSMA); 1♂ Wadi Targ, 19° 37’ 365”N, 42° 18’ 020”E, 1317m, 14-III-2012, light trap, H. Al Dhafer and H. Fadl (KSMA); 1♀, Baha Thee Ain 19° 55’ 774”N, 41° 28’ 574”E, 10- III-2012, H. Setyaningrum (KSMA); 1♂ Baha, Wadi Bawa, 20° 44’ 976”N, 41° 14’ 846”E, 8-XI-2012, beating, H. Fadl (KSMA).

Description. Head: black, fine punctures with scattered larger round punctures, covered with decumbent pale hair; frons convex becoming flat toward anterior margin with well-developed apical carina; antennae just reaching the hind angles in males, not reaching the hind angles by about one antennomere in females, antennomere 2 subconical, as long as antennomere 3; antennomeres 3–10 dilated at apex, longer than wide; antennomere 11 subellipsoidal, narrowed at apex.

Pronotum: Slightly wider than long, convex, widest at middle, dark brown to black, dense and fine round punctures with scattered larger round punctures, lateral margins subparallel; hind angles sharply truncate, carinate dorsally.

Scutellum: Brown to dark brown, slightly wider than long, heart shaped, emarginate at base.

Elytra: Yellowish brown, medially black ( Fig. 9 ) or completely black, covered with dense yellow setae; striae densely and finely punctate, interstriae deeply punctate.

Male genitalia: Parameres without a distinctly produced subapical rounded lobe, apicolateral expansion reduced, teardrop-like, two setae below expansion, distal setae long, medial lobe simple, subparallel margins beyond middle apically rounded ( Fig. 10 ).

Female genitalia: Proximal sclerite of bursa copulatrix with 8 large marginal teeth, terminal teeth almost bifid in appearance, and 10 smaller internal discal teeth ( Fig. 11 ).

Etymology. The patronym honors Bushra H. Al Dhafer.

Diagnosis. Dicronychus bushrae is most similar to both D. brancuccii and D. latifae , but can be distinguished in the female by the sclerite of the bursa copulatrix with eight large teeth ( Fig. 11 ). Additionally, in the male, the median lobe of the aedeagus of D. bushrae ( Fig. 10 ) is not as narrowly rounded as D. latifae ( Fig. 7 ).

Remarks on other species. Platia and Schimmel (1997) indicated in their key to the species of Dicronychus from the Arabian Peninsula, that D. talhouki has “claw distinctly dilated in their first half,” but in the description of the species (page 314), the claws are described as “Feebly dilated in basal half.” Examination of the holotype of this species confirms that the claws are feebly dilated in the basal half ( Fig. 12 ). Additionally, Platia and Schimmel (1997) illustrated the sclerite of the bursa copulatrix with at least 8 large marginal relatively slender teeth, However, the sclerite of the bursa copulatrix of the Holotype female has 6–7 large thick marginal teeth with the distal teeth either bifid or trifid, a condition not illustrated by Platia and Schimmel (1997, fig. 70). All material listed below fits well within the concept of the Holotype of D. talhouki . An undetermined number of paratypes from Saudi Arabia and Yemen were not examined (Platia and Schimmel, 1997 indicate 20 males and 6 females but the number listed is 20 and “several spms.”). A redescription is provided below.

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 11. Dicronychus bushrae n. sp. 9. Habitus. 10. Male genitalia, dorsal. 11. Bursa copulatrix sclerite.

FIGURES 6 – 8. Dicronychus latifae n. sp. 6. Habitus. 7. Male genitalia, dorsal. 8. Bursa copulatrix sclerite.

FIGURES 12 – 15. Dicronychus talhouki. 12. Claw. 13. Prosternum without V-shaped suture. 14. Habitus, 15. Male genitalia, dorsal. 16. Bursa copulatrix sclerite.