Borneotheopea Lee & Bezdek, 2020

Lee, Chi-Feng & Bezdek, Jan, 2020, Revision of the Theopea genus group (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae), part III: Descriptions of two new genera and nine new species, ZooKeys 912, pp. 65-124 : 65

Borneotheopea Lee & Bezdek gen. nov.

Type species.

Borneotheopea jakli sp. nov. (here designated)

Redescription.

Body length 4.6-5.8 mm.

Males. Head. Eyes moderately large. Anterior part of head not modified. Frontal tubercles prominent, narrow, usually produced at inner anterior angle. Penultimate maxillary palpomere not greatly swollen, apical palpomere conical. Vertex with reticulate microsculpture. Antenna 11-segmented, filiform and slender, uniform in both sexes; antennomere II very short, III long, 2.0-3.5 × longer than II, 0.6-0.8 × as long as I, 2.8-3.4 × as long as wide. Pronotum square or transverse, 1.1-1.2 × as wide as long, broadest at middle, with pair of discal depressions. Anterior pronotal border absent. Lateral margins rounded or subparallel. Disc with reticulate microsculpture.

Elytra. Surface almost glabrous (with scattered erect setae on apical part only); punctate and striate, usually with longitudinal ridges between two longitudinal rows of punctures, sometimes ridges reduced or absent in part. Epipleura gradually narrowed to apex. Disc with reticulate microsculpture.

Legs. Procoxae globular, prosternal process apically expanded, procoxal cavities closed. Protarsomere I more or less swollen. Metatibia simple, without apical spine. Length of metatarsomere I nearly equal to following tarsomeres combined. Tarsal claws appendiculate with basal tooth small and rounded. Metatarsomere I simple.

Abdomen. Last ventrite apically trilobate.

Aedeagus always ventrally flattened, apex with shallow notch. Ventral surface entirely sclerotized. Internal sac with median elongate sclerite, undivided; with single pair of large lateral sclerites.

Females. Antennae slender, unmodified. Protarsomere I not modified. Posterior margin of last ventrite regularly rounded, without incisions. Spermatheca with small receptacle and C-shaped pump. Gonocoxae with split and convergent apex, apical part usually with eight long setae, base bifurcate. Ventrite VIII longitudinal, with long setae at sides and short setae along apical margin, spiculum 2.4 × as long as ventrite VIII.

Differential diagnosis.

This new genus possesses the following characters shared with Theopea and Pseudotheopea gen. nov.: the punctures on the elytra are striate and ridges are present between two longitudinal rows of punctures; the spaces between two longitudinal rows of punctures are broader when ridges are reduced or absent. Borneotheopea gen. nov. is similar to Pseudotheopea gen. nov. based on the presence of reticulate microsculpture on the vertex and pronotum (lacking reticulate microsculpture in Theopea ) and convergent apices of the gonocoxae in females (diverge apices in those of Theopea ). However, Borneotheopea gen. nov. can be separated from other genera by the antennomeres III-X not modified in males (antennomeres III-X usually longer and curved in those of Pseudotheopea gen. nov.); absence of an apical spine on the metatibia (presence of apical spine on the metatibia in Pseudotheopea gen. nov.); swollen or modified in those of Theopea ); broader aedeagus, <6.0 × longer than wide (> 7.0 × longer than wide in Pseudotheopea gen. nov. and> 6.0 × longer than wide in Theopea ); the ventral surface entirely sclerotized and unmodified (with deep groove, short hollow area, hollow area in Theopea , or wide groove in Pseudotheopea gen. nov.); and with the undivided median elongate endophallic sclerite in males (divided median elongate sclerite in Pseudotheopea gen. nov.).

Etymology.

This new genus is named for its distribution combined with the genus Theopea .

Included species.

Two new species are found in Borneo: Borneotheopea jakli sp. nov. and B. kalimantanensis sp. nov.