Amiserica pseudoantennalis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2021

Ahrens, Dirk, Liu, Wangang, Pham, Phu Van & Fabrizi, Silvia, 2021, An overview on the genus Amiserica Nomura, 1974 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Sericini), Zootaxa 5050 (1), pp. 1-63 : 13-14

Amiserica pseudoantennalis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , new species

Figures 2E–H , 14

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ China: N-Yunnan, Baiyungshan (Rai Railing Mts.) 2400m, Yong Ren, VII-2003 leg. Ying et al. / 728 Sericini : Asia spec.” ( ZFMK) . Paratype: 1 ♂ “ China, W Hubei, 19.V.–12.VI. Road Xingshan-Badong , 2004 saddle 5km N Gaucho 31.2N 110.5E, pitfall traps Jaroslav Turna leg., 1500m ” ( ZFMK) , 1 ♂ “N.E. Burma Kambaiti 7000ft. 25/3/1934 R. Malaise ” ( NHRS) .

Description of the holotype. Length: 6.9 mm, length of elytra: 5.1 mm, width: 4.5 mm. Body oblong, dark brown, surface dull, labroclypeus shiny, antenna yellowish brown, dorsal surface almost glabrous.

Labroclypeus wide, subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent to weakly rounded anterior angles, lateral border and ocular canthus producing a distinct angle; anterior margin weakly emarginate medially, margins weakly reflexed; surface flat and shiny, finely and densely punctate, with a few long erect setae; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly impressed and angled medially; smooth area anterior to eye 1.5 times as wide as long. Ocular canthus moderately long and narrow, finely and sparsely punctate, with a short terminal seta, equal to 1/3 of ocular diameter. Frons dull, in anterior quarter shiny, finely and densely punctate in anterior half, with a few long setae beside eyes, punctation on posterior third less dense and glabrous. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.64. Antenna with ten antennomeres, club with four antennomeres, slightly reflexed externally, three times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum widest at base, lateral margins in basal half straight and weakly convergent anteriorly, in anterior part strongly curved and convergent to moderately produced and strongly rounded anterior angles, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin distinctly convex, its marginal line widely lacking; basal margin without marginal line; surface with dense and coarse punctures each bearing a minute seta, otherwise glabrous; anterior and lateral borders sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate, basal margin of hypomeron not produced ventrally. Scutellum triangular, apex sharp, with coarse and dense punctures, smooth on basal midline, punctures with minute setae only.

Elytra oblong, widest in posterior third, striae distinctly impressed, with fine and dense punctures; intervals moderately convex, with fine, evenly and moderately dense punctures concentrated along striae, punctures with minute setae only, on penultimate lateral interval with a few long erect fine setae; epipleural edge moderately strong, ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border narrowly membraneous, with a fine rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, with coarse and dense punctures, glabrous except minute setae in punctures. Metacoxa only laterally with a few robust longer setae. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate and minutely setose, each sternite with a distinct transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short, robust seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.44. Pygidium weakly convex and dull, with coarse, dense punctures and a few fine, long setae beside posterior margin.

Legs slender; femora finely densely and coarsely punctate and glabrous, except for minute setae of punctures, with two longitudinal rows of setae; anterior margin of metafemur acute, with an adjacent continuously serrated line, ventral posterior margin weakly widened in apical half but not serrate, dorsal posterior margin completely smooth as well. Metatibia slender and moderately long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/3.4, sharply carinate dorsally, the basal group of spines at middle, the apical one at 4/5 of metatibial length, basally with a few single spines in punctures; beside dorsal margin without a continuously serrated line, only around coarse spine-bearing punctures serrated, beside dorsal margin finely punctate; lateral face longitudinally convex, with dense and coarse punctures bearing each a minute seta; ventral margin serrated, with three fine and long, robust setae of which the distal one is more distant from the others; medial face impunctate and glabrous; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concavely sinuate. Tarsomeres dorsally impunctate, ventrally with short, dense setae. Metatarsomeres ventrally with a strongly serrated ridge, laterally not carinate; first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and little longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, protarsal claws symmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw simply but sharply truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 1E–G . Habitus: Fig. 1H . Female unknown.

Variation. Length: 6.9–7.1 mm, length of elytra: 5.1–5.2 mm, width: 4.4–4.5 mm.

Diagnosis. Amiserica pseudoantennalis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , new species differs from A. antennalis by the lacking serrated line of metatibia and by shape of aedeagus by the parameres being at apex strongly curved dorsally and having the lateral lobe of left paramere distinctly divergent from the paramere.

Etymology. The name of the new species is derived from the combined Greek prefix pseudo- (false), the name antennalis , with reference to the apparent general similarity of the species to the species Amiserica antennalis .

Figures

FIGURE 1. A–D: Amiserica rufidula Nomura, 1974 (Taiwan: Tao Yuan Co.); E–H: A. sacculiforceps Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species (holotype); I–M: A. zhongtiaoshanensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species (holotype). A, E, I: Aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, G, L: Aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, F, J: Parameres, dorsal view; K: Aedeagus, dorsal view; D, H, M: Habitus (not to scale). Scale: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 2. A–D: Amiserica antennalis (Nomura, 1974) (Taiwan: Tai-Tung Prov., 2 km E of Hsiangyang); E–H: A. pseudoantennalis 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 14. Distribution of the species of the Amiserica rufidula group, part 2.