Selasia Laporte, 1838

Kundrata, Robin & Sormova, Eliska, 2018, Selasia dembickyi sp. nov., the first member of Drilini (Coleoptera: Elateridae) from South East Asia, with the description of S. jenisi sp. nov. from Nepal, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 58 (2), pp. 513-518 : 513-517

Genus Selasia Laporte, 1838

Selasia Laporte, 1838: 19 . Type species: Selasia rhipiceroides Laporte, 1838 ; by monotypy.

Diagnosis. Selasia species share the following combination of characters: body usually stout, frontoclypeal region short and wide, labrum more than four times wider than long, antenna flabellate, posterior margin of pronotum with a shallow, widely arcuate emargination, scutellar shield longer than wide, anterior margin of mesoventrite slightly concave, and abdomen with seven free ventrites.

An updated identification key to the males of Palaearctic Selasia species (modified from KUNDRATA 2017; without S. homhilia Geisthardt, 2003 , see KUNDRATA 2012b)

1 Pronotum black, darker than head and elytra ( Fig. 1 ); aedeagus as in Fig. 10 ; Nepal. .................................... ............................... S. nigrobrunnea Kundrata, 2017

– Pronotum yellowish brown to brown, lighter or of the same color as head and elytra. ................................. 2

2 Elytra distinctly bicolored, basally lighter, apically darker. ...................................................................... 3

– Elytra monochromatic (sometimes only small areas near pronotal margin slightly lighter); light to dark brown. ...................................................................... 4

3 Head and abdomen light brown to brown; aedeagal median lobe with subapical hook more than three times as long as wide; Arabian Peninsula. ................. ....................................... S. arabica Geisthardt, 2003

– Head and abdomen dark brown; aedeagal median lobe with subapical hook less than two times as long as wide; Pakistan. ......... S. sabatinellii Kundrata, 2017

4 Pronotum widest at anterior third or middle part. ... 5

– Pronotum widest at posterior angles. ...................... 6

5 Elytra light brown; antennomere III with its branch much shorter than the antennomere itself; pronotum widest at middle part; pronotum width/length ratio about 1.30; Socotra. ................................................... ..................................... S. socotrana Kundrata, 2012

– Elytra dark brown ( Fig. 3 ); antennomere III with its branch much longer than stem ( Fig. 6 ); pronotum widest at anterior third ( Fig. 8 ); pronotum width/ length ratio 1.65; Nepal. ................. S. jenisi sp. nov.

6 Antennae, pronotum and elytra unicolored, brown; median frontoclypeal depression deep, longitudinal; body length 8.5 mm; frontal interocular distance 1.3 times eye diameter; Pakistan. ..................................... ........................................... S. merkli Kundrata, 2012

– Pronotum lighter than antennae and elytra; median frontoclypeal depression shallow; body length 4.3– 7.2 mm; frontal interocular distance 1.6–1.8 times eye diameter; Nepal, northern India. ............................. 7

7 Antennae and elytra brown; branch of antennomere III triangular; phallobase wider than long. ................. ............................................... S. atriventris Pic, 1914

– Antennae and elytra dark brown; branch of antennomere III almost parallel-sided; phallobase longer than wide. ......... S. boruckae Kundrata, 2012

Figures

Figs 1–17. Habitus images of Selasia species. 1 – Selasia dembickyi sp. nov., dorsal view; 2 – S. dembickyi sp. nov., lateral view. 3 – S. jenisi sp. nov., dorsal view; 4 – S. jenisi sp. nov., lateral view. 5–6 – antenna (5 – S. dembickyi sp. nov.; 6 – S. jenisi sp. nov.). 7–8 – pronotum (7 – S. dembickyi sp. nov.; 8 – S. jenisi sp. nov.). 9–13 – Selasia dembickyi sp. nov.: 9 – abdominal sternite IX; 10 – abdominal tergite IX; 11 – abdominal tergite X; 12 – aedeagus, dorsal view; 13 – aedeagus, lateral view. 14–17 – Selasia jenisi sp. nov.: 14 – abdominal sternite IX; 15 – abdominal tergites IX–X; 16 – aedeagus, dorsal view; 17 – aedeagus, lateral view. Scale bars = 2.0 mm (Figs 1–4), 0.5 mm (Figs 5–9, 14–15), 0.2 mm (Figs 10–13, 16–17).