Airapus yunnanensis, Bellmann & Minkina, 2023

Bellmann, Axel & Minkina, Łukasz, 2023, Two new species of the genusAirapus Stebnicka & Howden, 1996 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae), Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 23 (1), pp. 35-40 : 37-39

Airapus yunnanensis sp. nov.

( Figs 4-6 ; 9-10 )

Type locality. China: Yunnan, Honghe, Gulingin .

Type material. Holotype (♀): “ CHINA, Yunnan: Honghe | Gulingin , 520m, LFF, | 11.VI.2019, 22°43’7’’N | 103°59’56’’E, primary | forest, leg. A. Weigel ||”.

Description. Dorsum ( Fig. 4 ).Body length 3.9 mm, elongate, shiny, blackish, sides and apex of elytra with indistinct macrosetation.

Head ( Fig. 9 ) relatively large, trapezoidal, convex, shiny, without microreticulation. Clypeus gently bordered, widely, triangularly sinuate anteriorly, denticulate on sides, widely rounded laterally, not

37 notched before genae, clypeal border without macrosetae. Genae obtuse, very distinctly exceeding eyes, with few very short, thin macrosetae. Frontal suture noticeable on sides, without gibbosities. Punctation simple: basally very dense, quite coarse, with variable in size, rounded punctures; in the middle very dense, coarse, with somewhat variable in size, longitudinal punctures; anteriorly moderately dense, fine, regular in size, with somewhat elevated punctures; anterior border of clypeus (with fine punctures) divided from the middle part by distinctly convex transverse tubercle, which is somewhat lower in the middle.

angustofenestrae dense, short and thick. Tormae long.

Pronotum transverse, somewhat wider than base of elytra, widest in the middle, convex, shiny, without microreticulation, with double punctation: larger punctures moderately coarse, dense, regularly distributes, somewhat irregular in size, smaller punctures fine, dense, regularly distributed. Base indistinctly bordered by a thin and shallow groove, sides bordered quite widely and somewhat more deeply than base; anteriorly not bordered. Sides and base with moderately long, quite thick macrosetae. Anterior angles quite distinctly rounded. Base before hind angles widely rounded.

Scutellum small, triangular, with ogival sides, with few small punctures, moderately shiny, without microreticulation.

Epipharynx ( Fig. 10 ) transverse, with sides broadly rounded, anterior margin of pedia concavely arcuate, corypha above margin of pedia, distinct, with two very short, thick celtes. Mesoepitorma shortened basally, somewhat pear-shaped. Chaetopariae with dense belt of thick, long chaetae; adelochaetae similar to chaetopariae, but thicker and shorter; chaetopediae with only one very short and thin chaeta on each side;

38 Elytra elongate, convex, parallel, shiny, without microreticulation, with short and thin, barely noticeable macrosetae on sides and before apex; with small but distinct humeral denticles; with ten striae and ten intervals. Intervals shiny, convex, with row of not fine punctures on external half and with row of moderately coarse punctures on internal half, which are connected with punctures of rows; due to this thestriae seem to indent intervals margins here very distinctly. Striae distinctly, quite densely punctate, with medium sized punctures; punctures distinctly indenting margins of intervals. All striae joined together before apex.

Pygidium with similar structure to ventrites.

Legs. Femora shiny, without microreticulation, moderately coarsely and quite densely punctate; profemora basally and apically bordered, meso- and metafemora bordered only apically. Mesofemora are in moderately large distance between each other. Protibiae distinctly tridentate laterally, proximally not serrulate; somewhat inwardly sinuate; dorsal side smooth, shiny, with few very fine punctures; apical spur long, moderately broad, gently downwardly and outwardly bent, with apex acute. Meso- and metatibiae fimbriate apically with row of short spinules of equal length. Apex of metatibiae without accessory spine. Metatibiae superior apical spur slightly shorter than basimetatarsomere, latter approximately as long as following three and half metatarsomeres combined. Claws short, very thin, distinctly arcuate.

Macropterous.

Venter ( Fig. 5 ). Meso-metaventral plate shiny, weakly convex, with distinct, quite deep, quite narrow longitudinal furrowin the middle; surface with moderately coarse, somewhat variable in size, moderately dense punctures. Process of meso-metaventral plate without any groove or recess, below of base there is no additional modifications. Abdominal ventrites shiny, anteriorly weakly fluted, with out micro reticulation, with moderately dense, moderately coarsely, quite regularly spaced punctures.

Etymology. Toponymic; an adjective derived from the name of Yunnan province, where holotype of the new species was collected.

Variability. Unknown.

Sexual dimorphism. Unknown.

Affinity. See discussion part.

Figures

Figs 4-6. Airapus yunnanensissp. nov., ♀, holotype: 1- dorsal view; 2- ventral view; 3- lateral view. Figs 1-3: scale lines: 1.0 mm.

Figs 7-10. Heads and epipharyngi: 7- A. rudolphisp. nov., ♀, holotype, head; 8- A. yunnanensis sp. nov.,♀, holotype, head; 9- A. rudolphisp. nov., ♀, holotype, epipharynx; 10- A. yunnanensis sp. nov.,♀, holotype, epipharynx. Figs 7, 9: scale lines: 1.0 mm. Figs 8, 10: scale lines: 0.2 mm.