Pseudotheopea Lee & Bezdek, 2020

Lee, Chi-Feng & Bezdek, Jan, 2020, Revision of the Theopea genus group (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae), part III: Descriptions of two new genera and nine new species, ZooKeys 912, pp. 65-124 : 65

Pseudotheopea Lee & Bezdek gen. nov.

Type species.

Theopea sauteri Chûjô, 1935a (here designated)

Description.

Body length 4.8-7.2 mm.

Males. Head. Eyes moderately large. Anterior part of head not modified or modified (strongly excavated and modified in P. costata group). Frontal tubercles prominent, narrow, usually produced at inner anterior angle. Penultimate maxillary palpomere not greatly swollen, apical palpomere conical. Vertex with reticulate microsculpture.

Antenna 11-segmented, filiform and slender, some antennomeres apically expanded or curved in males; antennomere II very short, III long, 1.7-3.5 × longer than II, 0.6-1.0 × as long as I, 2.4-3.3 × as long as wide.

Pronotum quadrate or transverse, 1.2-1.3 × as wide as long, broadest at middle, with pair of discal depressions. Anterior pronotal border absent. Lateral margins rounded or subparallel. Disc with reticulate microsculpture.

Elytra. Surface almost glabrous (with scattered erect setae on apical part only) except P. similis (Kimoto); punctate and striate, usually with longitudinal ridges between two longitudinal rows of punctures, sometimes ridges reduced or absent in part. Epipleura gradually narrowed to apex. Disc with reticulate microsculpture.

Legs. Procoxae globular, prosternal process reduced to thin depressed ridge but apically expanded, procoxal cavities closed. Protarsomere I more or less swollen. Metatibia simple, with apical spine. Length of metatarsomere I nearly equal to following tarsomeres combined. Tarsal claws appendiculate with basal tooth small and rounded. Metatarsomere I simple.

Abdomen. Last ventrite apically trilobate.

Aedeagus always ventrally flattened, apex with shallow notch. Ventral surface with wide groove, with a constriction formed by two small triangular sclerites that are elongate in some species. Internal sac with median elongate sclerite, divided into two parts; sometimes with single or paired hook-like or longitudinal and apically tapering sclerites.

Females. Antenna slender, unmodified. Protarsomere I not modified. Posterior margin of last ventrite regularly rounded, without incisions. Spermatheca with small receptacle and C-shaped pump. Gonocoxae bifurcate basally, apically convergent, apical part usually with eight long setae. Ventrite VIII longitudinal, longer setae laterally, shorter setae along apical margin, spiculum 1.6-3.5 × as long as ventrite VIII.

Differential diagnosis.

This new genus possesses the following characters shared with Theopea Baly: the punctures on the elytra are striate, with ridges between two longitudinal rows of punctures; spaces between longitudinal rows of punctures broader when ridges are reduced or absent. But Pseudotheopea gen. nov. differs from Theopea by the presence of reticulate microsculpture on the vertex and pronotum (lacking reticulations in Theopea ), with apical spine of metatibia (absent in Theopea ), and antennomeres III-X usually longer and curved in males (antennomeres III-X usually swollen or modified in males of Theopea ). Genitalic characters that distinguish males of Pseudotheopea from those of Theopea include the relatively longer tectum (> 0.5 × as long as aedeagus) and divided median elongate endophallic sclerite in Pseudotheopea (relative shorter tectum and <0.5 × as long as aedeagus and the intact median elongate endophallic sclerite in Theopea ). In females, the gonocoxae are convergent apically in Pseudotheopea (divergent in Theopea ).

Remarks.

All Theopea species (11 species) from East Asia studied by Lee and Bezděk (2018) and T. costata (Allard) ( Lee and Bezděk 2019) are transferred to this new genus. Twelve additional species are recognized as members of Pseudotheopea gen. nov. including five species transferred from Theopea and seven new species. Two species groups are proposed here (Table 1 ).

Etymology.

This new genus is named for its similarity with the genus Theopea Baly.