Gnesis amabilis Ando & Yuan, 2021

Ando, Kiyoshi & Yuan, Cai-Xia, 2021, Nine new species of Cnodalonini (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) from Hainan Island with additional records of other Tenebrionidae, Zootaxa 4965 (2), pp. 321-338 : 333-334

Gnesis amabilis Ando & Yuan , sp. n.

( Fig. 29 )

Type material. Holotype: ♀, China, Hainan Is.: Mt. Jianfengling, Jianfeng Township , Ledong County, 18˚42′N/108˚52′E, Alt. 800–1,000 m, Ɨ南省乐东s尖峰•尖峰岭, 18–22.VII.2017, Local collector leg. ( HBUM).

Description. Body length: 8.0 mm in ♀ (n = 1). Proportions ♀ (n = 1): IE/TD 4.04; PW/PL 1.44; EL/EW 1.48.

Female. Oblong, gently convex above, shiny. Colour dark reddish brown; head and pronotum metallic brassygreen, with faint purple sheen, pronotum narrowly violet along anterior margin; elytra strong reddish purple, violet on suture, sutural intervals, striae and marginal areas strongly metallic greenish brassy; the reddish purple tinge of 2nd to 9th elytral intervals changing into metallic greenish brassy in angles of view; mouthparts paler.

Head transversely hexagonal, weakly convex, with fine microsculpture; mCG weakly sinuate; punctures piligerous, dense and coarse, larger and slightly sparser than on frons, those on clypeus becoming smaller along apical margin; clypeus moderately produced forwards, slightly and transversely convex in middle, weakly emarginate at apex in median two-thirds; frontoclypeal suture very fine, angulate at posterior corners; genae irregularly depressed, slightly wider than long; frons weakly sloping forwards, not elevated along inner ocular sulci; eyes small, weakly transverse in dorsal view; inner ocular sulci short, shallow and slightly broadened; tempora short and rounded, coarsely punctate along eyes. Antennae compactly articulated, reaching behind middle of pronotum; distal five antennomeres distinctly dilated and forming club; 11th oval. Ultimate maxillary palpomere moderately securiform. Mentum subtrapezoidal, broadly elevated in middle and deeply excavate at sides, weakly rounded at apex, setiferous apically, with cribrous surface by large and dense punctures.

Pronotum quadrate, widest at basal fourth, with feeble microsculpture; disc gently convex, very steeply, subvertically declivous laterally, not sulcate along lateral margins, with punctures piligerous, fine and irregularly dense, slightly smaller than on frons, and gradually smaller in anterior third; anterior margin straight, finely beaded on each lateral fourth; lateral margins evenly, weakly convergent forwards and steeply so backwards from the widest point, tenuously beaded; basal margin weakly rounded, gently beaded; anterior corners rounded, slightly obtuse than rectangular, posterior ones obtusely angulate. Scutellum small, obtriangular, slightly convex, with microscopic punctures.

Elytra strongly convex, divergent posteriorly and widest before apical third, without humeral calli; striae fine, gently impressed, scarcely weakened on apical declivity; strial punctures weakly coarse and rather dense, coarser on 7th and 8th striae, and slightly finer on apical declivity; intervals weakly convex, moderately so in part on apical portions of 7th to 9th ones, finely and rather densely punctate; epipleura weakly depressed, oblique, reaching near middle of 5th abdominal ventrite, almost smooth though sparsely and finely punctate.

Prothoracic hypomera gently depressed, finely microsculptured, and very sparsely with piligerous microscopic punctures. Prosternum abbreviate in front of coxae, obscurely beaded at apex; prosternal process long and very large, cuneiform and horizontal, a little shorter than protibia, bearing from apical margin of prosternum, shallowly depressed in middle and acutely pointed at apex, with very sparse and piligerous microscopic punctures. Mesoventral ridge distinctly V-shaped, very slightly sloping forwards, with sparse and piligerous microscopic punctures; anterior two corners obtusely angulate in lateral view. Metaventrite moderately convex, very short, shorter in middle than the diameter of mesocoxa, with fine and sparse piligerous punctures. Abdomen gently convex, with punctures piligerous, dense and coarse, finer and denser on apical half of 5th ventrite.

Legs robust. Femora rather long, gently dilated towards apical third. Tibiae short; inner margins of protibiae feebly emarginate in median three-fifths; meso- and metatibiae slightly incurved with inner margins sparsely pubescent in each about apical half. Tarsi compactly articulated; meso- and metatarsi rather slender.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. China (Hainan Is.).

Etymology. The specific epithet is named after pretty external colour and form of this new species.

Differential diagnosis. The new species is similar to Gnesis purpurascens ( Nakane, 1968b) from southern Japan, but is readily separable from the latter by the following characters: dorsal colour different, elytral striae and marginal portions metallic greenish brassy; inner ocular sulci shorter; clypeus emarginate at apex instead of roundly produced in the latter; mCG less sinuous; pronotum wider, with lateral margins more thickly beaded; elytra with strial punctures coarser; prosternal process very large, bearing from apical margin of prosternum; and metaventrite shorter.

Figures

FIGURES 29–31. Tenebrionidae spp. 29. Gnesis amabilis sp. n., holotype; 30. Plamius laoshei sp. n., holotype; 31. Pseudonautes fulgidicollis sp. n., holotype.