Podistra (Pidostria) KAZANTSEV 2023, subgen. nov.
Creators: name: KAZANTSEV, SERGEY V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cantharidae
Podistra

description: Subgenus Pidostria Kazantsev subgen. nov.
Type species: Telephorus insipidus Fall, 1907
Description. Male. Alate, body elongate (Fig. 1A). Head transverse, slightly wider than pronotum. Eyes moderately large, spherical. Gular sutures distinct, broadly separated. Ultimate maxillary palpomere relatively small; ultimate labial palpomere hardly longer than wide; ultimate maxillary and labial palpomeres dissimilar in size and shape (Figs 2A, 5K, L). Antenna 11-segmented, filiform, long, almost attaining to elytral apices; antennomeres 4-11 with tiny round glabrous (presumably pheromonous) areas; pedicel (antennomere 2) ca 3 times shorter than antennomere 3; antennal pubescence short and semi-erect (Fig. 1A).
Pronotum elongate, rounded anteriorly, almost straight at sides and slightly concave posteriorly; sides inconspicuously widened before anterior angles; acute posterior angles small and inconspicuous (Fig. 1A). Scutellum triangular (Fig. 1A). Elytra elongate, entire, covering abdomen, with indistinct longitudinal costae; elytral pubescence dual, with denser short and almost decumbent underlying vestiture and sparser relatively long erect hairs (Fig. 1A).
Legs long and slender; femurs and tibiae straight and narrow, subequal in length (Fig. 1A); tibial spurs relatively short, subequal in size and shape (Fig. 2A); tarsi long, tarsomeres 1–3 narrow, tarsomere 4 deeply cleft; protarsal claw with prominent, broad, oval basal dent, meso- and metatarsal claws simple (Figs 2C–E).
Abdomen with nine ventrites, ventrite 1 broadly interrupted medially by metacoxae; ultimate ventrite distally triangular.
Aedeagus elongate, sub-oval with infuscate distally dorsal plate and laterophyses; parameres about as long as the dorsal plate; dorsal plate with prominent semi-triangular incision at distal margin; laterophyses about as wide as the dorsal plate, medially, in apical view, concave and rather distant from the dorsal plate (Figs 3A–D).
Diagnosis. Podistra subgen. Pidostria subgen. nov., resembling Podistra s. str. in the shape of the aedeagus (Figs 3A–D) can be distinguished from all subgenera of Podistra by the relatively small dissimilar ultimate maxillary and labial palpomeres, with the labial palpomere about as long as wide (Figs 2A, 5K, L) (ultimate palpomeres similar in shape and considerably longer than wide in the remaining subgenera), the dual elytral pubescence (Fig. 1A) (single layer of long pubescence in the other subgenera) and broad and oval protarsal claw dent (Fig. 2C) (protarsal claw simple or with a narrow dent in the other subgenera).
Etymology. The name of the new taxon is a slightly modified anagram of the genus name Podistra. Gender feminine.
description: Published as part of KAZANTSEV, SERGEY V., 2023, Do the Palaearctic subgenera of Podistra Motschulsky, 1839 really occur in North America: description of P. (Pidostria), subgen. nov. (Coleoptera: Cantharidae), pp. 389-400 in Zootaxa 5263 (3) on pages 391-393, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5263.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/7804322