Serica paralupina 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 paralupina

description: Serica paralupina Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species
Figures 8A–D, 23
Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “China-Shaanxi, Taibashan Range, 1900m, Houzhenzi vill. env., 1- 12.VII.1999, 33°53N, 107°49E, V. Siniaev & A. Plutenko lgt./ 833 Sericini: Asia spec.” (CP). Paratypes: 4 ♂♂ “ China-Shaanxi, Taibashan Range, 1900m, Houzhenzi vill. env., 1-12.VII.1999, 33°53N, 107°49E, V. Siniaev & A. Plutenko lgt.” (CP, ZFMK), 27 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ “ China: Daxue Shan Mts., Sichuan, 40 km W Mianning, 7.-8.vi.1999, 2750m, 28°34’N, 102°00’E, V. Siniaev & A. Plutenko lgt.” (CP, ZFMK).
Description of the holotype. Length: 9.2 mm, elytral length: 6.8 mm, width: 4.6 mm. Body oblong, dark yellowish brown, frons dark brown, dull, legs brown, antenna yellow, except a few short setae on head dorsal surface glabrous.
Labroclypeus wide, trapezoidal, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent, producing a blunt angle with ocular canthus; anterior angles strongly convex; anterior margin distinctly emarginate medially; margins moderately reflexed; surface weakly convex, finely and densely punctate, with numerous long and erect setae; frontoclypeal suture distinct, moderately curved; ocular canthus short and moderately narrow (1/4 of ocular width), smooth and glabrous, without terminal setae. Frons with dull toment, with fine, moderately dense punctures, anteriorly with a few long setae. Antenna with nine antennomeres, club with three antennomeres, 2.7 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined, distinctly reflexed. Eyes moderately large, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.69. Mentum convexly elevated and flattened anteriorly.
Pronotum moderately wide, widest at base, lateral margins evenly modertely convex and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles almost blunt, weakly produced, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin weakly convex, marginal line fine but complete; basal margin without marginal line; surface with coarse, dense punctures and glabrous, also without minute setae. Hypomeron not carinate ventrally. Scutellum narrow and long, triangular, with fine but very dense punctation, glabrous, basally with a triangular smooth area.
Elytra elongate and narrow, widest in posterior third; striae distinctly impressed, finely punctate; intervals weakly convex, finely and densely punctate, punctures concentrated along striae; glabrous, lateral intervals with a few moderately long, adpressed or erect setae; epipleural margin robust, ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, sparsely setose; apex of elytra with a very fine membraneous rim of short microtrichomes.
Ventral face finely and densely punctate, glabrous. Metacoxae laterally with a few longer setae. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.43. Abdominal sternites finely and moderately densely punctate, each with a row of coarse punctures bearing each a robust seta, otherwise also glabrous. Pygidium almost flat, finely and densely punctate, with moderately dense, long setae.
Legs long and narrow, shiny; femora finely and sparsely punctate, with two longitudinal rows of setae. Metafemur with anterior margin acute, without adjacent serrated line; posterior ventral margin almost straight, weakly widened in apical half, ventrally and dorsally not serrated, sparsely setose. Metatibia long and narrow, widest at apex, ratio width/ length: 1/ 4.4, sharply carinate dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal one at three fifths, apical one at four fifths of metatibial length, basally with a number of robust single setae; lateral face longitudinally convex, finely and moderately densely punctate, glabrous; apex shallowly concavely truncate interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres finely punctate dorsally, with moderately dense, fine setae ventrally; metatarsomeres ventrally with a strongly serrated carina, subventrally with a second, smooth longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and little shorter than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia long, bidentate; anterior claws symmetric, interior tarsal claws sharply pointed.
Aedeagus: Fig. 8A–C. Habitus: Fig. 8D.
Diagnosis. Serica paralupina Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species differs from Serica lupina Arrow, 1946 and all other species of this species group by the lack of dense dorsal pilosity, and, of course, by the shape of aedeagus: the apical phallobase is strongly asymmetric having the left paramere inserted more basally and displaced ventrally under the apical aedeagus.
Etymology. The name of the new species (noun in apposition) is derrived from the combined Gree prefix ‘ pseudo -’ (false) and the species name ‘ lupina ’, with reference to the similarity of the species to Serica lupina Arrow, 1946.
Variation. Length: 8.8–9.2 mm, elytral length: 6.4–6.8 mm, width: 4.4–4.6 mm. Female: Antennal club short, as long as reminaing antennomeres combined; eyes smaller than in male, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.56; pygidium weakly convex.
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 35-37, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5186.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7073769