Serica allonanhua Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, 2023

Su, Xie, Li, Wei, Liu, Wan-Gang, Ahrens, Dirk, Zheng, Ying-Juan & Liu, Yang, 2023, An update to the taxonomy of Serica MacLeay, 1819 (sensu lato) from China (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Sericinae, Sericini), ZooKeys 1185, pp. 181-198 : 181

Serica allonanhua Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su sp. nov.

Figs 1I-L , 3

Type materials examined.

Holotype: ♂ [China] "Madeng Village, Jianchuan County, Dali, Yunnan Province, 31.V.2022, light trap, leg. Zhao Yuchen" (SENU). Paratypes: 1 ♀ [China] "Black Tiger Mountain, Tianxin Township, Wuding County, Chuxiong, Yunnan Province, 20.V.2022, light trap, leg. Zhao Yuchen, Lu Jinbo" (SENU), 1 ♂ "LW-1065 / Yunnan, Lijiang, 2750 m Yulongxueshan, 2011-V-17. 27.013°N, 100.206°E " (ZFMK).

Description of the holotype.

Length 7.8 mm, elytral length 6.0 mm, width 4.2 mm. Body oblong, light reddish brown; frons reddish brown; some lateral and basal parts of elytra intervals dark reddish brown dull; legs yellowish brown; antenna yellow, with moderately long setae on dorsal surface.

Labroclypeus wide, trapezoidal; lateral margins moderately convex and convergent, producing a blunt angle with ocular canthus; anterior angles strongly convex; anterior margin distinctly emarginate medially; margins moderately reflexed; surface moderately convex and finely, densely punctate, with moderately long, erect setae; frontoclypeal suture distinct, moderately curved; ocular canthus moderately narrow (almost 1/3 of ocular width), smooth and glabrous, with one terminal seta. Frons with fine, moderately dense punctures, anteriorly and laterally with a few long setae. Antenna with nine antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, 1.8 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined, slightly reflexed. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter to interocular width 0.56. Mentum weakly elevated and flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum moderately wide, widest at base; lateral margins moderately convex and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles acute, moderately produced, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin weakly convex, marginal line fine but complete; basal margin without marginal line; surface with coarse, dense punctures and minute setae, laterally bearing erect, long setae. Hypomeron not ventrally carinate. Scutellum triangular, with fine but very dense punctation and minute setae, with a triangular smooth area at middle.

Elytra elongate, narrow, widest in posterior third; striae distinctly impressed, finely punctate; intervals weakly convex, finely and densely punctate, punctures concentrated along striae; glabrous, lateral intervals with a few moderately long, adpressed or erect setae; epipleural margin robust, ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra; epipleura sparsely setose; apex of elytra with a very fine, membraneous rim of short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface finely and densely punctate, glabrous. Metacoxa laterally with several longer setae. Mesosternum between mesocoxae almost as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum to metacoxa 1:1.92. Abdominal sternites finely and moderately densely punctate, each with a row of coarse punctures; each puncture bearing a robust seta. Pygidium almost flat and finely, densely punctate, with moderately dense, long setae.

Legs long, narrow, shiny; femora finely and sparsely punctate, with two longitudinal rows of setae, but anterior row reduced to a few setae. Metafemur with anterior margin acute, without adjacent serrate line; posterior ventral margin almost straight, weakly widened in apical half, ventrally and dorsally not serrate, sparsely setose. Metatibia long, narrow, widest at apex, ratio of width to length 1:3.5, moderately carinate dorsally, with three groups of spines, basal one at one-third, middle one at three-fifths, apical one at five-sixths of metatibial length, basally with a number of robust single setae; lateral face longitudinally convex, with fine, moderately dense punctae, glabrous; apex shallowly concavely truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Ventral edge finely serrate, with three robust, equidistant setae. Tarsomeres missing.

Aedeagus: Fig. 1I-K . Habitus: Fig. 1L .

Diagnosis.

Serica allonanhua sp. nov. differs from S. nanhua and all other species of this species group in the light body colour and in the shape of aedeagus: the phallobase is strongly bent, the parameres are moderately long instead of only short (right and left paramere approximately one-third and one-fourth, respectively, as long as phallobase). Compared to S. nanhua , the parameres are distinctly longer, and in contrast to S. baishuitaiensis the parameres are straight in lateral view and narrow; the left paramere is slightly shorter than right one.

Etymology.

The name of the new species is derived from the combination of the Greek prefix allo - (different, other) and nanhua, in reference to the similarity of the new species to Serica nanhua . (Used as a noun in apposition.)

Variation.

Female Length 7.6 mm, elytral length 5.8 mm, width 4.1 mm. Antennal club short, slightly shorter than remaining antennomeres combined; eyes smaller than in male, ratio of diameter to interocular width 1:0.40; pygidium weakly convex, ratio of metepisternum to metacoxa 1:1.57; ratio of width to length of metatarsomeres 1:4.1. Tarsomeres dorsally finely punctate, ventrally with moderately dense, fine setae; metatarsomeres ventrally with a distinct serrate carina, subventrally with a second smooth, longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere a little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and almost as long as dorsal tibial spur. Protibia long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical; interior tarsal claws sharply pointed.

NCBI accession numbers.

A paratype of the species (voucher number LW-1065) was sequenced as Serica sp. by Liu et al. (2015b) for two mitochondrial (CO1: KJ959139, 16s: KJ959212) and one ribosomal marker (28S: KJ959057).

Figures

Figure 1. Serica species A-D S. breviantennalis Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, sp. nov. (holotype) E-H S. breviantennalis (paratype) I-L S. allonanhua Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, sp. nov. (paratype). A, E, I aedeagus, left side view C, G, K aedeagus, right side view B, F, J aedeagus, dorsal view D, H, L habitus (not to scale). Scale bars: 0.5 mm (A, B, C, E, F, G, I, J, K).

Figure 3. The distribution map of Serica breviantennalis Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, sp. nov., S. allonanhua Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, sp. nov., S. fengensis Liu, Ahrens, Li & Su, sp. nov., including updated records of S. nanhua Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2022 and S. baishuitaiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, 2022.