Neoserica (s. l.) bairailingshanica, Ahrens, Dirk, Liu, Wan-Gang, Fabrizi, Silvia, Bai, Ming & Yang, Xing-Ke, 2014

Ahrens, Dirk, Liu, Wan-Gang, Fabrizi, Silvia, Bai, Ming & Yang, Xing-Ke, 2014, A taxonomic review of the Neoserica (sensu lato) abnormis group (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Sericini), ZooKeys 439, pp. 27-82 : 44

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Scarabaeidae

Neoserica (s. l.) bairailingshanica sp. n. Figs 7 A–D, 9

Type material examined.

Holotype: ♂ "China: N-Yunnan, Baiyungshan (Bai Railing Mts.) 2400m, Yong Ren, VII-2003 leg. Ying et al." (ZFMK).

Description.

Body length: 11.7 mm, length of elytra: 8.1 mm, width: 6.6 mm. Body oblong, dark brown, antennal club yellowish brown, anterior labroclypeus shiny, dorsal surface dull, nearly glabrous.

Labroclypeus subrectangular, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins straight and weakly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles moderately rounded, anterior margin distinctly sinuate medially, margins strongly reflexed; surface flat and shiny, basis with dull toment, punctation dense, behind the anterior margin with coarser punctures each bearing a long erect seta; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly incised, flat and distinctly curved medially; smooth area anterior to eye approximately twice as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long (length = 1/3 of ocular diameter) and slender, glabrous, with a few minute and superficial punctures, with a long terminal seta. Frons dull, in posterior half weakly shiny, with fine and sparse punctures, beside the eyes and behind the frontoclypeal suture with a few erect setae. Eyes large, ratio diameter/interocular width: 0.76. Antenna with ten antennomeres, club with six antennomeres, moderately reflexed, 1.5 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined; antennomere 5 subequal to half of length of club, antennomere 4 moderately transverse, antennomere 3 half as long as pedicellus. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly. Labrum weakly produced medially, with a moderate median sinuation.

Pronotum transverse, subrectangular, widest just before base, lateral margins in basal half straight and nearly subparallel, slightly narrowed towards the base, evenly convex and strongly convergent in anterior half, anterior angles moderately sharp and moderately produced, posterior angles blunt, slightly rounded at the tip; anterior margin strongly convexly produced medially, with a medially incomplete marginal line; surface densely and finely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; setae of lateral border fine and sparse; hypomeron basally distinctly carinate, but carina not produced. Scutellum moderately wide and long, with fine, moderately dense punctures, smooth on basal midline, with only minute setae.

Elytra oblong, widest in posterior third, striae weakly impressed, finely and moderately densely punctate, intervals weakly convex with punctures concentrated along the striae, odd intervals with fine, adpressed setae, otherwise only with very minute setae in punctures; epipleural edge fine, ending at the blunt external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border narrowly membraneous, with a fine fringe of microtrichomes (visible at 100 × magnification).

Ventral surface dull, coarsely and densely punctate, metasternum glabrous; metacoxa glabrous, with a few short setae laterally, posterior margin straight; abdominal sternites finely and unevenly and not densely punctuate, nearly glabrous, with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a robust short seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.4. Pygidium weakly convex and dull, finely and densely punctate, without a smooth midline, with a few longer setae between the minute setae.

Legs slender; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate between the rows; metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, behind anterior edge without serrated line, punctures and setae of anterior longitudinal row completely reduced, posterior margin in apical half ventrally smooth and not widened and smooth in apical quarter, posterior margin dorsally distinctly serrated, on its basal portion with a few short setae. Metatibia slender and long, widest at apex, ratio of width/length: 1/5.1, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal group just before the middle, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few robust but single setae; lateral face longitudinally convex, very finely, superficially and sparsely punctate, subdorsal longitudinal carina on lateral face present on about two third of metatibial length, but not very distinct; ventral edge finely serrated, with three robust setae of which the two distal ones are widely separated; medial face smooth, apex moderately distinctly concavely sinuate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres ventrally with sparse, short setae, laterally not carinate, protarsomeres smooth, meso- and metatarsomeres with dense, fine punctures; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a sharp subventral carina immediately beside it, first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined and slightly longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw sharply truncate at apex.

Aedeagus: Fig. 7 A–C. Female unknown.

Diagnosis.

The new species differs from all other species of the Neoserica abnormis group by the convexly produced anterior margin of pronotum and the lacking scale-like setae on elytra. From Neoserica trifida it differs by the smooth ventral posterior margin of metafemur, by the slightly shorter antennal club of male, and of course by shape of parameres being simple and not subdivided into separate lobes.

Etymology.

The new species is named according to its occurrence in the Bai Railing Shan.