Dima spicata Schimmel, 1999

Qiu, Lu, Németh, Tamás, Prosvirov, Alexander S. & Kundrata, Robin, 2020, Dima spicata Schimmel, 1999 (Elateridae: Dimini), a morphologically remarkable species endemic to China, Zootaxa 4768 (3), pp. 415-424 : 416-422

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4768.3.8
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C24BD60D-6751-4C7A-8ED5-4BB70785D0BD
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3794790
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/BC061671-FFC2-FFD9-70D2-93CDBDF782C1
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Dima spicata Schimmel, 1999
status

Treatment

( Figs 1–6 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 View FIGURE 5 View FIGURE 6 )

Dima spicata Schimmel, 1999: 252 , fig. 26; Cate 2007: 184; Qiu et al. 2018: 447.

Type locality. China: Sichuan Province, Liziping ( AEŦ ") [Simian County (Hdzh), Ya’an City (ṞṘḿ)] .

Type material. Holotype, female, „ China: Sichuan pr., Liziping , 28.VI.–3.VII. 1991, R. Dunda leg. // Collection R. Schimmel, Vinningen // Holotypus ♀, Dima spicata n.sp., det. Schimmel, 98 // R. Schimmel coll., BMNH- E-2018-157, NHMUK013890727 View Materials “ ( BMNH, ex coll. Schimmel) ( Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 ).

Other material examined. 1 male, 2 females, „ China: Sichuan: Mt. Lushan ( ṖNJ), Xichang City ( OED ḿ), Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture ( DZNJ ẘẆmdzNj), 1700–1780 m, 17.–18. VI .2017, Chao Zhou & Li He leg.“ ( PCLQ); 1 male, 1 female, „ China: Sichuan: Mt. Lushan, Xichang City, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, 1780–1920 m, 30. VI .2018, Li He leg.“ ( PCLQ); 1 female, „ China: Sichuan: Mt. Lushan, Xichang City, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, 1850–2150 m, 25. VI .2016, Li He & Chao Zhou leg.“ ( PCYJL); 1 male, „ China, Sichuan Province, W Pingchuan Town ( ṬṃDz ) [Yanyuan County (ȒDzh), Xichang City] , 27°37ʹ32ʹʹN, 101°46ʹ31ʹʹE, h= 2395 m, 19.VII.2011, I. A. Belousov, I. I. Kabak leg.“ ( PCAP); 1 female, „ China, Sichuan Province, NW Pingchuan Town GoogleMaps , 27°41ʹ18ʹʹN, 101°46ʹ06ʹʹE, h= 2745 m, 15.VII.2011, I. A. Belousov, I. I. Kabak leg.“ ( PCAP) GoogleMaps ; 1 female, „ China, S Sichuan prov., Sunjlangshan mt. [unknown mountain in the north slope of Luojishan Mountains ], 20km S Xichang, 2000–2250 m, 22.– 27.7.2005, S. Murzin lgt. // coll. Tomáš Sitek (Ostrava) // Dima spicata Schim., Det. Schimmel 15“ ( PCJM) .

Diagnosis. Dima spicata is similar to all other known Dima species in Sichuan and Yunnan in the small body size, sub-oval body shape, long antennae, and the relative ratio of basal antennomeres. This species is easily recognizable by its extremely long posterior angles ( Figs 1B View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 ), which have not been found in any other Dimini ( Schimmel 1996a, Qiu et al. 2018).

Diagnostic characters. Male ( Figs 2A,B View FIGURE 2 ; 3 View FIGURE 3 ). Body rather small, convex, 5.9–6.8 mm long and 2.3–2.7 mm wide; median portions and edges of head, pronotum, scutellar shield and elytra dark brown to blackish brown, areas near edges of head, pronotum (including posterior angles) and elytra yellowish brown; mouthparts, antennae, legs, and elytral suture yellowish brown to brown; ventral parts brown to blackish brown, epipleura, lateral portions of hypomeron apparently lighter; pubescence yellowish golden, semi-erect, curved.

Head ( Fig. 2A View FIGURE 2 ) including eyes 0.45 times as wide as pronotum; frons with more or less shallow depression me- dially, apically overhanging base of labrum, with supra-antennal carinae smooth and distinct but becoming obsolete medially, not forming sharp frontal carina. Labrum transverse, convex, frontally widely rounded, densely covered with small shallow punctures and long semi-erect setae. Head surface with punctures shallow, small and rounded, separated about 1.0–2.5 times of their diameter; pubescence on head long, semi-erect to erect, directed forwards. Mandible robust, rather broad, bidentate, laterodorsal face with sparse long semi-erect to erect pubescence, lateral edge gradually curved. Maxillary palpus with palpomere I short, palpomere II elongate, more than twice as long as wide; palpomere III slightly longer than wide; apical palpomere about as long as combined length of palpomeres II–III, more than twice as long as wide, hatchet-like. Antenna slender, long, reaching about midlength of elytra. Scape long, robust, antennomeres II–X elongate, gradually slightly widened apically, pedicel shortest, antennomere III about 1.3 times longer than antennomere II, antennomeres III–X subequal in length; ultimate antennomere elongate, slightly longer than penultimate antennomere, gradually widened subapically, obliquely narrowed apically.

Pronotum ( Fig. 2A View FIGURE 2 ) strongly convex, without posterior angles widest at about half, 1.20–1.25 wider than long if measured along midline, and when posterior angles included then about 1.25 times longer than wide if length measured between anterior and posterior angles and width between the apices of posterior angles. Anterior margin widely concave; anterior angles short, slightly produced forward; lateral sides rounded; posterior angles very long, about 0.8 times as long as pronotal length when measured along midline, surpassing humeral part of elytra, gradually narrowed toward apex, relatively sharp, slightly divergent, with inner margin basally with distinct sharp notch; posterior margin medially shallowly emarginate; emargination with distinct sharp notch laterally on each side. Lateral and sublateral carina close to each other; lateral carina distinct, barely visible from dorsal view, becoming obsolete in apical parts of posterior angles; sublateral carina distinct, complete, forming sharp margin at posterior angles. Disc densely and finely punctate; punctures small, rounded to suboval, separated usually about 0.5–2.0 times of their diameter (2.5–3.0 times in specimens from Pingchuan Town surroundings), interstices smooth; surface with moderately dense, short, semi-erect pubescence, usually directed backwards ( Fig. 3A View FIGURE 3 ). Hypomeron some- what shiny, with punctures large, oval, separated 1.5–3.0 times of their diameter. Prosternal sutures almost straight for most of their length, slightly curved inwards. Prosternum ( Fig. 2B View FIGURE 2 ) elongate, including prosternal process about 1.75 times as long as wide, in front of coxal cavities (i.e., excluding prosternal process) about 1.15 times as long as wide, with surface shallowly punctate, punctures separated 1.5–2.5 times of their diameter (2.5–3.0 times in specimens from Pingchuan Town surroundings). Prosternal lobe with anterior margin widely rounded. Prosternal process ( Fig. 3E View FIGURE 3 ) rather short, about half as long as prosternum in front of procoxal cavities, with medial v-shaped groove which is distinctly narrowed subapically; from dorsal view with sides subparallel-sided for almost their entire length and abruptly narrowed near apex; from lateral view straight and abruptly narrowed near apex, with uneven surface, apically rounded. Scutellar shield ( Fig. 3B View FIGURE 3 ) slightly convex, transversely suboval; slightly wider than long; anterior margin widely rounded, slightly extended medially; posterior margin rounded; surface almost smooth, shiny, sparsely covered with small punctures and dense, moderately long, semi-erect pubescence which is slightly longer than that on pronotum. Mesoventrite ( Fig. 2B View FIGURE 2 ) transverse, widened posteriorly, almost smooth, shiny, frontal margin medially slightly produced forward to form narrow prostrusion with medially emarginate apex; sides distinctly sinuate, posterior process rather long, with subparallel sides; procoxal rests distinct but shallow; mesoventral cavity shallow and with vaguely defined borders, widened posteriorly. Mesanepisternum with frontal margin almost straight, with distinct lateral extensions of procoxal rests. Mesepimeron smaller than mesanepisternum. Metaventrite reduced, transverse, moderately densely punctate, with punctures separated 1.5–3.5 times of their diameter, almost smooth; discrimen distinct, long. Metacoxal plate ( Fig. 3D View FIGURE 3 ) with basal portion well developed, slightly emarginate posteriorly, then obliquely abruptly narrowed and very strongly reduced towards body edge, forming only narrow strip. Elytra ( Fig. 2A View FIGURE 2 ), oval-elongate, together 1.50–1.60 times as long as wide, widest at about middle; strongly convex, anteriorly more or less steeply declined, laterally gradually bent downwards; each elytron basally narrowed, with anterior margin continuing to form short humeral carina; with striae formed by lines of shallow, rounded punctures, separated usually about 1–2 times of their diameter; interstriae smooth, slightly convex, covered by punctures much smaller than those on striae; pubescence rather dense, semi-erect, moderately long, slightly longer than that on pronotum ( Fig. 3C View FIGURE 3 ). Hind wings absent. Leg ( Fig. 2B View FIGURE 2 ) slender, relatively long; each tibia elongate, narrow, with paired tibial spurs; all tarsi clearly shorter than tibiae; tarsomere I longest, shorter than tarsomere II and III combined, tarsomere II longer than wide, slightly longer than tarsomere III, tarsomere III ventrally with short membranous lobe, tarsomere IV shortest, ventrally with widened and elongate lobe, apical tarsomere elongate, slender.

Abdomen ( Fig. 2B View FIGURE 2 ) with ventrites very finely puncate, with punctures separated 1.0–3.0 times of their diameter; covered with short semi-erect pubescence; apical ventrite widely rounded apically. Tergite VIII slightly wider than long, posteriorly narrowed, finely punctate, covered with sparse pubescence, denser at margins. Sternite VIII widely transverse, about 3.5 times as wide as long, apically with broad shallow emargination, finely punctate, with short setae, with several longer setae latero-apically. Tergite IX ( Fig. 3F View FIGURE 3 ) slightly wider than long, apico-medially deeply emarginate, moderately covered with relatively short and long setae latero-apically; tergite X small, longer than wide, rounded apically, without setae; sternite IX ( Fig. 3G View FIGURE 3 ) about 2.9 times as long as wide, apically rounded, apical half covered with short setae, more densely apico-laterally. Aedeagus ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 H–K) elongate, 3.3 times as long as wide. Median lobe rather robust, clearly surpassing tip of parameres, slightly curved ventrad, with short basal struts, sides gradually slightly narrowed subapically, apex rounded. Paramere robust, wide basally and narrow apically, slightly curved, with inner margins less sclerotized, with distinct subapical hook, apical lobe subtriangular, with outer margin slightly sinuate, densely covered with long setae. Phallobase relatively small, slightly wider than long, u-shaped, with sinuate sides.

Female ( Figs 1 View FIGURE 1 ; 2C,D View FIGURE 2 ; 4 View FIGURE 4 ). Similar in coloration and habitus to male but usually more convex, with elytra widest between middle and 3/4 of their length. Body 7.2–8.7 mm long and 2.8–3.5 mm wide (holotype: 8.1 mm long, 3.2 mm wide); head including eyes 0.45 (large females including the holotype) to 0.50 times (smaller, lighter females) as wide as pronotum. Pronotum without posterior angles 1.20–1.30 times wider than long if measured along midline, and when posterior angles included then about 1.25–1.30 times longer than wide if length measured between anterior and posterior angles and width between the apices of posterior angles. Abdominal tergite VIII ( Fig. 4C View FIGURE 4 ) almost u-shaped, apically widely rounded, finely punctate, densely covered with combination of short and relatively long pubescence; sternite VIII ( Fig. 4D View FIGURE 4 ) slightly wider than long, apically rounded, covered with fine punctures and combination of dense short and relatively long pubescence, spiculum ventrale about 5.0 times sternite length. Ovipositor ( Figs 1F View FIGURE 1 ; 4A,B View FIGURE 4 ) long; paraprocts about 7.0 times as long as gonocoxites; gonocoxite moderately sclerotized, less sclerotized apically, narrowed at apical half, with several setae; stylus elongate, attached subapically. Bursa copulatrix ( Fig. 1F View FIGURE 1 ) elongate, sac-like, without any sclerotized structures.

Immature stages. Unknown.

Intraspecific variability. The females vary in the body size and coloration; some are larger, more robust and darker, with the elytra clearly widest after middle, while some are smaller, lightly colored, and with the elytra widest at middle or slightly after middle ( Figs 2C,D View FIGURE 2 ). The specimens collected near Pingchuan Town differ from other known specimens in smaller size and sparser body punctation. Moreover, the male from this locality has a slightly shorter apical parameral lobe compared to the other known male specimens.

Distribution. China (Sichuan Province: Ya’an and Liangshan) ( Figs 5 View FIGURE 5 , 6A View FIGURE 6 ).

Natural history. This species was collected in June and July at elevations of about 1700–2745 m around the Anning Valley [ṘṪOiô] within the Hengduan Mountain range. All specimens from Mt. Lushan ( Fig. 6C,D View FIGURE 6 ) were collected from the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest either by shaking the Fagaceae trees ( Fig. 6D View FIGURE 6 ) or by leaf sifting ( Fig. 6E View FIGURE 6 ) (Li He and Chao Zhou, personal communication).