Opilo angustipennis, Gerstmeier, 2017

Gerstmeier, Roland, 2017, Cleridae (Coleoptera) from Socotra Island with description of new species, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae) 57, pp. 113-123 : 118-120

Opilo angustipennis sp. nov.

( Figs 2 , 15–22 )

Type locality. Yemen, Socotra Island, wadi Ayhaft.

Type material. HOLOTYPE J, YEMEN, SOCOTRA Island, wadi Ayhaft , 12°36.5′N, 53°58.9′E, 200m, J. Bezděk leg. ( NMPC) . PARATYPES: YEMEN: SOCOTRA: Yemen, Soqotra Is., WADI AYHAFT, 24.-26.xi.2003, N12°36′38″ E53°58′49″, 190 m [GPS], leg. P. Kabátek, YEMEN – SOQOTRA, 2003 Expedition ; Jan Farkač, Petr Kabátek & David Král (11 spec. JRCP, 4 spec. RGCM) ; Yemen, Soqotra Is., WADI AYHAFT, 24.-26.xi.2003, N12°36′38″ E53°58′49″, 190 m [GPS], David Král lgt., YEMEN – SOQOTRA, 2003 Expedition ; Jan Farkač, Petr Kabátek & David Král (8 spec. JRCP; 1 spec. RGCM) ; Yemen, Soqotra Is., HOMHIL, protected area, 28-29/xi. 2003, 364 m, N12°34′27″ E54°18′32″ [GPS], David Král lgt. (1 spec. JRCP), YEMEN – SOQOTRA, 2003 Expedition ; Jan Farkač, Petr Kabátek & David Král; Yemen, Soqotra Is., HOMHIL, protected area, 28-29/xi. 2003, 364 m, N12°34′27″ E54°18′32″ [GPS], leg. P. Kabátek, YEMEN – SOQOTRA, 2003 Expedition ; Jan Farkač, Petr Kabátek & David Král (1 spec. JRCP) .

Description. Body length 7.5–11.2 mm. Head dark brown, glossy, anteriorly smooth with very fine, isolated punctation, posteriorly wrinkled. Labrum, anterior part of clypeus and palpi yellow-brown, mandibles black brown. Antennae yellow-brown to red-brown (partially with reddish sheen), protruding base of pronotum when laid back, with a more or less loose trimerous club. Head including eyes broader than anterior width of pronotum, vested with long, erect, yellow setae; eyes separated by more or less one eye’s width. Lower surface red-brown, glossy, mainly smooth, slightly transversely wrinkled.

Prothorax longer than wide (length = 1.3–2.2 mm, width = 1.1–1.3 mm; mean length to width ratio 1.00: 1.23), widest more or less in middle, more constricted towards base than anteriorly, appearing relatively regular. Pronotum brown, glossy, darker brown towards sides, sides more yellowish, in middle and posteriorly smooth, only with isolated small punctation, sides coarsely wrinkled; vested with long, erect, pale (at sides darker) setae. Ventral surface pale yellow-brown, glossy, with fine, transverse wrinkles; prosternal process narrow, dilated distally; hypomera short, rounded, procoxal cavities broadly open posteriorly.

Scutellum rounded, yellow-brown, glossy. Anterior mesoventral process with two bulging, protruding lumps; mesanepisterna smooth; metathorax very elongate.

Elytra dark brown, glossy, subparallel, very long (length = 5.2–7.9 mm, width = 1.7–2.7 mm, mean length to width ratio 1.00: 3.10); apices sometimes slightly dehiscent. Pale yellowish ground color is reduced to transverse fascia behind middle. Punctation arranged in ten rows of fine punctures, row II perceptible only basally as isolated (1–4) punctures, rows VIII–X hardly visible; puncture diameter conspicuously decreasing from base towards apex, generally conspicuously smaller than interstices. Surface vested with long, erect, pale setae, mostly directed posteriorly.

Legs very long, pale yellowish, tips of femora, base of tibiae and tarsi dark brown; metatibiae almost straight, reaching apex of elytra, only base with darkened carina, which is line-like afterwards. Legs with long, erect, pale setae.

Abdomen yellow to red-brown, glossy; whole ventral surface with long, erect, pale setae. Male genitalia as in Figs 15–22 .

Female without any conspicuous differences from male.

Differential diagnosis. Regarding the distribution of the relevant Cleridae of north-eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, the new species is the most similar to Opilo barbarus Abeille, 1893 ( Morocco, Algeria, Egypt) and O. longipilis Fairmaire, 1892 ( Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, Oman, Yemen). However, in O. longipilis (the most similar species to O. angustipennis sp. nov.), the punctation of the elytra is dense, with conspicuous striae remaining distinct towards the apex; the eyes are separated by less than one eye width. In O. barbarus the diameter of punctures is larger than interstices, but decreases posteriorly to midlength; the elytral apices each have a pale yellow macula. From both mentioned species, Opilo angustipennis sp. nov. can be easily distinguished by its long pronotum and elytra.

Etymology. Composed Latin adjective angustipennis (-is, -e), meaning ‘with narrow elytra’. Collection circumstances. Unknown.

Distribution. So far known only from Socotra Island.

Figures

Figs 1–4. Habitus. 1 – Wittmeridecus insularis sp. nov.; 2 – Opilo angustipennis sp. nov.; 3 – O. longipilis Fairmaire, 1892; 4 – O. socotrensis sp. nov.

Figs 15–22. Genitalia of Opilo angustipennis sp. nov. 15 – aedeagus ventral; 16 – aedeagus lateral; 17 – tegmen ventral; 18 – phallus ventral; 19 – spicular fork; 20 – phallus tip ventral; 21 – pygidium; 22 – ventrite VI.