Shairella tsoui Lee & Beenen

Lee, Chi-Feng & Beenen, Ron, 2017, Revision of the genus Shairella Chûjô, 1962 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae) from Taiwan, with descriptions of five new species, Zootaxa 4268 (4), pp. 489-507 : 503

Shairella tsoui Lee & Beenen , sp. nov.

( Figs 10–11 )

Shairella aeneipennis Chûjô, 1962: 105 . (part)

Type locality. Taiwan: Hualien County, Kuanyuan (Dë), 24°11’03”N, 121°20’32”E, 2300 m.

Types (n= 79). Holotype ♂ ( TARI), Hualien: Kuanyuan (Dë), 2.VI.2016, leg. C.- F. Lee . Paratypes: 11♂, 15♀ ( TARI, RBCN), same data as holotype ; 5♂, 6♀ ( TARI), same locality, 2.VI.2016, leg. Y.- T. Chung ; 10♂, 10♀, same locality, 2.VI.2016, leg. B.- X. Guo; Taichung : 3♂, 2♀ ( TARI), Pilu (Bõ), 8.VIII.2014, leg. S.- F. Yu ; 5♀ ( TARI), same locality, 8.VIII.2014, leg. M.- H. Tsou ; 2♂, 5♀ ( TARI), same locality, 7.VII.2015, leg. C.- F. Lee ; 4♂ ( TARI), same locality, 3.VI.2016, leg. B.- X. Guo ; 1♀ ( TARI), labeled “ TAIWAN / HASSENZAN (= Pahsienshan, Ã ḾƜ) [p] / 4.VI.1942 [h] / A. MUTUURA [p, w] // ữaeȁ (Chiapaotai)— ËṚ (Liming) [h, on the back of the same label] // Shairella / aeneipennis / CHÛJÔ [h] / DET. M . CHUJO [p, w] // ALLo / Type [p, w, circle label with gray letters]”.

Males ( Figs 10 A–10C). Length 4.5–5.0 mm; width 2.6–2.7 mm. Antenna ( Fig. 11 A) long, filiform, about 1.3x longer than body, length ratios of antennomeres I–XI 1.0: 0.4: 0.8: 1.0: 0.9: 0.9: 1.0: 0.8: 0.8: 0.8: 0.9, length to width ratios of antennomeres I–XI 2.8: 1.6: 2.8: 3.6: 3.3: 3.8: 3.9: 3.3: 3.9: 4.0: 4.4. Elytra apically, moderately broadened; about 1.1–1.3x longer than wide; surface with sparse, coarse punctures and with several longitudinal indistinct ridges. Apical margin of last abdominal ventrite with two well developed incisions. Penis ( Figs 11 C–11D) extremely slender, about 8.0x longer than wide, apically tapering from basal 1/3, moderately curved at basal 1/ 3 in lateral view; endophallic sclerite short, about 0.4x as long as penis, slender and longitudinal, apex pointed, with dense, short hairs along lateral margin in apical 1/4, bifurcate at basal 1/4.

Females ( Figs 10 D–10F). Length 5.2–5.4 mm, width 3.5–3.6 mm. Antenna ( Fig. 11 B) long, filiform, 1.2x longer than body, length ratios of antennomeres I–XI 1.0: 0.4: 0.7: 0.9: 0.8: 0.8: 0.8: 0.8: 0.7: 0.7: 0.8, length to width ratios of antennomeres I–XI 3.2: 1.5: 2.6: 3.8: 3.7: 3.8: 3.8: 3.9: 3.7: 3.7: 5.1. Elytra strongly broadened apically; about 1.0–1.1x longer than wide; surface with sparse and coarse punctures. Apical margin of last abdominal ventrite with median notch ( Fig. 11 G). Gonocoxae ( Fig. 11 E) longitudinal, broad, 2.9X longer than wide, conjoined from base to middle, slightly narrowed at apical 1/3, apices rounded, each gonocoxa with seven or nine elongate setae. Ventrite VIII ( Fig. 11 F) without sclerotized areas but spiculum sclerotized; with dense elongate setae along apical margin, apical margin irregular; spiculum elongate and broad. Receptacle of spermatheca ( Fig. 11 H) slender, as wide as pump, hardly separated from pump; pump broad, strongly curved, apex broadly rounded, apex with transverse, tiny sclerite ( Fig. 11 I); proximal spermathecal duct hardly separated from receptacle, apically narrowed.

Remarks. The allotype of Shairella aeneipennis Chûjô is misidentified and belongs to S. tsoui sp. nov.. It is a member to this species.

Differential diagnosis. Shairella tsoui sp. nov. appears similar to S. chungi sp. nov. and S. cheni sp. nov. based on the coarse punctures of the elytra; but this species can be separated from them with their smaller sizes, the slender and apically tapering penis, the long endophallic sclerite, and presence of the median notch on the apical margin of the last abdominal ventrite in females.

Host plant. Clinopodium laxiflorum var. taiwanianum Hsieh & Huang (Labiatae) .

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to Mr. Mei-Hua Tsou, who collected the type specimens.

Distribution. Kuanyuan (Dë), Hualien County and Pilu (Bõ), Taichung County ( Fig. 3 A).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Distribution map of Shairella species and Clinopodium laxiflorum var. taiwanianum. 1 A. Solid line: 1000 m, broken line: 2000 m. Red spots: S. motienensis sp. nov.; blue spots: S. aeneipennis Chûjô; gray spots: S. tsoui sp. nov.; pink spot: S. cheni sp. nov.; green spot: S. chungi sp. nov.; yellow spot: S. guoi sp. nov.; 1 B. Clinopodium laxiflorum var. taiwanianum (after Hsieh & Huang 1999).

FIGURE 10. Habitus of Shairella tsoui sp. nov. 10 A. Male, dorsal view; 10 B. Same, ventral view; 10 C. Same, lateral view; 10 D. Female, dorsal view; 10 E. Same, ventral view; 10 F. Same, lateral.

FIGURE 11. Diagnostic characters of Shairella tsoui sp. nov. 11 A. Antenna, male; 11 B. Antenna, female; 11 C. Penis, dorsal view; 11 D. Penis, lateral view; 11 E. Gonocoxae; 11 F. Abdominal ventrite VIII; 1 G. Apical margin of abdominal ventrite V; 11 H. Spermatheca; 11 I. Apex of pump, dorsal view.