Meligethes abditus, Audisio & Jelínek & Cooter, 2005

Audisio, Paolo, Jelínek, Josef & Cooter, Jonathan, 2005, New and little-known species of Meligethes Stephens, 1830 from China (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 45, pp. 111-127 : 20-21

Meligethes abditus sp. nov.

( Figs. 9-10 , 18, 21, 25)

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, CHINA, BEIJING Principality, Dongling Mts., Xiaolongmen , 39° 97´N, 115° 43´E, 1500 m a.s.l., 17.vi.2001, on Labiates, J. Cooter & P. Hlaváč leg. ( CAR) . PARATYPES: same data as holotype, 2 JJ 2 ♀♀ ( CAR, NMPC, CSN).

Diagnosis. Medium-sized (length 2.1- 2.5 mm), orange-brown with orange to pale brown legs and antennae, yellowish and translucent narrowly flattened lateral sides of pronotum and elytra and relatively developed golden pubescence. General appearance ( Fig. 25 ) similar to M. kasparyani Kirejtshuk, 1984 from the Primorje Territory, but with pronotal sides slightly more widely flattened, elytra more narrowed at sides, truncate anterior margin of clypeus, very distinct male and female genitalia, and much longer and darker teeth on outer sides of middle and hind tibiae. Metasternum in male with a moderately deep and wide longitudinal impression in posterior two thirds, almost simple in female; last ventral sternite simple in both sexes, without incision or raised tubercles. Front tibiae as in Fig. 21 . Male genitalia as in Figs. 9-10 . Ovipositor as in Fig. 18 .

Description. Male holotype. Length 2.42 mm; breadth (at widest point of elytra) 1.22 mm. Elongate and convex ( Fig. 25 ); reddish-brown, with short golden pubescence and with yellowish, translucid, flattened lateral sides of pronotum and elytra. Legs orange to orangebrown. Antennae yellowish to orange, with slightly darker club.

Head with dorsal punctures slightly larger than eye facets, rather strongly impressed, separated by nearly one diameter, surface between them smooth; anterior margin of clypeus completely and indistinctly bordered, truncate, with obtusely pointed lateral angles. Frontogeneal furrows distinct and complete. Antennae of normal size for the species group ( Fig. 25 ), third antennomere slender, slightly shorter than second; antennal club middle-sized.

Pronotum nearly 1.90 times as wide as long, broadest at posterior fourth ( Fig. 25 ), narrowed anteriorly; sides narrowly bordered and flattened; with posterior angles obtuse but distinct. Base slightly sinuate near scutellum; punctures markedly larger, coarser, and deeper than on head, separated from each other by little more than half a diameter, surface between them smooth and shining.

Scutellum medium-sized, densely punctate throughout its entire surface; surface between punctures with faint trace of microreticulation. Elytra 1.12 times as long as wide, broadest at basal two-fifths, scarcely wider than pronotum (1.10 times), slightly narrowed at sides; humeri feebly raised, humeral striae indistinct; elytral punctures distinctly finer and shallower than on pronotum, surface between them smooth, without microreticulation.

Ventral surface orange-brown with fine short pubescence. Prosternal antennal furrows strongly impressed. Prosternal process rather long and sub-parallel, slightly wider than antennal club, with slightly wider and obtusely rounded apex; punctures similar to those on head, surface between them rather shining. Mesosternum with hind margin straight. Metasternum without tubercles, with a wide, sub-parallel, and moderately deep longitudinal impression on posterior two-thirds; punctures and the spaces between as on frons, but sparser. Caudal marginal line of hind coxal cavity following closely to posterior edge of cavity and turning back prior to outer end. Last visible abdominal sternum simple in both sexes, without incision or tubercles.

Front tibiae ( Fig. 21 ) with outer edges finely crenulate from basal third, with a subapical group of 3-5 larger and sharper teeth; front tarsi slightly narrower than antennal club; hind tibiae moderately narrow, with inner edges regularly arcuate, not sinuate ( Fig. 25 ); tarsal claws simple. Middle and hind tibiae with outer edges bearing series of peculiarly long and dark spines ( Fig. 25 ).

Genitalia. Tegmen ( Fig. 9 ) with characteristic Y-shaped median excision rather deep and wide; aedeagus elongate ( Fig. 10 ), narrowed from distal fifth, with apex moderately pointed, formed by a couple of partly mobile sclerites, converging distally.

Female. Metasternum almost simple. Front tarsi distinctly narrower than in male. Ovipositor as in Fig. 18 , with moderately pointed and not darkened apex, and rather short subapical styli.

Variability. Length 2.14- 2.50 mm. Teeth on outer edges of front tibiae are slightly variable, but of the pattern described and figured.

Differential diagnosis. This species is probably closely related to M. kasparyani from the Primorje Territory ( KIREJTSHUK 1992). It is distinguishable by differently shaped male and female genitalia, pronotal sides more distinctly flattened, elytra more narrowed at sides, truncate anterior edge of clypeus and much longer and darker spines on outer sides of middle and hind tibiae. The shape of this new species is strongly reminiscent of small specimens of the southern Italian endemic Meligethes paschalis Spornraft, 1975 , which, on the other hand, has entirely different male and female genitalia ( AUDISIO 1993).

Etymology. Specific epithet abditus (= hidden, in Latin) referes to the fact that the few type specimens were sorted out from a long series of specimens of the rather similar and syntopic M. kasparyani .

Bionomy. As discussed above, the known specimens were all collected by tapping flowering Lamium sp. (probably the eastern Palaearctic L. barbatum Siebold & Zucc. , Lamiaceae ) heads into a sweep net (J. COOTER, pers. observ.), in company with a long series of specimens of the related M. kasparyani , known to use the species as local host-plant in eastern Siberia (KIREJT- SHUK 1992). Lamium barbatum is also widespread in north-eastern China and it is rather likely that this new Meligethes uses the same host plant. Specimens were found by sweeping at the edges of mixed secondary woodland and overgrown abandoned walnut orchards at nearly 1500 m a.s.l. Active at least in late June.

Distribution. Known to occur only at the type locality in north-eastern China.

Figures

Figs. 1-12. Tegmen and aedeagus (dorsal aspect) of Meligethes Stephens, 1830. 1-2 – M. difficiloides sp. nov., J paratype from Yunnan, Weibao Mts. 3-4 – M. dieckmanni Audisio & Jelínek, 1984, J from Turkey, Kars province, Göle. 5-6 – M. difficilis (Heer, 1841), J from Italy, Rome. 7-8 – M. atrovirens Jelínek, 1982, J from Turkey, Giresun province, Kümbet. 9-10 – M. abditus sp. nov., J paratype from Beijing principality, Xiaolongmen. 11-12 – M. chlorocupreus sp. nov., J paratype from Yunnan, Weibao Mts. Scale bar = 0.20 mm.

Figs. 24-27. Body outlines of Meligethes Stephens, 1830. 24 – M. difficiloides sp. nov., J paratype from Yunnan, Weibao Mts.; 25 – M. abditus sp. nov., J holotype from Beijing principality, Xiaolongmen; 26 – M. chlorocupreus sp. nov., J holotype from Yunnan, Weibao Mts.; 27 – M. bocaki sp. nov., J paratype from Yunnan, Luo Shui. Scale bar = 1 mm.