Oniphenes bicoloratus Kirejtshuk, 2022

Kirejtshuk, Alexander G. & Kovalev, Alexey V., 2022, Monograph on the Cillaeinae (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) from the Australian Region with comments on the taxonomy of the subfamily, Zootaxa 5103 (1), pp. 1-133 : 119-122

50. Oniphenes bicoloratus Kirejtshuk et Kovalev, sp. nov.

Figs 36 , A–I

LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:CD950A5F-B6A6-4D76-816F-CE94A169A657

Type specimens examined. Australia, QLD: Holotype, male ( ANIC) and 2 paratypes, male and female ( ANIC, ZIN)—“ 12.44 S 143.14 E, 3 km ENE of Mt. Tozer , QLD, 1–4 July 1986, T. Weir ”.

Diagnosis. This new species has a very peculiar coloration and make it easy to distinguish it from other congeners (although in lighter paratype it is not clear). Besides, Oniphenes bicoloratus sp. nov. has, in contrast to other congeners, the body more robust with larger and more convex pronotum and more arcuate elytral sides, scape strongly swollen and not more than 1.3 × as long as thick, and also very characteristic outline of the apex of the male anal sclerite and structure of aedeagus and comparatively wide gonocoxites of its ovipositor. All congeners have the peculiar shape of pronotum (anterior and posterior edges, posterior angles and explanation of sides), shape of mouthparts (labrum, mandibles, mentum, terminal maxillary palpomeres), pregenal processes and antennal grooves. This new species also differs from:

– O, lobanovi sp. nov. in the much shorter elytra, temples not projecting externally behind eyes; distinct 8-9 striae on elytra (not only five); abdominal laterosternites V and VI about 4.0 × as long as wide (not at least 5.0 × as long as wide); arcuately convergent antennal grooves (not S-likely convergent);

– O. subunicolor sp. nov. in the narrowly explanate elytral sides; subrectiliner temples (not arcuate); subtruncate anterior edge of frons (not emarginate); gently curved outer edge of mandible (not dilated and forming an anterior angular excision); distinct 8-9 striae on elytra (not only six); sparser dorsal punctation; more medially convex prosternal process (not somewhat subflattened); abdominal laterosternites V and VI about 4.0 × as long as wide (not 4.5 × as long as wide); arcuately convergent antennal grooves (not S-likely convergent);

Etymology.The epithet of this new species means “ bicolorous ”.

Description of holotype (male). Length of body with abdomen 3.4, length without abdomen 2.6, width 1.1, height 0.4 mm. Body moderately elongate, subparallel-sided; moderately convex dorsally (particularly prothorax) and ventrally; chestnut brown dorsally with yellowish spot at elytral shoulder; coloration of underside becoming lighter from lateral side to middle; anterior part of head, antennal flagelli and legs reddish; body shining dorsally and ventrally; dorsum without pubescence (only very short and almost inconspicuous setae insided punctures on pygidium), sides of pronotum and elytra not ciliate, although middle of anterior and posterior edges of pronotum with dense and short microsetae; underside with moderately short and sparse fine yellowish hairs.

Head and pronotum with punctures, about 1.5 × as coarse as eye facets, separated by 2–4 puncture diameters, interspaces between them shining. Elytra with punctures somewhat coarser and densely arranged in longitudinal rows on bottom of weakly deepened nine striae, interstriae about as wide as 5–7 puncture diameters, very finely and very sparsely punctured and shining. Exposed abdominal dorsal sclerites with punctures slightly finer and denser than those on head and pronotum, shining to somewhat alutaceous. Prosternum and metaventrite with finer, shallower and sparser punctures than those on head and pronotum, separated by about 2–3 puncture diameters on prosternum and 4–5 puncture diameters on metaventrite, and interspaces between punctures finely and densely microreticulate on prosternum and smoothed on metasternum. Abdominal ventrites with somewhat finer punctation than that on thoracic underside and becoming denser and coarser apically; interspaces between punctures smoothed on ventrirtes 1–4.

Head subflattened, with moderately large and finely faceted eyes located anteriorly from arcuate temples, anterior edge of frons truncate. Labrum moderately short and with subtruncate anterior edge. Mandibles stout and short, externally gently curved to narrow bidentate apices (without dilatation at base). Antennal grooves distinctly outlined and C-shaped convergent and with minimal distance about 0.3 × as great as width of mentum. Mentum subtrapezoid with anterior edge subbi-sinuate, moderately wide and arcuately widening anteriorly, and with anterior lateral angles rounded and slightly projecting anteriorly. Pregenal process at hypostomal sinus moderately wide and slightly curved, with oblique apex (outer angle more projecting than inner one). Terminal labial palpomere short, subcylindrical and slightly longer than wide, truncate at apex; terminal maxillary palpomere moderately long and subconical about 2.5 × as long as thick. Antennae with scape strongly swollen and not more than 1.3 × as long as thick, pedicel about 0.4 × as long as scape, antennomere 3 about 1.7 × as long as pedicel, following antennomeres 4–7 about 0.3 × as long antennomeres 3, compact club 1.5 × as long thick and with comparable widest antennomere 10.

Pronotum with anterior edge subemarginate at middle; posterior edge slightly convex and with slightly expressed posterior angles; sides gently sloping, all edges narrowly bordered. Scutellar shield about 1.5 × as wide as long and widely rounded at apex. Elytra nearly as long as combined width, somewhat arcuate along elytral sides and widely rounded at outer apical angles, leaving last three abdominal segments completely exposed, sides steeply sloping to extremely narrowly explanate at edge. Abdominal laterosternites V and VI about 4.0× as long as wide. Three last abdominal tergites medially rather convex and weakly subdepressed at sides. Male pygidium about 1.8 × as wide as long, arcuately narrowinig to subtruncate apex.

Prosternum medially convex and with process very narrow between procoxae, very strongly and arcuately widened at subtruncate apex, with maximum width comparable with that of antennal club. Pro- and metacoxae extremely narrowly separated and distance between mesocoxae as great as scape thickness. Metaventrite with a distinct median suture nearly reaching anterior third. Metepisterna very narrow, at anterior end markedly narrower than thickness of scape. Hypopygidium about 1.8 × as wide as long, subtruncate at apex.

Tibiae subtriangilar, protibia about as wide as antennal club and with preapical teeth moderately raised, meso-and metatibiae widely rounded at outer subapical angles, spurs comparatively long and rather stout; outer side of meso- and metatibiae with with raised spines in distal part along their outer edge. Femora rather wide and moderately short; profemur about 1.5 ×, meso- and metafemora nearly 2.0 × as wide as corresponding tibiae. Protarsus nearly as wide as antennal pedicel, meso- and metatarsi somewhat narrower.

Anal sclerite well exposed, rounded to subangular at apex. Aedeagus moderately sclerotized and more than 2.0 × as long as wide; tegmen slightly arcuate at sides basal two thirds and and with median long apical process rounded, in turn, at setose apex; penis trunk slightly shorter than tegmen and with lobes of apical orifice surpassing apex of penis trunk. Inner sac with many small and slightly sclerotized granules in most part of sac and with one pair arcuate sclerites behind them.

Female. Differs from the male only in the narrower and less convex pronotum, slightly narrower protarsi, and also in the length and shape of sclerites of the last abdominal segment (pygidium about 1.4 × as wide as long and hypopygidum about 1.3 × as long as wide and widely rounded at apex). Ovipositor moderately sclerotized; rather wide, inner and outer lobes of gonocoxites clearly isolated and outer lobe about 0.5 × as long as inner lobe; styli very short and slightly visible, located at distance from blunt apex.

Variations. The body of the complete paratype 3.4 mm long with coloration and sculpture as those in the holotype. The second paratype without head and prothorax, but other parts of body and appendages are lighter (with light body coloration as that in O. lobanovi sp. nov., but the spot at elytral shoulder is distinctly the same as that in other specimens of the type series). The expression of the elytral stria 9 can be very weak.

Distribution. Queensland (Mt. Tozer).

Notes on bionomy. This species is apparenly associated with rainforest.

Figures

FIGURE 36. Oniphenes bicoloratus gen. et sp. nov., orig. A–H: holotype, male and I: paratype, female from QLD (“… 3 km ENE of Mt. Tozer …”); A: body, dorsal; B: head, dorsal; C: head and thorax, ventral; D: lateral side of abdominal segments 5 and 6, dorsal; E: male anal sclerite, ventral; F: tegmen, ventral; G: penis trunk, dorsal; H: proximal part of inner sac with armature; I: ovipositor, ventral. Scale bars: a = 0.5 mm to Fig. A; b = 0.5 mm to Figs B–D; с = 0.25 mm to Figs E–I.