Kuatunia andreasi Tshernyshev, sp., 2021

Tshernyshev, S. E. & Shcherbakov, M. V., 2021, A new species of soft-winged flower beetle of the genus Kuatunia Evers, 1949 (Coleoptera, Cleroidea, Malachiidae) from Nepal, Far Eastern Entomologist 426, pp. 1-9 : 6-8

Kuatunia andreasi Tshernyshev, sp. n.

http://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ C878E71E-0A90-448D-9E3B-79F0ECAACA75

Figs 1–17

TYPE MATERIAL. Holotype: ♂, Nepal: Prov. Karnali, Churta, W Munigaon,

2900– 2600 m, 29°09'49˝ N, 82°31'09˝ E, 19. V 1995, leg. A. Weigel ( NMEG) .

Paratypes: the same label, 1♂, 1♀ ( NMEG) .

DESCRIPTION. Holotype, male ( Figs 1, 2 ). Body elongate, parallel, weakly widened posteriorly.

Head almost completely black with mouthparts, palpi, labrum and antennae light-brown. Pronotum yellow, scutellum black, elytra black with yellow apices.

Underside of the body dark brown with partly yellow prothorax and abdomen; legs light brown with black basal portion of intermediate and posterior femora, coxae and trochanters light brown in anterior legs and black-brown with light brown apices in intermediate and posterior legs. Surface evenly covered with dense, fine and adpressed light pubescence, lacking erect dark hairs. Vesicles pale yellow; thoracic mesepimera black-brown.

Head narrower than pronotum, eyes slightly protruding, small, oval; front flat;

genae short and straight; clypeus narrow, transverse, straight; labrum short,

transverse; palpi simple with cylindrical pointed apical segment and narrow transverse 2nd palpomere; surface of head shining, sparsely and finely punctured lacking microsculpture, pubescence dense, short and adpressed.

Antennae filiform, 1.4 mm long, expanded over the base and not reaching the middle of the elytra; 1st antennomere enlarged and slightly clavate, 2nd antennomere triangular with rounded angles, 3rd–10th antennomeres triangular, 11th antennomere

1.4 times as long as the 10th, and 1.3 times shorter than the 1st segment, oval, evenly sinuate at apex; surface evenly covered with short, light erect pubescence.

Pronotum transverse, anterior margin slightly convex, posterior margin straight;

lateral sides flattened and slightly dilated just behind the middle, evenly rounded before; posterior side and basal flattened parts of the lateral sides distinctly marginate;

surface finely and sparsely punctured, with indistinct microsculpture, dull, with fine depressed light pubescence.

Scutellum small, rectangular with rounded angles, transverse, almost completely covered by pronotum, sparsely punctured and covered with sparse adpressed pubescence, dull.

Elytra oblong, subparallel, slightly widened posteriorly, at base somewhat wider than pronotum; humeri distinct, not protruding; apices sinuate, flattened and stretched,

complicatedly modified dorsally, strongly impressed, each with round lamellate appendage on pedicle in upper side of the impression near suture ( Figs 7, 8 ); surface semi-shining, densely punctured, with distinct microsculpture, evenly covered with dense, short and fine semi-erect pubescence.

Hind wings normally developed.

Legs moderate in length, thin and elongate; posterior femora not reaching elytral apices; tibiae thin, straight, posterior slightly curved and possess narrow longitudinal female (3) distribution map (17). 1, 3 – beetle dorsally; 2 – beetle lateral; 4 – left antenna; 5 –

right anterior tarsus; 6 – head, pronotum and scutellum dorsally; 7 – elytral apices dorsally; 8

– apex of right elytra sublateral; 9, 10 – apical tergite; 11, 12 – apical sternite; 13, 14 –

aedeagus, subdorsal; 15, 16 – tegmen; 17 – distribution map. Scale bar 0.5 mm.

carina along tibia not reaching base; femora slightly compressed, simple; all tarsi

5-segmented, narrow, second tarsomere in anterior tarsi with small comb above ex-

panding over the 3rd tarsomere ( Fig. 5 ); claw-segment longest and 1.5 times longer than the 1st segment in posterior legs, and slightly longer in anterior and intermediate tarsi, equal to 1st plus 2nd combined in all legs; claws small, curved, narrow and sharp, with small round membrane at base.

Ventral body surface densely punctured, with distinct microsculpture, evenly covered with fine, depressed pubescence; metathorax slightly swollen, simple;

pygidium (apical tergite) wide, elongate and longitudinal, evenly rounded distally and slightly emarginate at middle of tip ( Figs 9, 10 ); 8th ultimate ventrite (apical sternite) narrow, transversal, evenly sinuate apically and extremely deep emarginate at middle ( Figs 11, 12 ); aedeagus simple, narrow and elongate, narrowed and sharp apically and slightly curved dorsally at base, with small pointed lamella, with three-

four curved spines in internal sac in apical part of the aedeagus ( Figs 13, 14 );

tegmen elongate, with elongate parameres with widened tips, and wide base ( Fig.

15, 16).

Length 2.8 mm, width (at elytral base) 0.8 mm.

Female. Differs from male by somewhat slender antennae, absence of comb in anterior tarsi, elytra strongly widened posteriorly, and slightly narrowed at the apex with simple apices lacking impressions or appendages; length 2.6 mm, width (at elytral base) 0.7 mm.

COMPARISON. The new species is similar to K. bullosa Wittmer, 1995 but differs in its wide yellow colouration of elytral apices, ultimate ventrite lacking sharp processes on the tips of distal side, a narrow elongate aedeagus and shape of impressions and appendages in elytral apices.

DISTRIBUTION. Nepal: Karnali Province ( Fig. 17 ).

ETYMOLOGY. The species is named in honour of Andreas Weigel (Wernburg,

Germany), an authority on Xylobiontic beetles, and specialist in Cerambycidae

( Lamiinae of Asia), my good friend who collected a lot of marvellous Malachiidae species from different areas of the World.

Figures

Figs 1–17. Kuatunia andreasi Tshernyshev sp. n., holotype, male (1, 2–16), allotype,