Serica daqiaoana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu 2022, new species
Creators: name: Ahrens, Dirk
name: Fabrizi, Silvia
name: Bai, Ming
name: Liu, Wangang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
Serica
Serica daqiaoana

description: Serica daqiaoana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species
Figures 2A–D, 21
Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “China-Guangdong, Dagiao env., 1000-1200m 24°54’N - 113°01’E, 1- 3.v.2002, Dr. R. Fencl lgt./ Coll. P. Pacholatko / 591 Sericini: Asia spec.” (CP). Paratype: 1 ♂ “ Mts. Dadongshan, Lianxian, Guangdong, 25.Ⅴ.1997, 1500-1700m, leg. Chen Zhenguang ” (LSSYU).
Description of the holotype. Length: 8.9 mm, length of elytra: 6.6 mm, width: 4.8 mm. Body elongate, dorsal face yellow and dull, glabrous, ventral face, frons and anterior portion of pronotum brown, antenna yellow.
Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and moderately convergent to moderately rounded anterior angles, lateral margin and ocular canthus producing a blunt angle, margins moderately reflexed; anterior margin distinctly emarginate medially; surface flat, finely and densely punctate, with a few long, erect setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture weakly impressed and angled medially; smooth area in front of eye approximately twice as wide as long; ocular canthus short and fine (1/4 of ocular diameter), very finely sparsely punctate, with a terminal seta. Frons with fine, dense punctures, dull toment anteriorly weaker, glabrous except for a few setae beside eyes. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.68. Antenna composed of 9 antennomeres, club with three antennomeres, straight, 1.3 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum anteriorly elevated and flattened.
Pronotum transverse and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins in basal half almost straight, weakly convergent anteriorly, in anterior half convex and convergent; anterior angles moderately produced but sharp; posterior angles blunt, moderately rounded at tip; anterior margin weakly convex, marginal line complete medially; basal margin without marginal line; surface finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margins sparsely setose. Scutellum wide, triangular, with fine and dense punctures each bearing a minute seta, base at middle impunctate.
Elytra oblong, widest at posterior quarter, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate; intervals weakly convex, with fine, moderately dense punctures concentrated along striae; lateral intervals with a few fine, erect, short setae, otherwise glabrous; epipleural margin robust, ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura sparsely setose, apical border membraneous, with a rim of microtrichomes.
Ventral surface dull, metasternum and metacoxa with large and dense punctures, almost completely glabrous; metacoxa glabrous except for a several long setae laterally. Abdominal sternites, in addition to generally distributed fine and moderately dense punctures, each with a distinct transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short and robust seta, otherwise glabrous; penultimate sternite apically with a shiny smooth short chitinous border. Mesosternum between mesocoxae narrower than mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.21. Pygidium convex, yellow but dull, with fine, moderately dense punctures and a few longer setae on apical half.
Legs moderately wide and long; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and moderately densely punctate; metafemur dull, anterior margin acute, lacking an adjacent serrated line, posterior ventral margin straight, not widened in apical half, entirely serrate, dorsal margin also serrate, finely setose. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/4.0, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at middle, apical one shortly behind three quarters of metatibial length; in basal half with a few punctures and short fine spines; lateral face longitudinally convex, with moderately dense and coarse punctures, glabrous; ventral margin serrate, with two widely distant spines; medial face finely sparsely punctate and with sparse short setae, apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concave. Tarsomeres irregularly partly coarsely punctate dorsally, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and a smooth subventral longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere ventrally glabrous, little longer than following tarsomere and almost twice as long as dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.
Aedeagus: Fig. 2A–C. Habitus: Fig. 2D. Female unknown.
Diagnosis. Serica daqiaoana Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species differs from the rather similar Serica longula Frey, 1972 in shape of aedeagus: the phallobase is lacking the distal lateral processes on each side, while the parameres differ significantly in length; the right paramere is almost twice as long as the left having a long basal lobe.
Etymology. The name of the new species (adjective in nominative case) is derived from its type locality Daqiao (Dagiao).
Variation. Length: 8.9–9.1 mm, length of elytra: 6.6–7.4 mm, width: 4.8–5.3 mm.
description: Published as part of Ahrens, Dirk, Fabrizi, Silvia, Bai, Ming & Liu, Wangang, 2022, Taxonomic revision of Serica MacLeay, 1819 (sensu lato) from China and adjacent areas (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Sericini), with updates on Nipponoserica Nomura, 1972, pp. 1-83 in Zootaxa 5186 (1) on pages 13-15, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5186.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7073769