Hesperopenna Medvedev & Dang, 1981

Bezděk, Jan, 2013, Revision of the genus Hesperopenna (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae). I. Generic redescription, definition of species groups and taxonomy of H. medvedevi species group, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 53 (2), pp. 715-746 : 718-720

Genus Hesperopenna Medvedev & Dang, 1981

Hesperopenna Medvedev & Dang, 1981: 634 (original description), type species Hesperopenna flava Medvedev & Dang, 1981 (by original designation); KIMOTO (1989): 99.

Liroetiella Kimoto, 1989: 106 (original description), type species Liroetiella tibialis Kimoto, 1989 (by original designation); MOHAMEDSAID (2004): 96 (catalogue); syn. nov.

Martinella Medvedev, 2000:166 (original description), type species Martinella merkli Medvedev, 2000 (by original designation); preoccupied by Martinella Jousseaume, 1887 in Mollusca: Gastropoda; syn. nov.

Levnma Özdikmen, 2008: 644 (replacement name for Martinella Medvedev, 2000 ); syn. nov.

Redescription. Body. Small to medium-sized (3.5–10.0 mm), oblong ovate, convex, glabrous or elytra pubescent. Complete body usually coloured in various shades of yellow, orange or brown, elytra often with paler apical half; antennae, tibiae, tarsi, head, pronotum or part of underside black in some species.

Male. Head ( Fig. 1 ). Labrum transverse, subrectangular, with rounded anterior angles, anterior margin usually shallowly concave, dorsally with several setiferous pores. Anterior part of head subtriangular, more or less elevated, posterior tip with distinctly raised nasal keel. Frontal tubercles subtriangular, with anterior angles produced to interantennal space, apically separated from each other by nasal keel, basally by thin furrow, from frons separated by impressed line. Interocular space wide, 1.25–1.60 times as wide as transverse diameter of eye. Interantennal space narrow, 0.60–1.00 times as wide as transverse diameter of antennal socket. Eyes small to medium sized, rounded or shortly elliptical, convex. Vertex wide, convex. Mandibles with four teeth. Apical maxillar palpomere conical. Antennae ( Fig. 6 ) with 11 antennomeres, filiform, 0.75–1.25 times as long as body, antennomere III 1.5–4 times longer than anntenomere II, apical antennomeres 6–8 times longer than wide.

Prothorax. Pronotum subquadrate to transverse, wider than long, ratio of length to width 1.30 to 1.80, anterior margin straight or almost straight, posterior margin rounded or straight medially, lateral margins more or less rounded, anterior margin unbordered, posterior margin thinly bordered, lateral margins with wider border, sometimes chanelled. Surface glabrous, almost impunctate or finely to distinctly punctate, moderately convex, sometimes laterally with slightly elevated callosity, always with short shallow transverse or oblique impression behind anterior angles ( Fig. 2 ). Procoxal cavities opened behind ( Fig. 3 ), intercoxal prosternal process thin, low anteriorly, gradually increasing posteriorly.

Scutellum small, triangular, with apex sharp or more or less rounded. Mesothorax slender, posteriorly divergent, in middle of posterior margin with thin sharp procession. Metathorax wide, convex ( Fig. 4 ).

Elytra. Elongate, convex, widest in posterior third, usually glabrous but in several species almost whole elytra or their posterior half densely covered with short pale semierected setae (sometimes partly abraded), punctation dense, fine, confused, without postscutellar impression. Epipleura impunctate, wide basally, in basal quarter slightly extended, narrowed in middle part, slender posteriorly, gradually disappearing at apex ( Fig. 5 ). Elytral base distinctly wider than pronotal base, humeral calli well developed. Lateral and basal borders well developed, basal border ending near scutellum. Macropterous.

Legs moderately thin ( Fig. 7 ), apices of middle and metatibiae with spine. Tarsi thin, first tarsomeres of all legs elongate triangular, base of metatarsomere I not darkened, about as long as two following metatarsomeres combined. Claws appendiculate ( Fig. 8 ).

Abdomen. Posterior margin of last ventrite concave, sometimes straight in middle of concavity, without two incisions or with only very short indicated incisions, extreme posterior margin bent downwards. Surface in front of apical concavity transversely rounded and impressed.

Structure of aedeagus variable, from relatively simple to very complicated (see definitions of species groups), with large elongate basal orifice and internally with one or two large and long sclerites.

Female.Abdomen usually more convex, last ventrite entire or with wide shallow subtriangular incision. Pygidium entire or with narrow wedge-shaped incision. Spermatheca: nodulus globular or subglobular, cornu relatively narrow, distinctly inserted into nodulus, apex with distinct small appendix, spermathecal duct basally wider. Vaginal palpi, tignum and sternite VIII as in Figs 9–10 .

Diagnosis. The genus Hesperopenna belongs to the subtribe Luperina ( Galerucinae : Luperini) and is characterised by combination of the following characters: filiform antennae, anterior margin of pronotum unbordered, procoxal cavities open, apices of meso- and metatibiae with spine, metatarsomere I about as long as two following metatarsomeres combined, claws appendiculate and usually complicated structure of aedeagus.

In habitus, some oblong ovate species of Calomicrus (polyphyletic in current concept) and Erganoides Jacoby, 1903 are similar mainly to smaller species of Hesperopenna . In both Calomicrus and Erganoides pronotum is regularly convex, without any oblique impression behind anterior angles, which is typical for Hesperopenna . Last abdominal ventrite of male is trilobed with relatively short but always well developed incisions in both Calomicrus and Erganoides while the incisions are either missing or only indicated in Hesperopenna . In general appearance Hesperopenna species may resemble also some Oriental genera/species of the section Monoleptites (e.g. Monolepta , Ochralea Clark, 1865 , Paleosepharia Laboissière, 1936 , etc.) but can be easily distinguished by shorter metatarsomere I (typically elongated in Monoleptites, cf. WILCOX 1973, WAGNER 2004).

Distribution (based partly on specimens of formally undescribed species studied by the author). Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, South China, eastern provincies of India, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Bali), Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak). Most known species are accumulated in continental SE Asia.

Previous records from Malaysia ( MOHAMEDSAID & KIMOTO 1993; MOHAMEDSAID 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001; MOHAMEDSAID & HOLLOWAY 1999) and the Philippines ( MEDVEDEV 1995) deal with species excluded here from Hesperopenna .

Figures

Figs 1–10. Morphological details of Hesperopenna sipekorum sp. nov. 1 – head; 2 – pronotum in lateral view; 3 – prothorax; 4 – meso- and metathorax; 5 – left elytron in lateral view; 6 – right antenna; 7 – left hind leg; 8 – claw; 9 – vaginal palpi; 10 – tignum and sternite VIII. Scale bars: 1 mm for Figs 1–5 and 9–10, 2 mm for Figs 6–7, 0.25 mm for Fig. 8.