identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
03F987EBFFD3031BFF7C4F51FBD2FF0F.text	03F987EBFFD3031BFF7C4F51FBD2FF0F.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Morphostenophanes medogensis Zhou & Tenzin & Zhang 2026	<div><p>Morphostenophanes medogensis Zhou &amp; Zhang, sp. nov.</p><p>(Figs 1–3)</p><p>Type material. HOLOTYPE: CHINA: ♂, ‘China: Xizang, Mêdog County (墨ḇ县), 80k, alt. ca. 2000 m, 2022. vii, Ling-Feng Yuan leg.’ (SNUC) . PARATYPES: CHINA: 1 ♂, ‘China: Xizang, Mêdog County (墨ḇ县), Dagmo Town (ŻÎ乡), 2200 m, 2020.ii.’ (cJQY) ; 3 ♀♀, ‘ China: Xizang, Bomê County (DZŶ县), Gu Town (古乡), <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=95.52056&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=29.894722" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 95.52056/lat 29.894722)">Baika Village</a> (Ƌ卡", 29°53'41''N, 95°31'14''E), 2627 m, 2021.vii.11, Ren-Zhi Zhang leg.’ (SNUC) .</p><p>Diagnosis. Body medium-sized, dark green, with metallic luster. Head coarsely punctate. Pronotum quadrate, with projecting posterior angles and curved posterior margin; prosternal process reflexed or vertical. Elytra in female weakly convex.</p><p>Holotype male. Habitus (Fig. 1A, C) slender, length 19.5 mm, width 6.8 mm, moderately convex, noticeably constricted between pronotum and elytra. Body dark green, with metallic luster; antennomeres 7–11 dark brown, tarsal claws reddish brown.</p><p>Head (Fig. 2A) transversely subquadrate, sparsely and coarsely punctate; clypeus transversely heptagonal, gently bent downwards in front, with anterior margin nearly straight, clypeal transverse impression short; frontoclypeal suture depressed, becoming weaker laterad, widely U-shaped; genae strongly raised, depressed before eyes, strongly and roundly produced anterolaterally; frons broad, anterior part gradually sloping forwards; eyes transversely reniform, strongly convex laterally; inner ocular sulci finely depressed; tempora weakly convex, finely wrinkled. OI = 69.0. Antennae slender, exceeding basal third of elytra, with antennomeres weakly thickened to each apex; relative lengths of antennomeres from base to apex: 0.62: 0.37: 0.95: 0.92: 1.00: 0.97: 1.00: 0.90: 0.92: 0.87: 1.07. Mentum hexagonal, finely and sparsely punctate.</p><p>Pronotum (Fig. 2C) quadrate, widest slightly before the middle; PW / PL = 1.13; anterior margin nearly straight, slightly convex at the middle, with marginal sulcus markedly presented to almost absent; lateral margins curved, lateral sulci thin, visible only along anterior half in dorsal view; posterior margin noticeably concave at middle, posterior marginal sulcus markedly presented; anterior angles rounded, posterior angles projecting; disc convex in middle, shagreened, finely and sparsely punctate. Scutellum triangular, glossy, finely punctate.</p><p>Elytra fusiform, widest near middle, lapping at the apex (Fig. 3G); EL / EW = 1.84; dorsum moderately convex, highest near anterior 2/5; bearing five rows of ring-like depressions with raised centers, some interrupted.</p><p>Prosternum shagreened, finely and sparsely punctate; prosternal process (Fig. 2D) reflexed, with pointed apex; hypomeron weakly rugulose, shagreened. Metaventrite glossy, metaventral anterior process weakly wrinkled. Abdomen depressed, with surface somewhat rough, densely and finely punctate, with III and IV ventrites sulcate at each both sides.</p><p>Legs slender. Protibiae (Fig. 3A) curved at apical third, with inner margin pubescent in apical half; mesotibiae (Fig. 3B) weakly curved at apical third, with inner margins pubescent in apical third; metatibiae (Fig. 3C) weakly sinuous, with inner margins pubescent in apical 3/5.</p><p>Aedeagus (Fig. 3D) elongate, curved in lateral view; parameres slender, producing in a straight line in lateral view, 0.23 times as long as the total length of aedeagus, with apex of flabelli form. Sternite VIII (Fig. 3E) with apical lobes each rectangular in lateral view, superior margin curved, roundly connected to the inferior margin.</p><p>Female. Habitus (Fig. 1B, D) stouter than the male, BL = 19.1–22.6 mm, with roughened dorsum. Head (Fig. 2B) with more projecting genae and smaller eyes, OI = 57.0–61.8, clypeus and frons more coarsely punctate. PW/ PL = 1.13–1.20; prosternal process with rounded apex (Fig. 2E); elytra more convex, EL/EW = 1.64–1.78, highest in middle; abdomen straight in lateral view. Ovipositor (Fig. 3F) knife shaped, gradually narrowing apically, fused coxites almost as long as baculus.</p><p>Variation. The male paratype with BL = 20.8 mm, OI = 52.6, antennae broken. Prothorax with PW/PL = 1.30. Elytra with the ratio of EL/EW as that of the holotype.</p><p>Comparative notes. The habitus and elytral structure of Morphostenophanes medogensis sp. nov. reveal its adscription of the M. elegantulus Masumoto &amp; Bečvář, 2008 species group. The new species can be readily separated from other congeners by its moderately convex habitus of dorsum, coarsely punctate head frons, reflexed or vertical prosternal process, and pronotum with projecting posterior angles.</p><p>Comments. The new findings northwestwards expand the distribution of Morphostenophanes, and indicating the possibility of the discoveries of additional new species belonging to other species groups in the vast Himalayan region.</p><p>Distribution. China: Xizang (Mêdog and Bomê).</p><p>Etymology. The new species is named after its type locality, Mêdog County.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03F987EBFFD3031BFF7C4F51FBD2FF0F	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		MagnoliaPress via Plazi	Zhou, De-Yao;Tenzin, Nyima;Zhang, Ren-Zhi	Zhou, De-Yao, Tenzin, Nyima, Zhang, Ren-Zhi (2026): Discovery of Morphostenophanes Pic, 1925 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Stenochiinae) in Xizang, China, with description of a new species. Zootaxa 5786 (1): 455-460, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5786.1.39, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5786.1.39
