Serica (Serica) qizhihaoi Ahrens, Zhao, Pham & Liu, 2024

Ahrens, Dirk, Zhao, Ming-Zhi, Pham, Phu Van & Liu, Wan-Gang, 2024, Taxonomic updates on Pachyserica Brenske, 1898 and Serica MacLeay, 1819 reveal 38 new species and new challenges of Sericini systematics regarding DNA barcodes and genus-level diagnostic key characters (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Sericinae), Zootaxa 5491 (1), pp. 1-89 : 24-25

Serica (Serica) qizhihaoi Ahrens, Zhao, Pham & Liu , new species

Fig. 9A–E

Type material examined. Holotype ♂ “ CHINA: TIBET, Nyingchi, Motuo , 52k, 3432 m, 29.73519666° N, 95.67780204° E, 18.VIII.2023, Zhi-Hao Qi, Chuan Liu, Peng-Xu Mu leg. / Se-XZ-11” ( SCAU) . Paratypes: 2 ♂♂ “ CHINA: TIBET, Nyingchi, Motuo , 52k, 3432 m, 29.73519666° N, 95.67780204° E, 18.VIII.2023, Zhi-Hao Qi, Chuan Liu, Peng-Xu Mu leg.” ( CZMZ) .

Description of holotype. Length: 10.1 mm, length of elytra: 7.5 mm, width: 5.1 mm. Body oblong, including antenna and legs reddish brown, antennal club yellowish brown, elytra with indistinct, more or less large, darker spots, dorsal surface dull, frons with green toment; scale-like setae upon pronotum and elytra white, except on head and lateral margins of pronotum and elytra otherwise glabrous.

Labroclypeus approximately 1.5 times wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent anteriorly, weakly reflexed, convex anterior angles slightly produced laterally, anterior margin shallowly and widely emarginate medially, strongly reflexed; surface with transverse and long wrinkles, shiny, punctures large and moderately dense, with a few long, erect setae behind anterior margin; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly incised, flat and straight; smooth area anterior to eye moderately large and flat, about as wide as long; ocular canthus long and very slender (1/4 of ocular diameter), smooth, with one short terminal seta. Frons flat, entirely with dull toment; surface with fine and sparse punctures, with a few long and erect setae on disc and besides eyes. Eyes very large, ratio diameter/interocular width: 1.0. Antenna with nine antennomeres; antennomeres three and four slightly longer than wide, antennomeres five and six transverse and short; club with three antennomeres, 1.6 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined and reflexed. Mentum weakly elevated, anteriorly flattened. Labrum transverse, short, moderately produced, moderately emarginate medially.

Pronotum transverse, twice as wide as long, widest at basal third, lateral margins feebly convex and convergent anteriad, anterior angles very weakly produced, both anterior and posterior angles rounded at tip; anterior margin medially with a complete, broad, but indistinct marginal line, strongly convexly produced medially; surface densely and finely punctate, with a few very fine, white setae on lateral disc, otherwise only with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margins with long and moderately dense setae; hypomeron not carinate at base. Scutellum slender and long, triangular, finely and densely punctate.

Elytra oblong, widest at apical third, striae weakly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals slightly convex, with fine, moderately dense punctures, dark spots completely impunctate; intervals with sparse, fine, and adpressed white setae, odd intervals with a few single, long setae, especially at base; epipleural edge fine, ending at moderately curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura rather densely setose, apical border chitinous, without membranous rim of fine microtrichomes (magnification 100x).

Ventral surface dull, finely and not densely punctate, moderately densely setose, metacoxa glabrous, with a few long setae only laterally; abdominal sternites finely and moderately densely punctate, with a transverse row of fine punctures each bearing an erect, long seta, which are robuster and shorter laterally. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.47. Pygidium moderately convex and dull, finely and not densely punctate, smooth midline lacking, with moderately dense, long setae.

Legs slender; femora with two longitudinal rows of long setae, finely and sparsely punctate between the rows; metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, without a continuously serrated line behind anterior margin, ventral posterior margin serrated shortly before apex and not widened, dorsal posterior margin completely serrated, in basal half with a few long setae which are half as long as width of metafemur. Metatibia slender and long, widest at apex, ratio of width/length: 1/6.6; dorsal margin sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group shortly before middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few single, robust setae; lateral face longitudinally concave, indistinctly and sparsely punctate; ventral margin serrated except in basal quarter, with four or five long, more or less equidistant setae; medial face flat, with a few fine punctures each bearing a minute seta; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation distinctly but bluntly truncate. Tarsomeres ventrally with moderately dense and minute setae, dorsally impunctate and without wrinkles; meso- and metatarsomeres laterally carinate, with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally; first metatarsomere distinctly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined, little longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, external margin with a few small teeth in basal half; anterior claws asymmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw short, with a sub-truncated apex, basal tooth of external claw evenly narrowed towards apex and sharply pointed.

Aedeagus: Fig. 9A–C . Habitus: Fig. 9D, E . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Serica qizhihaoi new species is similar to S. tayanpingensis Ahrens, 2005 and S. heishuiensis Ahrens, 2005 . It can be easily distinguished from the two species by the rather short left paramere which bears a small, robust protrusion (long and gradually narrowed toward apex in the other two species) and the right paramere being without an external tooth.

Etymology. This species (noun in genitive case singular) is named after one of its collectors, Mr. Zhi-Hao Qi (FAFU, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, China).

Variation. Length: 10.1–10.2 mm, length of elytra: 7.5–7.6 mm, width: 5.0– 5.1 mm. One male paratype has longer setae on odd intervals of elytra which are probably abraded in the other specimens.

Figures

FIGURE 9. A–E: Serica qizhihaoi new species (holotype); F–L: S. jiulaoci new species (holotype); A, I: aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, L: aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, J: parameres, dorsal view; K: aedeagus, dorsal view; D, F: habitus, dorsal view; E, G: habitus, lateral view; H: Head, dorsal view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm. Habitus images not to scale.