Meligethes (Odontogethes) scrobescens Chen, Lin, Huang & Yang, 2015

Liu, Meike, Yang, Xingke, Huang, Min, Jelínek, Josef & Audisio, Paolo, 2016, Four new species of Meligethes Stephens from China and additional data on other species of the genus (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Meligethinae), Zootaxa 4121 (2), pp. 101-116 : 115

Meligethes (Odontogethes) scrobescens Chen, Lin, Huang & Yang, 2015

( Figs. 22 , 34–35 )

Taxonomic notes. A single female specimen almost certainly belonging to this uncommon and recently described, potentially endemic species to Sichuan ( Chen et al. 2015), was recently collected by the author PA (July 2015) by sweeping in a locality of northern Sichuan (Jiuzhaigou Valley; Nanping area, bushy area above the village of Zhangzha, 2200 m a.s.l., 22.vii.2015). Although no dissected female specimens of the type series of M. scrobescens that are positively associated with males are now available for study, we describe herein the unknown female genitalia (ovipositor) of this taxon ( Fig. 22 ), based on this isolated specimen. The ovipositor of this species is peculiarly shaped ( Fig. 22 ), with subapical portion abruptly widened and bearing a minute but distinct U-shaped excision distad, curiously similar to the shape of ovipositors known to occur in certain W-Asiatic species of the genus Brachyleptus Motschulsky, 1845 ( Kateretidae ; Audisio 1989, 1993). Ratio STLE/DSIA ≈ 0.14; ratio STLE/ CGOW ≈ 0.05; ratio GONL/CGOW ≈ 1.75. Basal portions of gonocoxites transverse, their laterally directed apices bluntly pointed. Ratio OVPL/GONL ≈ 2.41.

Based on available external and genitalic characters, M. scrobescens is probably related to M. luteoornatus Audisio, Sabatelli & Jelínek, 2015 and to other members of the recently defined ( Audisio et al. 2015) Meligeth es (Odontogethes) bourdilloni/chinensis group, markedly differing from all known species by the peculiar shape of the ovipositor in females and the median lobe of the aedeagus in males.

Figures

FIGURES 17 – 25. Male genitalia of Meligethes spp. 17 – 18: M. aurorugosus sp. nov. (male holotype from China, Tibet, Nyingchi). 19 – 20: M. aurantirugosus Audisio, Sabatelli & Jelínek, 2015 (male holotype from Nepal, W of Chainpur). Distal portion of the ovipositor of Meligethes spp. 21: M. macrofemoratus sp. nov. (female paratype from China, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xixia Valley). 22: M. scrobescens Chen, Lin, Huang & Yang, 2015 (female from China, Sichuan, Jiuzhaigou Valley). Outline of metatibiae of M. macrofemoratus sp. nov. (male and female paratypes from China, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xixia Valley). 23: male. 24: female. 25: Prosternal process of M. macrofemoratus sp. nov. (male paratype from China, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xixia Valley). Scale bar = 0.2 mm (Figs. 17 – 22); = 0.4 mm (Figs. 23 – 25).

FIGURES 34 – 37. Habitus of Meligethes spp. (dorsal and ventral view). 34 – 35: M. scrobescens Chen, Lin, Huang & Yang, 2015 (male from China, Sichuan, Jiuzhaigou Valley). 36 – 37: M. aurorugosus sp. nov. (male holotype from China, Tibet, Nyingchi). Scale bar = 0.6 mm (Figs. 34 – 37).