Serica (T.) pseudogracilipes Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2022

Ahrens, Dirk, Fabrizi, Silvia, Bai, Ming & Liu, Wangang, 2022, Taxonomic revision of Serica MacLeay, 1819 (sensu lato) from China and adjacent areas (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Sericini), with updates on Nipponoserica Nomura, 1972, Zootaxa 5186 (1), pp. 1-83 : 72-73

Serica (T.) pseudogracilipes Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , new species

Figure 19E–H , 25

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ Taiwan, Hualien Prov. Yuanfeng 2750m, 18.VI.1997 B. Herczig & L. Ronkay ” ( HNHM) . Paratype: 1 ♀ “ Taiwan, Hualien Prov. Yuanfeng 2750m, 18.VI.1997 B. Herczig & L. Ronkay ” ( HNHM) .

Description of the holotype. Length: 9.0 mm, length of elytra: 6.4 mm, width: 4.5 mm. Body elongate, dark brown, dull, elytra with yellowish-brown with dark brown to reddish brown spots, antenna yellow, base and margins of pronotum lighter; dorsal surface almost glabrous except some short, white setae on elytra.

Labroclypeus short, subtrapezoidal, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins straight and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles strongly rounded; anterior margin widely emarginate medially; margins moderately reflexed; surface weakly convex and shiny, finely and densely punctate, without wrinkles, with numerous erect setae; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, weakly bent medially; smooth area anterior to eye small and convex, 1.2 times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and slender (1/4 of ocular diameter), impunctate, with a short terminal seta. Frons completely dull and flat, with fine and sparse punctures, with a few fine and short, erect setae beside eyes, behind frontoclypeal suture, and on disc. Eyes very small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.45. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, as long as remaining antennomeres combined and straight. Mentum strongly elevated anteriorly, flattened anteriorly. Labrum moderately produced along middle, deeply emarginate medially.

Pronotum narrow and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins in basal half subparallel and almost straight, at middle convexly bent, in anterior half again straight and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp; posterior angles strongly rounded; anterior margin straight, with robust and complete marginal line; surface finely densely punctate, without smooth midline, with a few single fine pale setae on sides, otherwise only with minute setae; lateral and anterior margins densely setose; hypomeron carinate at base, moderately produced ventrally. Scutellum small, triangular, finely and irregularly sparsely punctate, with minute setae in punctures, base impunctate.

Elytra elongate, widest at posterior fifth, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate; intervals flat, with fine, sparse punctures; with a few single, fine, short, adpressed white setae on all intervals; epipleural edge fine, ending at moderately curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose (but setae in holotype abraded); apical margin narrowly membraneous, with a fine rime of minute microtrichomes (magnification 100x).

Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, sparsely setose; metacoxa glabrous, except a few short lateral setae. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as the slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.42. Abdominal sternites with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a long seta, otherwise glabrous; penultimate sternite at posterior margin with a wide membraneous rim being a quarter as long as sternite. Pygidium strongly convex and moderately shiny, dark, in punctures yellow, finely and densely punctate, smooth midline narrow, with moderately dense, long and short setae.

Legs slender, shiny, pro- and mesofemur dull; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate between the rows. Metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, without a continuously serrated line behind anterior edge; ventral posterior margin serrated and only weakly widened at apex, dorsal posterior margin completely serrated, in basal half with a few long setae which are half as long as metafemur width. Metatibia slender and long, widest shortly before apex, ratio of width/ length: 1/4.4, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group at middle, apical group at four fifths of metatibial length, basally with a few single, fine setae; external face sparsely and finely punctate, without wrinkles, glabrous; ventral margin serrated, with two widely separated robust setae; medial face finely sparsely punctate, glabrous; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation bluntly truncate. Tarsomeres ventrally with sparse, minute setae, dorsally impunctate. Metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, laterally and dorsally carinate, with a few indistinct dorsal punctures, a strongly serrated ridge ventrally; first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and little longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, external margin smooth but bluntly extended at middle; anterior claws asymmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw widened and sharply pointed at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 19E–G . Habitus: Fig. 19H .

Diagnosis. Serica pseudogracilipes Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , new species is in shape of aedeagus very similar to Serica niitakana Sawada, 1939 , S. yui Kobayashi, 1993 and S. gracilipes Nomura, 1974 , both occurrring also in Taiwan. Serica pseudogracilipes differs from the latter two by the finer parameres including their dorsal lobes (dorsal view), which are at middle stronger bent than in Serica yui but not as strong as in S. gracilipes (lateral view). From Serica niitakana it differs by the wider aedeagus and the strongly curved parameres (both dosal view).

Etymology. The name of new species is derived from the combined Greek prefix ‘ pseudo- ’ (substantive in singular genitive case) and the species name ‘ gracilipes ’, with references to the similarity of the species to S. gracilipes Nomura, 1974 .

Variation. Length: 9.0– 9.5 mm, length of elytra: 6.4–6.9 mm, width: 4.5–5.0 mm. Female: antennal club short, as long as remaining antennomeres combined; pygidium weakly convex; eyes smaller than in male, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.48.

Figures

FIGURE 19. A–D: Serica smetanai Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species (holotype); E–H: S. pseudogracilipes Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species (holotype). A, E: Aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, G: Aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, F: Parameres, dorsal view; D, H: Habitus (not to scale). Scale: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 25. Distribution of Nipponoserica daqiao Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, Serica hailougou Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. huangjing Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. kuankuoshuiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. limbourgi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. paralongipes Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. pseudogracilipes Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. smetanai Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. taishun Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. tianpingshanensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species.