Phyllobrotica malinka, Bezděk, 2010

Bezděk, Jan, 2010, Phyllobrotica malinka sp. nov. from Turkey and Iran and a review of allied species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (2), pp. 563-575 : 564-569

Phyllobrotica malinka sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–3, 6–8 , 14–15 , 22 )

Type locality. Turkey, Mardin province, Hop Geçidi (Mardin env.).

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, ‘TR – prov. Mardin / Hop Gecidi , Mardin env. / 11.- 14.5.2005 / Z. Malinka lgt. [w, p]’ ( NMPC) . PARATYPES: 1 J 3 ♀♀, ‘ TURKEY prov. Mardin / Hop Gecidi , Mardin env. / 11.- 14.5.2005 / lgt. Orszulik [w, p]’ (1 J in JBBC, 1 ♀ in NMPC, 2 ♀♀ in KOFC) ; 1 ♀, ‘ Turkey / 20 km N of Bağişli / 5.VI.1992 / V. Bíža – Z. Košťál lgt. [w, p]’ ( JBBC) ; 1 ♀, ‘ Zeitun [= Kahramanmaraş prov., Suleymanli, 38°5′25″N, 36°49′26″E] / Staud. [= Staudinger leg.] [w, h] // [small blank white label]’ ( ZMHB) ; 2 JJ, ‘S IRAN, prov. Fārs / pass 140 km NE Sīraāz / 20.-21.IV.2002 / lgt. S. Kadlec [w, p]’ ( JVCC) ; 1 J, ‘ IRAN – Fars – m. 2245 / Safsahar (Dehbid) N. Shiraz / 18/ 26.IV.2006. G. Sama leg. [w, p]’ ( JBBC). The specimens are provided with additional printed red labels : ‘ HOLOTYPUS [or PARATYPUS], / Phyllobrotica / malinka sp. n., / det. J. Bezděk 2010’.

Description. Body length: JJ 6.05–6.95 mm (holotype 6.95 mm); ♀♀ 6.25–7.35 mm.

Male (holotype). Body flattened, parallel, glabrous, semiopaque. Head pale orange, vertex with a large black spot, apices of mandibles black. Antennomeres 1–4 orange, antennomeres 5 and 6 gradually darkening dorsally, antennomeres 7–11 black. Pronotum and elytra pale orange, each elytron with a black round spot in the apical third. Scutellum black. Prosternum pale orange, meso-, metasternum and abdomen black. Fore and mid legs orange, outer side of fore femora and inner side of mid femora with a black spot basally. Hind legs orange, femora black with only bases and apices orange.

Head covered with microsculpture, nearly impunctate, almost glabrous. Labrum transverse, covered with several pale setae, anterior margin broadly triangularly incised. The anterior part of head sparsely covered with pale setae. Frontal tubercles large, subtriangular, slightly elevated, separated from each other by a distinct furrow. Frons separated from frontal tubercles by a distinctly impressed furrow. Vertex with indistinctly impressed median line. Antenna slender, 0.70 times as long as body, length ratio of antennomeres 1–11 equal to 20-12-17- 22-21-19-19-18-16-17-18.

Pronotum transverse, 1.45 times as broad as long, widest at the anterior third, slightly narrowed anteriad and distinctly posteriad. Surface evenly convex, semiopaque, covered with microsculpture and some sparse fine punctures. Anterior margin slightly concave, not bordered. Lateral margins distinctly bordered, slightly sinuate, with short pale setae. Posterior margin almost straight in middle and rounded on sides, distinctly bordered. Anterior angles nearly rectangular, posterior angles obtusely angular; all angles with setigerous pore bearing one long pale seta.

Scutellum subtriangular with widely rounded apex, semiopaque, covered with microsculpture, glabrous.

Elytra parallel, semiopaque, covered with microsculpture and densely with fine confused punctures. Humeral calli well-developed, distinctly covered with short pale hairs. Elytral disc almost glabrous, sparse short hairs visible only in lateral view in the apical third. Epipleurae not developed. Macropterous.

Abdomen modified ( Fig. 22 ): ventrite 2 with two small groups of longer hairs in the middle. Ventrite 3 with two distinct bulges directed posteriad, covered with long hairs and connected by flat lamella. Ventrite 4 with a deep semicircular cavity in the middle. Ventrite 5 with very deep elongate cavity in the middle.

Hind tarsomere 1 ca. 0.85 times as long as the two following tarsomeres combined. Claws appendiculate.

Apex of aedeagus laterally dilated, tip widely triangularly incised ( Fig. 3 ).

Female. Microsculpture on head, pronotum and elytra less pronounced than in male, thus especially head and pronotum shining, not semiopaque. All ventrites regularly convex, without any depressions or appendices, posterior margin of the last ventrite entire. Tarsi slightly narrower than in males. Spermatheca C-shaped, with almost indistinct nodulus, basal part of cornu covered with fine wrinkles, ductus robust, well-sclerotized ( Figs. 14–15 ).

Variability. The width/length ratio of pronotum varies between 1.40–1.60 in males and 1.50–1.60 in females. The black spot on vertex is variable in size and shape: it is small and rounded in paler specimens and larger, subtriangular or extended covering most of vertex in darker specimens. The coloration of elytra differs in the populations from Turkey and Iran. All specimens from Turkey have the black pattern on elytra reduced to a single round spot in the apical third of each elytron. The specimens from Iran have slightly more distinct punctures on the pronotum and there are two black spots on each elytron (one small between scutellum and humeral callus and another large, elongate, slightly produced anteriad along the suture). The variability of the black pattern is shown in Figs. 6–8 . One male from Iran also has darkened apices of the mid and hind tibiae.

Differential diagnosis. In the structure of the male abdomen and the body coloration, P. malinka sp. nov. resembles P. elegans and P. frontalis . All three species can be easily distinguished by the structure of the aedeagus, which is relatively shorter and triangularly incised at apex in Phyllobrotica malinka sp. nov. while the aedeagi of P. elegans and P. frontalis are longer and not incised ( Figs. 3–5 ).

The shape of the spermatheca is somewhat variable in all three species, some other characters, however, seem to be stable. Basal parts of the cornu are covered with fine wrinkles in P. malinka sp. nov. and P. elegans while there are several more or less distinct collars in P. frontalis . The spermathecal duct and the spermatheca are situated in the same plane in P. malinka sp. nov. and P. frontalis , while they form a right angle in P. elegans ( Figs. 14–21 ).

In coloration, P. malinka sp. nov. is characterised by somewhat reduced black pattern on head. All specimens from Turkey have only one round black spot in the apical third of each elytron (without any black pattern in the scutellar area), the specimens from Iran are similarly coloured as paler specimens of P. frontalis , e.g. the apical spot on elytron is large, elongated, and there is another small black spot between the scutellum and the humeral callus. Phyllobrotica elegans has a completely black head and elytra with a large triangular black spot around scutellum (often broadly connected with the apical spots). Head of P. frontalis is bicoloured: the anterior part and frontal tubercles are orange, posterior part behind frontal tubercles is completely black. Elytral pattern in P. frontalis is very variable. Paler specimens have two black spots on each elytron, one between the scutellum and the humeral callus, another elongated in the apical half. The darkest specimens have the black pattern extended, only the humeral and apical areas being orange. The variability of the black pattern of all three species is shown in Figs. 6–13 .

Within the West Palaearctic Phyllobrotica species , P. malinka sp. nov., P. elegans and P. frontalis form a group with a very similar structure of abdomen in the males. The last ventrite of P. elegans has only a thin furrow in the middle and the median plate on the posterior margin of the last ventrite is shallowly impressed. The pair of processes arising from the posterior margin of the second ventrite is connected by a subtriangular lamella. The last ventrites of P. malinka sp. nov. and P. frontalis have a deep elongate cavity in the middle continued by a semicircular impression on the penultimate ventrite. The pair of processes arising from the third ventrite is connected by a transverse lamella in P. malinka sp. nov., while this lamella is lacking in P. frontalis .

Etymology. Dedicated to the collector of the holotype, Zdeněk Malinka (Opava, Czech Republic). Noun in apposition.

Bionomy. Unknown.

Distribution. Southern Turkey, provinces of Mardin and Kahramanmaraş; southwestern Iran: Fars province.

Figures

Figs. 1–2. Habitus of Phyllobrotica malinka sp. nov. 1 – paratype from Turkey, Mardin prov., Hop Gecidi (male, 6.90 mm); 2 – paratype from Iran, Fars prov., pass 140 km NE of Shiraz (male, 6.05 mm).

Figs. 3–13. 3–5 – Aedeagus (a – dorsal view; b – lateral view). 3 – Phyllobrotica malinka sp. nov.; 4 – P. elegans Kraatz, 1866; 5 – P. frontalis Weise, 1886. 6–13 – Variability of black pattern. 6–8 – P. malinka sp. nov.; 9–10 – P. elegans Kraatz, 1866; 11–13 – P. frontalis Weise, 1886. Scale bar = 1 mm for Figs. 3–5.

Figs. 14–21. Spermatheca. 14 – Phyllobrotica malinka sp. nov. (from Hop Geçidi); 15 – P. malinka sp. nov. (from 20 km N of Bağişli); 16 – P. frontalis Weise, 1886 (from Barla env.); 17 – P. frontalis Weise, 1886 (from Nemrut Daği Mts.); 18 – P. elegans Kraatz, 1866 (from Tbilisi); 19 – same from behind; 20 – P. elegans Kraatz, 1866 (from Mürseler); 21 – same from behind. Scale bar = 0.5 mm.

Figs. 22–24. Male abdomen. 22 – Phyllobrotica malinka sp. nov.; 23 – P. elegans Kraatz, 1866; 24 – P. frontalis Weise, 1886.