Neoserica (s. l.) allolaotica, 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 : 30-32

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Scarabaeidae

Neoserica (s. l.) allolaotica sp. n. Figs 1 I–L, 8

Type material examined.

Holotype: ♂ "N. Thailand, Doi Pui, near Chiang Mai; 09.V.1085; leg. H. Nara" (ZFMK). Paratypes: 1 ♂ "[BMNH] 703021 Laos, Phongsaly, Phongsaly env., 21°41.2'N, 102°6-8'E, leg. P. Pacholátko / DA21/ =246 Sericini Asia" (ZFMK), 1 ♂ "Thai Chiang Mai prov. 18°49'N, 98°54'E 1600m, Doi Pui mt., 2.-6.v. Vit Kubáň leg., 1996/ Coll. P. Pacholátko Invt. No./ TS114" (CPPB), 8 ♂♂, 1 ♀ "N. Thailand, Doi Pui, near Chiang Mai; 09.V.1085; leg. H. Nara" (ZFMK), 39 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Houa Phan prov., 20°13'09-19"N, 103°59'54''-104°00'03"E, 1480-1510m Phou Pane Mt., 22.IV.-14.V.2008 Vit Kubáň leg./ 875 Sericini Asia spec." (ZFMK, NMPC), 4 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Houa Phan prov., 20°13'09-19"N, 103°59'54"-104°00'03"E, 1480-1510m Phou Pane Mt., 22.4.-14.5.2008 Vit Kubáň leg./ 875 Sericini Asia spec." (ZFMK, NMPC), 1 ♂ "NE-Laos: Hua Phan prov., Ban Saleui, Phou Pan (Mt.) - 20°12'N, 104°01'E; 14.iv.-15.v.2012; 1300-1900m; leg. C. Holzschuh Ankauf ZFMK Bonn 2012/13" (ZFMK), 2 ♂♂ "Laos-NE Hua Phan prov., 20°12'N, 104°01'E, Phu Phan Mt., 1500-1900m, 17.5.-3.6.2007, leg. C. Holzschuh" (ZFMK), 4 ♂♂ "Laos-NE Hua Phan prov., 20°12'N, 104°01'E, Phu Phan Mt., 1500-1900m, 17.5.-3.6.2007, leg. Vit Kuban" (ZFMK), 8 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Houa Phan prov., 20°13'09-19"N, 103°59'54"-104°00'03"E, 1480-1550m Phou Pane Mt., 9.-16.vi.2009, David Hauck leg./ NHMB Basel, NMPC Prague Laos 2009 Expedition: M. Brancucci, M. Geiser, Z. Kraus, D. Hauck, V. Kubáň” (NHMB), 16 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Houa Phan prov., 20°13'09-19"N, 103°59'54"-104°00'03"E, 1480-1550m Phou Pane Mt., 1.-16.vi.2009, Zdenek Kraus leg./ NHMB Basel, NMPC Prague Laos 2009 Expedition: M. Brancucci, M. Geiser, Z. Kraus, D. Hauck, V. Kubáň” (NHMB), 11 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Houa Phan prov., ~ 20°13'N, 104°00'E, Phou Pane Mt., 1.-16.vi.2009, 1350-1500 m, M. Brancucci leg./ NHMB Basel, NMPC Prague Laos 2009 Expedition: M. Brancucci, M. Geiser, Z. Kraus, D. Hauck, V. Kubáň” (NHMB), 1 ♂ "Laos-NE, Houa Phan prov., ~20°12-13.5'N, 103°59.5'-104°01'E, Ban Saluei - Phou Pane Mt., 10.-16.vi.2009, 1340-1870 m, M. Brancucci & local collectors leg./ NHMB Basel, NMPC Prague Laos 2009 Expedition: M. Brancucci, M. Geiser, Z. Kraus, D. Hauck, V. Kubáň” (NHMB), 3 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Houa Phan prov., ~20°12-13.5'N, 103°59.5'-104°01'E, Ban Sauei - Phou Pane Mt., 1340-1870 m, 15. iv– 15.v.2008, Lao collectors leg." (NHMB), 30 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Houa Phan prov., 20°11-13'N, 103°59'-104°01'E, Ban Sauei - Phou Pane Mt., 9.-17.vi.2009, 1300-1900 m, Michael Geiser leg. / NHMB Basel, NMPC Prague Laos 2009 Expedition: M. Brancucci, M. Geiser, Z. Kraus, D. Hauck, V. Kubáň” (NHMB), 1 ♂ "Laos-NE, Xieng Khouang prov., 19°38.20'N, 103°20.20'E, Phonsavan (30 km NE); Phou Sane Mt., 1420 m, 10.-30.v.2009, D. Hauck leg. / NHMB Basel, NMPC Prague Laos 2009 Expedition: M. Brancucci, M. Geiser, Z. Kraus, D. Hauck, V. Kubáň” (NHMB), 11 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Xieng Khouang prov., 19°38.20'N, 103°20.20'E, Phonsavan (30 km NE): Phou Sane Mt., 1420 m, 10.-30.v.2009, Z. Kraus leg. / NHMB Basel, NMPC Prague Laos 2009 Expedition: M. Brancucci, M. Geiser, Z. Kraus, D. Hauck, V. Kubáň” (NHMB), 9 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Xieng Khouang prov., 19°37-38'N, 103°20'E, 30 km NE Phonsavan: Ban Na Lam - Phou Sane Mt., 1300-1500 m, 10.-30.v.2009, M. Brancucci leg. / NHMB Basel, NMPC Prague Laos 2009 Expedition: M. Brancucci, M. Geiser, Z. Kraus, D. Hauck, V. Kubáň” (NHMB), 15 ♂♂ "Laos-NE, Xieng Khouang prov., 19°37-38'N, 103°20'E, 30 km NE Phonsavan: Ban Na Lam - Phou Sane Mt., 1300-1500 m, 10.-30.v.2009, M. Geiser leg. / NHMB Basel, NMPC Prague Laos 2009 Expedition: M. Brancucci, M. Geiser, Z. Kraus, D. Hauck, V. Kubáň” (NHMB).

Description.

Body length: 12.3 mm, length of elytra: 9.6 mm, width: 7.4 mm. Body oblong, dark brown, antennal club yellowish brown, anterior labroclypeus shiny, dorsal surface dull, opaque toment on elytra and pronotum less thick, with a light trace of shine, sparsely setose.

Labroclypeus slightly subtrapezoidal, distinctly wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins moderately convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles strongly rounded, anterior margin distinctly sinuate medially, margins moderately reflexed; surface slightly convex and shiny, basis with dull toment, punctation dense, anteriorly more sparse, behind the anterior margin with coarse punctures each bearing a long erect seta; frontoclypeal suture distinctly incised, flat and distinctly curved medially; smooth area anterior to eye approximately 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long (length = 1/3 of ocular diameter) and slender, glabrous, with a fine terminal seta. Frons dull, with fine and sparse punctures, beside the eyes with a few erect setae. Eyes small, ratio diameter/interocular width: 0.49. Antenna with ten antennomeres, club with six antennomeres, straight, 1.5 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined; antennomere 5 subequal to length of club, antennomere 4 distinctly transverse, antennomere 3 half as long as pedicellus. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly. Labrum distinctly produced medially, with a moderate median sinuation.

Pronotum moderately transverse, subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins evenly convex and strongly convergent anteriorly, anterior angles sharp and distinctly produced, posterior angles blunt, distinctly rounded at the tip; anterior margin nearly straight, with a fine and complete marginal line; surface densely and finely punctate with minute setae in punctures; setae of anterior and lateral border sparse; hypomeron basally distinctly carinate, but carina only weakly produced. Scutellum moderately long, triangular with nearly straight sides, apex slightly rounded, with fine, dense punctures, with only minute setae.

Elytra oblong, apex slightly truncate, widest shortly behind the middle, striae weakly impressed, finely and moderately densely punctate, odd intervals narrower and distinctly convex with punctures concentrated along the striae, others evenly punctate and nearly flat, odd intervals with white scale-like, adpressed setae, otherwise only with very minute setae in punctures; epipleural edge fine, very narrow behind the middle, ending at the blunt external apical angle of elytra, epipleura only sparsely setose, apical border chitinous, with only a very fine fringe of microtrichomes (visible at 100 × magnification).

Ventral surface dull, coarsely and densely punctate, metasternum sparsely covered with setae on the disc, glabrous on sides; metacoxa glabrous, with a few short setae laterally, posterior margin weakly convex; abdominal sternites finely and unevenly 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: 1/1.67. Pygidium weakly convex and dull, densely punctate, fine punctures mixed with coarser ones, without smooth midline, with a few semi-erect setae basally on sides, at apex with short, fine, moderately dense 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, setae of anterior longitudinal row nearly completely lacking, posterior margin in apical half ventrally smooth and slightly widened, 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: 1/3.9, 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; ventral edge finely serrated, with four robust equidistant setae; medial face smooth, apex moderately concavely sinuate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres ventrally with sparse, short setae, laterally not carinate, protarsomeres smooth, meso- and metatarsomeres with a few very fine punctures; metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a sharp subventral carina immediately beside it, first metatarsomere slightly longer than 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. 1 I–K.

Diagnosis.

Neoserica allolaotica is similar to Neoserica taunggyiana externally and in the general shape of male genitalia. It differs in the shape of the parameres: the ventral lobe of left paramere is subtrapezoidal (in lateral view) and truncate at apex, and the ventral portion (distal to the strong bent) of right paramere is subequal in length to the basal and dorsal portion, while in Neoserica taunggyiana it is shorter.

For the paratype specimen with BMNH code 703021 DNA data are available for the markers Cox1, 16S, and 28S under Genbank accession numbers EU084100, EF487898, and EU084238, respectively.

Variation.

Body length: 12.3-14.4 mm, length of elytra: 9.6-10.4 mm, width: 7.4-7.6 mm.

Etymology.

The new species is named according to its occurrence in Laos ( ‘laotica’) with the [Greek] prefix allo- (different, other) to avoid potential secondary homonymy with Neoserica laotica Frey.

Remarks.

As the species occurs syntopically with several other species (in particular with Neoserica cardamomensis ) in its distribution range, it was not possible to assign female specimens to the type series unambiguously based on morphological characters alone. They were therefore omitted from species description so far.