Meligethes

Liu, Meike, Yang, Xingke, Huang, Min, Jelínek, Josef & Audisio, Paolo, 2016, Four new species of Meligethes Stephens from China and additional data on other species of the genus (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Meligethinae), Zootaxa 4121 (2), pp. 101-116 : 105

Meligethes (s.str.) aureolineatus Audisio, Sabatelli & Jelínek, 2015

( Figs. 9–10 , 30 )

Taxonomic remarks. Meligethes aureolineatus was described from a single female specimen devoid of an ovipositor. This species is member of the M. binotatus-auripilis group (as delimited by Audisio et al. 2015), where it appears to be more closely related to members of the M. auripilis complex. This species is likely sister to the rather isolated M. aurifer Audisio, Sabatelli & Jelínek, 2015 from Shaanxi and Shanxi. These two species share uniformly blackish or nut-brown body coloration ( Figs. 30–31 ), combined with yellowish-orange legs and antennae, and rather long and uniform dorsal pubescence.

The recent availability of a second specimen (a male) from the type locality ( China, Sichuan Province, Jiuzhaigou Valley near Zhangzha) allowed for the description of the unknown male genitalia. The male genitalia ( Figs. 9–10 ) are characterized by a median lobe of the aedeagus similar to that of M. aurifer ( Figs. 11–12 ), long (ratio LEAE/WIAE = 2.22), narrowly spatulate and minutely incised distad (narrowly spatulate but slightly emarginate distad and shorter in M. aurifer , ratio LEAE/WIAE = 2.00–2.10: Figs. 10, 12 ), combined with characteristically shaped tegmen, exhibiting a relatively deep, widely U-shaped distal excision (ratio DTIN/LETE ≈ 0.28), with rather pointed apices of the paramera (the tegmen exhibiting a more widely V-shaped and shallower excision, ratio DTIN/LETE ≈ 0.25, in M. aurifer : Figs. 9, 11 ).

Meligethes aurifer exhibits an uniformly colored (blackish-brown, bronze to olivaceous) dorsum covered by uniform and moderately long silvery to golden pubescence ( Fig. 31 ), while M. aureolineatus exhibits an uniformly colored brown (nut-brown to bronze) dorsum with rather long golden dorsal pubescence on head and pronotum, associated with shorter and brownish elytral pubescence, and with a characteristic series of well-defined longitudinal and narrow creamy stripes on each elytron (the first lateral, the second discal, the third sutural), formed by short but dense creamy pubescence ( Fig. 30 ). Female genitalia of M. aureolineatus remain unknown.

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 16. Male genitalia of Meligethes spp. 9 – 10: M. aureolineatus Audisio, Sabatelli & Jelínek, 2015 (male from China, Sichuan, Jiuzhaigou Valley). 11 – 12: M. aurifer Audisio, Sabatelli & Jelínek, 2015 (male paratype from China, Shaanxi, Hua Mts). 13 – 14: M. auropilosus sp. nov. (male holotype from China, Tibet, Nyalam). 15 – 16: M. volkovichi Audisio, Sabatelli & Jelínek, 2015 (male holotype from China, Yunnan, Cang Mts). Scale bar = 0.2 mm (Figs. 9 – 16).

FIGURES 30 – 33. Habitus of Meligethes spp. (dorsal and ventral view). 30: M. aureolineatus Audisio, Sabatelli & Jelínek, 2015 (female holotype from China, Sichuan, Jiuzhaigou Valley). 31: M. aurifer Audisio, Sabatelli & Jelínek, 2015 (female paratype from China, Shaanxi, Hua Mts). 32 – 33: M. auropilosus sp. nov. (male holotype from China, Tibet, Nyalam). Scale bar = 0.6 mm (Figs. 30 – 33).