Morphostenophanes metallicus Zhou, new species
Creators: name: Zhou, De-Yao
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Tenebrionidae
Morphostenophanes
Morphostenophanes metallicus

description: Morphostenophanes metallicus Zhou, new species ẠẁẎȐAEƤ
(Figs. 22 A–D; 23B, F, D, H, J, N–P; 24B, D, E)
Type materials. CHINA: Yunnan: ♂ (Holotype, SNUC), Dehong Prefecture, Longchuan County, 2000 m, 2017. vi.16–28, Wen-Xuan Bi. Paratypes (6♂♂, 14♀♀): CHINA: Yunnan: 1♀ (SNUC), 1♂, 1♀ (CZDY), 1♂, 1♀ (CBWX), Dehong Prefecture, Longchuan County,, 2000 m, 2017.vi.16–28, Wen-Xuan Bi; 1♂, 3♀♀ (CBWX), Tengchong City, Houqiao Town, Heinitang Village, 2000 m, 2017.ix.7–10, Xiao-Dong Yang; 1♂, 1♀ (CZDY), 1♂, 1♀ (MHBU), 1♂, 2♀♀ (CBWX), Tengchong City, Houqiao Town, Heinitang Village, 1850–1950 m, 2018.ix.4–6,
Wen-Xuan Bi; 2♀♀ (CBWX), Tengchong City, Houqiao Town, Heinitang Village, 1850–1950 m, 2018.ix.11–13, Xiao-Dong Yang; 1♀ (MYNU), Tengchong City, Mingguang Country, Zizhi Village, 2200 m, 2016.ii.14, Hao Xu & Jian-Yue Qiu; 1♀ (CJQY), Yingjiang County, Xima Town, 5 km N Baobian Village, 1870 m, 2018.xii, native collector.
Diagnosis. Small to medium sized, bronze and strongly shiny, extremely smooth, shortened and strongly convex species. Elytral striae grooved, intervals slightly ridged. Antennae and legs slender. Apical lobes of sternite VIII oppositely curved in dorsal view, spatular in lateral view, with each superior margin presenting a tick-shaped notch.
Description. Male (Fig. 22 A–C). Bronze and strongly shiny, antennae segments VII–XI and mouthparts brownish; elytra slightly greenish; tarsus claws reddish brown. Body elongate, length 15.3–18.1 mm, width 5.6–6.8 mm, strongly convex, noticeably constricted between pronotum and elytra.
Head (Fig. 23B, F) transversely subquadrate, sparsely and finely punctate, with outer margin strongly notched between genae and clypeus; clypeus transversely heptagonal, slightly convex in middle, gently bent downwards in front, anterior margin nearly straight, weakly emarginate at middle, frontoclypeal suture deeply grooved, arcuate; genae strongly raised, depressed before eyes, strongly and roundly produced anterolaterally; frons broad, gradually sloping forwards, vertexal lateral impressions vague; eyes transversely reniform, strongly convex laterally; inner ocular sulci shallowly grooved along inner margins, becoming broader posteriorly; tempora moderately convex, finely punctate. OI = 57.7–60.5. Antennae (Fig. 23J) slender, reaching basal third of elytra, with antennomeres weakly thickened forwards, and distinctly dilated at apices; relative lengths of antennomeres: 0.68: 0.34: 1.11: 1.07: 1.17: 1.16: 1.19: 1.11: 1.11: 0.97: 1.11. Mentum (Fig. 23F) quadrate, lateral margin slightly rounded; medial surface sparsely and coarsely punctate, with several large pores bearing long setae, gradually rising anteriorly, both sides of posterior half depressed.
Pronotum (Fig. 23D) quadrate, PW/PL = 1.06–1.14, widest at anterior angles, anterior margin nearly straight, anterior marginal border marked; lateral margins nearly straight, lateral marginal borders thin, visible in dorsal view along anterior third; posterior margin emarginate, posterior marginal border marked; anterior and posterior angles rounded; disc moderately convex, extremely smooth, very finely and sparsely punctate, a pair of impressions marked to entirely missing slightly beforemiddle. Scutellum widely triangular, extremely glossy.
Elytra fusiform, widest in middle, EL/EW = 1.68–1.71; strongly convex, highest slightly before middle, ridged in apical portion along suture; with 9 grooved striae, 9 th stria branching at apical fourth of elytra, 1 st and 9 th, 2 nd and upper branch of 9 th, 3 rd and 8 th, 4 th and 5 th, and 6 th and 7 th converingat ends, 2 nd and 3 rd converging at fore-ends; intervals weakly ridged, glabrous, sparsely and finely punctate.
Prosternum (Fig. 23H) weakly rugulose, finely and sparsely punctate; prosternal process strongly declivous; hypomeron rugulose. Metasternum glossy, weakly wrinkled. Abdomen depressed, surface smooth, somewhat wrinked along anterior margins and sides of each sternite, densely and finely punctate; sternite III with a short median border on anterior part between metacoxae; sternite III and IV weakly sulcate along both sides.
Legs slender. Protibiae (Fig. 23N) moderately curved in apical third, apical half of inner margins pubescent; mesotibiae (Fig. 23O) weakly curved, apical half of inner margins pubescent; metatibiae (Fig. 23P) sinuous, more than half of inner margins pubescent, outer margins weakly depressed before apices.
Aedeagus (Fig. 24B) elongate, curved in lateral view; parameres slender, dorsal margin depressed slightly before apical half in lateral view, dorsum ridged along midline, 0.21 as long as total length, with broadly widened and flabellate apex. Sternite VIII (Fig. 24D) with apical lobes strongly oppositely curved in dorsal view, each superior margin with tick-shaped notch in lateral view.
Female (Figs. 22B, D). Stouter than male, length 14.6–18.5 mm. Distance between eyes slightly longer, OI = 61.9–62.5; PW/PL = 1.16–1.18, more constricted between pronotum and elytra; elytra more convex, EL/EW = 1.51–1.63; abdomen straight in lateral view. Ovipositor (Fig. 24E) shortened, abruptly narrowing terminally from apical third.
Comments. Morphostenophanes metallicus is distinctive for its extremely glossy body with mirror-like reflective luster. Additionally, the grooved elytral striae and ridged intervals are not present in other congeners. Striate elytra are common within the atavus -group. However, elytral striae of the atavus -group are furrowed with domed intervals. The small to medium body size, widely flabellate apex of parameres, strongly crooked apical lobes of sternite VIII with tick shaped notch in each superior margin, and shortened ovipositor clearly separate this species from those of atavus -group. Within the entire genus, M. metallicus is closely related to M. linglong, the latter resembling a miniature M. metallicus, but with enlarged and strongly raised tubercles unevenly distributed along each elytral intervals.
Distribution. (Map 1) CHINA: Yunnan.
Etymology. The new species is named from the Latin epithet ‘metallicus’ referring its strongly glossy and shiny body.
description: Published as part of Zhou, De-Yao, 2020, A revision of the genus Morphostenophanes Pic, 1925 (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Stenochiinae, Cnodalonini), pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 4769 (1) on pages 38-41, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4769.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3797078