Serica allotengchongana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2022

Ahrens, Dirk, Fabrizi, Silvia, Bai, Ming & Liu, Wangang, 2022, Taxonomic revision of Serica MacLeay, 1819 (sensu lato) from China and adjacent areas (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Sericini), with updates on Nipponoserica Nomura, 1972, Zootaxa 5186 (1), pp. 1-83 : 53-54

Serica allotengchongana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , new species

Figures 13E–H , 23

Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ China, W Yunnan prov., mts. 60km E Tengchong , 2200m, 19.-22.v.2006, S. Murzin & I. Shokhin / 854 Sericini : Asia spec.” ( CP).

Description of the holotype. Length: 9.2 mm, length of elytra: 7.0 mm, width: 5.5 mm.

Body elongate egg-shaped, dark brown, partly with greenish toment or shine, elytra with dark spots, antenna yellowish, legs brown; dorsal surface dull and densely covered with short yellow setae being bent posteriorly.

Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, distinctly wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins convex and strongly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles acute; anterior margin deeply and widely emarginate medially; margins weakly reflexed; surface flat and shiny, finely and densely punctate, finely densely setose, behind anterior margin glabrous; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, weakly convex; smooth area anterior to eye large and flat, as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and slender (1/3 of ocular diameter), with a few fine punctures bearing each a short seta. Frons completely dull and flat, with fine and very dense punctures, evenly covered with short yellow setae being bent backwards and longer erect setae. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.56. Antenna with ten antennomeres; antennomeres three to five slightly wider than long, antennomere six and seven transverse and short; club with three antennomeres, 1.2 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined and straight. Mentum weakly elevated, anteriorly flattened. Labrum transverse, short, strongly produced along the middle, moderately emarginate medially.

Pronotum subtrapezoidal, widest shortly before base, lateral margins evenly convex and strongly convergent anteriorly; anterior angles distinctly produced and acute; posterior angles strongly rounded; anterior margin medially with a fine marginal line and very weakly produced medially; surface densely and coarsely punctate, with dense short yellow setae bent posteriorly; lateral margins sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate at base, weakly produced ventrally. Scutellum large, triangular, finely and very densely punctate, basal midline smooth, pilosity as in lateral pronotum.

Elytra oval, widest at middle, striae indistinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate; intervals flat, with fine, very dense punctures; dark spots impunctate or with less dense punctures, with fine, short pilosity as in pronotum, without longer, erect setae; epipleural edge fine, ending at moderately curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical margin with a very fine membranous rim composed of minute microtrichomes (magnification 100x).

Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, including metacoxa and abdominal sternites densely shortly setose; abdominal sternites with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a long seta, otherwise shortly setose as rest of ventral surface; ultimate sternite at middle 1.5 times as long as penultimate one. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as the slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.49. Pygidium strongly convex and dull, finely and densely punctate, smooth midline narrow, with dense short setae, without long, erect setae.

Legs slender; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, coarsely and densely punctate between the rows, with robust setae on basal half; metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, without a continuously serrated line behind anterior edge, posterior margin ventrally serrated in apical half 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 shortly before apex, ratio of width/ length: 1/ 4.4, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group at middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few single, robust setae; external face impunctate, on dorsal portion with a few superficial wrinkles; ventral margin serrated, with two very widely separated robust setae; medial face glabrous and smooth; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation concavely truncate. Tarsomeres ventrally with sparse, minute setae, dorsally smooth. Metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, laterally and dorsally carinate, with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally; first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined and twice as long as dorsal tibial spur; mesotarsomeres not carinate. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, external margin serrate, with a few small teeth at base, anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw bluntly truncate as the external one.

Aedeagus: Fig. 13E–G . Habitus: Fig. 13H . Female unknown.

Diagnosis. Serica alltengchongensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , new species differs from S. tengchongensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu , new species by the shape of parameres: the right paramere has a separately developed, large basal lobe, the left paramere is slightly longer than that of S. tengchongensis and it is blade-like widened in apical half.

Etymology. The name of the species is derived from the combined Greek prefix ‘ allo -’ (other) and the species name ‘ tengchongensis ’, with reference to the similarity to this species.

Figures

FIGURE 13. A–D: Serica tengchongana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species (holotype); E–H: S. allotengchongana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species (holotype). A, E: Aedeagus, left side lateral view; C, G: Aedeagus, right side lateral view; B, F: Parameres, dorsal view; D, H: Habitus (not to scale). Scale: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 23. Distribution of Serica allotengchongana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. baishuitaiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. emaw Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. excisa Frey, 1972, S. huangbaiyuanensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. paralupina Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. tengchongana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species, S. ventrituberculata Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species .