Sora phyllopa, Zhou & Chen, 2024

Zhou, Yong & Chen, Bin, 2024, A new species of Sora Walker from Xizang, China (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Lagriinae), Zootaxa 5406 (3), pp. 487-491 : 488-491

Sora phyllopa sp. nov. 叶&丘伪叶ş ( Figs. 1–2 )

Diagnosis. Body large, slender. Male legs modified: femora clavate, moderately swollen; profemora emarginate before apex, with a series of tiny, blunt protuberances on ventral surface (protuberances on inner margin of ventral surface visible in dorsal view) ( Figs. 2D–E ); mesotibiae dentate at apical 1/6 ( Fig. 2F ); metatibiae expanded in mid 1/3, with inner margin uprising, and outer margin elevated and reversed at apex ( Figs. 2G–I ). Female sutural angle dentate ( Fig. 2J ).

Description. Holotype ♂ ( Figs. 1A–B ). Body length 20.3 mm, width 4.4 mm. Body elongate, slender, about 4.68× as long as wide, parallel-sided; black, except dark reddish labroclypeal membrane and mandibles, dorsal surface shiny with green luster; antennae brown except antennomere 1 nearly black; legs dark red except apical, basal femora, tibiae and tarsi darker. Dorsal surface with few long, yellow setae on the labrum, clypeus, tempora and elytra; abdominal ventrites sparsely, abdominal apex densely with long setae. Legs with short semierect setae.

Head long ( Fig. 2A ), almost glabrous, labrum, clypeus, tempora sparsely with few setigerous punctures. Mouthparts strongly protruding forward; apical labial palpomere elongate oval; terminal maxillary palpus triangularly elongate with pointed apex, cavate inner surface, broadest at base; mandibles with sharp apex bending inward, embracing labrum; labrum transversely cordiform, slightly emarginate anteriorly, convex medially; labroclypeal membrane widely exposed; clypeus depressed anteriorly, with flat posterior half, anterior margin faintly arched, elevated, higher than labrum. Forehead gently slope-like with a longitudinal shallow impression medially, separated from clypeus by arched forward frontoclypeal suture; vertex pit-shaped with a shallow groove curved backwards on each side. Eyes bulging, elongate, with anterior margin slightly emarginate just behind frontal canthus, interocular distance about 0.70× as long as eye diameter. Antennae slender, extending to metacoxae when directed backwards, antennomeres elongate, length ratios of antennomeres 1–11 as 109: 42: 83: 98: 105: 102: 101: 97: 93: 92: 277, antennomere 11 greatly lengthened, slightly curved with pointed apex, subequal to combined length of 3 preceding antennomeres.

Prothorax widest at the base, about 0.86× as wide as long, nearly equal to the width of head including eyes, slightly constricted before the base, dorsal surface convex. Pronotum moderately punctate, punctures sparser on disc, slightly depressed at mid base; anterior angles broadly rounded, posterior angles moderately projecting laterally; anterior margins arched backwards, posterior margins straight with elevated carina, lateral parts roundly bending toward the ventral surface with the margins not visible in dorsal view. Prosternum glabrous, prosternal process elevated, expanded medially. Scutellum glabrous, triangular, obtuse at apex.

Elytra slender, convex, hardly constricted backwards, elytral length 3.18× as long as combined maximum width and 4.76× as long as prothorax; humeral callosity weak, rounded in dorsal aspect, separated from disc by shallow impression; strial rows with coarse, not contiguous punctures, separated by distances 1 to 2× puncture diameter, becoming sparser toward apex; intervals entirely flat, 3–5× wider than strial rows; odd-numbered intervals with few, fine setigerous punctures ( Fig. 1E ); elytral margin weak, visible only in apical 1/ 4 in dorsal view; elytral epipleura narrow, entire, gradually narrowing towards apex. Mesosternum, and most metasternum glabrous. Epimeron of mesosternum as well as episternum, lateral parts of metasternum with coarse punctures.

Legs robust, femora clavate; profemora swollen distally, emarginate before apex, irregularly scattered with tiny, blunt protuberances on ventral surface; mesotibiae gradually expanding from base to apex, dentate at apical 1/6; metatibiae expanded in mid 1/3, with inner margin uprising, and outer margin elevated and reversed inward at apex; metatarsomere 1 longest, shorter than combined length of 2–4.

Abdominal ventrites convex longitudinally, and punctate laterally, with a nearly round impression on each ventrite laterally. Membrane between ventrite 3 and 4, 4 and 5 exposed.

Aedeagus stout ( Figs. 2B–C ), curved in lateral view. Parameres wide, slightly curved dorsad in profile, with blunt apex in ventral view.

Female ( Figs. 1C–D ). Body length 22.1 mm. More robust. Interocular distance wider, about 0.83× as long as eye diameter; length ratios of antennomeres 8–11 as 111: 99: 98: 273, antennomere 11 shorter than combined length of 3 preceding antennomeres. Femora, tibiae unmodified except metatibiae contracted in distal 1/4. Sutural angle dentate.

Measurements. Body length: male 20.3 mm, female 22.1–22.2 mm (n = 2); body width: male 4.4 mm, female 4.8 mm (n = 2).

Type material ( 1 ♂, 2 ♀). Holotype: China: Xizang: ♂ ( IZCAS) ( Figs. 1A–B ), aedeagus dissected and deposited in vial with glycerin, 1 st label [printed in simplified Chinese on white card]: “20180821 / Ʊŝ墨dzû 崩乡ēüḣ / N29.24 E95.18 1333 m / HŦ中”, Mêdog County: Beibeng Town: Gelin Village / Zheng-Zhong Huang leg., 2 nd label: “IOZ(E) 221496”; Paratypes: China: Xizang: 1 ♀ ( IZCAS) ( Figs. 1C–D ), the right terminal antennomere missing, the 1 st label as Holotype, 2 nd label: “IOZ(E) 221497”; 1 ♀ ( CNU), 1 st label [printed in simplified Chinese on white card]: “2019.VII / Ʊŝ墨dzû崩乡 / DZñ下 / ±地人”, Mêdog County : Beibeng Town / collecting beneath road lamp / local people leg..

Etymology. The species epithet is derived from the noticeable leaf-shaped metatibiae of male.

Distribution. China: Xizang.

Remarks. The new species is remarkable among Sora species for its large body length, specialized male profemora and metatibiae, as well as the modified female elytral apex. It is comparable in body size to some larger Lagriini, such as congeneric Sora thibetana ( Pic, 1914) (17 mm, Pic 1914), Cerogria basalis (Hope, 1831) (20–22 mm, Borchmann 1916), and tropical species Exostira borneana Merkl, 1999 (24–26 mm, Merkl 1999). By the key in Borchmann (1936: 341–370), the novel species runs to Sora bimucronata (Pic, 1926) due to its dentate sutural angle. However, S. bimucronata is not similar to the new species. S. phyllopa sp. nov. can be distinguished from S. bimucronata (see figure in Telnov 2022) by the slender habitus, black coloration, and expanded male metatibiae. Similarly, some species of the subtribe Statirina Blanchard, 1845 also have specialized profemora and metatibiae, such as Exostira bisbimaculata Pic, 1935 ( Telnov 2022), Taiwanolagria merkli Masumoto, 1988 ( Masumoto 1988). Whether these traits are suggestive clues of phylogeny or just result from convergent evolution is still not clear, and biological implications of these traits remain to be revealed.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of Sora phyllopa sp. nov.. A–B. Holotype, A. Dorsal view, B. Ventral view; C–D. Paratype (female, IZCAS, Xizang: Mêdog County: Beibeng Town: Gelin Village, the right terminal antennomere missing), C. Dorsal view, D. Ventral view; E. Anterior elytra of holotype, to indicate the location of the 1st interval with white arrows between scutellary striole and the first entire strial row (not to scale).

FIGURE 2. Diagnostic features of Sora phyllopa sp. nov.. A–I. Holotype, A. Head, red shadow and dotted line indicating the pit, shallow grooves in vertex respectively, B. Aedeagus in lateral view, C. Aedeagus in ventral view, D. Left profemur in dorsal view (protuberances on inner margin of ventral surface visible), E. Left profemur in ventral view, F. Left mesotibia in dorsal view, G. Left metatibia in dorsal view, H. Left metatibia in ventral view, I. Left metatibia in lateral view; J. Elytral apex of female paratype, to show the dentate sutural angle.