Agathidium (Agathidium) fikaceki, Švec, 2012

Švec, Zdeněk, 2012, New Leiodinae (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) from India and Papua New Guinea, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52 (2), pp. 411-424 : 412-414

Agathidium (Agathidium) fikaceki sp. nov.

( Figs. 1, 2 , 18, 19 )

Type locality. India, Meghalaya,eastern Khasi Hills, 11 km SW of Cherrapunjee,Laitkynsew, 25º12′48″N 91º39′48″E, 735 m a.s.l.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J ( NMPC): ‘ INDIA: Meghalaya state (7+9) / E Khasi Hills, 11 km SW Cherra- / punjee, Laitkynsew 25.iv.2008 / 25º12′48″N 91º39′48″E, 735 m / Fikáček, Podskalská, Šípek lgt. // secondary tropical rainforest / with young trees + bamboo just / below the village, thin layer of / leaf litter (sifting) ’. PARATYPES: 3 JJ ( NMPC, ZSPC): same data as the holotype.

Description. Body length 2.0 mm. Length of body parts (holotype): head 0.3 mm, pronotum 0.8 mm, elytra 0.9 mm, antenna 0.7 mm. Maximum width of body parts (holotype): head 0.8 mm, pronotum 1.2 mm, elytra 1.2 mm.

Body oval ( Fig. 18 ), dark chestnut coloured with lighter pronotal margins. Venter yellow-reddish. Legs and antennomeres I-VI yellow-red, antennomeres VII-XI dark. Dorsum without microreticulation; dorsal surface punctate, punctures regularly arranged, each with very short and fine seta.

Head. Maximum width of head at basal third of eyes. Eyes bulging, 3.7 times as long as wide in dorsal view. Clypeus flatly emarginate, clypeal line absent. Anterolateral margin of head moderately narrow, raised. Dorsal surface with very sparsely scattered fine punctures separated by more than 8× of their diameter. Relative length of antennomeres III: II = 1.5.

Pronotum. Widest at basal third. Lateral sides almost straightly tapered from posterior to anterior corners in dorsal view; rounded in lateral view ( Fig. 19 ). Pronotal puncturation fine, similar to that of head; punctures separated by about 5–6× of their diameter.

Elytra. Broadest approximately at basal fourth. Punctures similar to those on head and pronotum; puncturation a little sparser. Sutural stria absent.

Legs. Protarsomere I slightly enlarged in male. Femora and tibiae slender, simple (i,e. without any tooth or emagination on posterior margin). Tarsal formula: 5-5- 4 in male. Female unknown.

Mesoventrite. Longitudinal mesoventral carina low; lateral lines not developed.

Metathoracic wings absent.

Metaventrite. Femoral lines incomplete. Male with shallow subcircular depression near posterior margin between coxae bearing a group of long erect setae.

Genitalia. Tegmen with horizontally orientated spiral part and broadly rounded apex as in Figs 1–2 . Operculum very long, narrowly U-shaped. Female not known.

Variability. The length ratio of antennal segments III:II varies between 1.3–1.5 in the type series; the ratio of length: width of eyes in dorsal view varies between 3.4–3.9.

Differential diagnosis. Agathidium (Agathidium) fikaceki sp. nov. resembles A. (A.) pseudomontanellum Angelini & DeMarzo, 1986 in body size, coloration of the antennae, the presence of fine and sparse dorsal puncturation, absence of the microsculpture on the dorsum, absence of sutural striae, and by the broadly rounded apex of the tegmen in dorsal view. The new species differs from A. pseudomontanellum by the lighter coloration of the dorsum, by the absence of metathoracic wings, by the longer antennomere III (the length ratio antennomeres III: II= 1.3–1.5 in A. fikaceki sp. nov. while 1.0 in A. pseudomontanellum ), and by the narrow parameres in both dorsal and lateral views (in contrast to dorsoventrally flattened parameres with broad basal part in lateral view in A. pseudomontanellum ). As it is sometimes difficult to recognize if the examined species belongs to the Agathidium madurense species group or to a different species group, the new species was also compared with A. madurense Portevin, 1937 and A. shilongense Angelini & DeMarzo, 1986 (both attributed to the Agathidium madurense species group by ANGELINI (2004)). The new species is similar to both above species in the coloration of the dorsum and antennae, the presence of dorsal puncturation, absence of microsculpture on the dorsum, absence of sutural striae and clypeal line, the length ratio of the antennomeres III: II and by the same tarsal formula in males. The new species differs from A. shilongense and A. madurense by the absence of metathoracic wings, by smaller size (compared to 2.8–3.0 mm in A. shilongense and 3.2–3.3 mm in A. madurense ), by the spiral, horizontally oriented basal part of the tegmen (compared to the irregularly twisted basal part in A. shilongense ) and by the broadly rounded apex of the tegmen in dorsal view (compared to abruptly rounded apex in A. shilongense ). The new species also differs by the narrow parameres in lateral view, in contrast to parameres with a broad basal part in lateral view in A. madurense .

Etymology. The new species is named after one of its collectors, Martin Fikáček (Prague).

Bionomics. The type specimens were collected by sifting of a thin layer of leaf litter in the bamboo bushes growing at the margin of the secondary tropical forest on the southern slope of the Meghalaya Plateau (M. Fikáček, pers. comm.).

subgenus Macroceble Angelini, 1993

Figures

Figs. 1–5. Genitalia of Agathidium species. 1–2 – aedeagus of Agathidium (Agathidium) fikaceki sp. nov. (1 – lateral view, 2 – apex in dorsal view). 3–5 – A. (Macroceble) cochleariforme sp. nov. (3 – aedeagus, lateral view; 4 – apex of aedeagus, dorsal view; 5 – spermatheca). Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

Figs 18–29. Habitus of the holotypes of Agathidium species. 18–19 – A. (A.) fikaceki sp. nov.; 20–21 – A. (Macroceble) cochleariforme sp. nov.; 22–23 – A. (Macr.) armigerum sp. nov.; 24–25 – A. (Macr.) unicorne sp. nov., 26–27 – A. (Macr.) guttiferum sp. nov.; 28–29 – A. (Macr.) acutangulum sp. nov. (18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 – dorsal view; 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29 – lateral view).