Penthicus shokhini Nabozhenko & Mofrad, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Nabozhenko, Maxim V.
name: Mofrad, Farhad Eshraghi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Tenebrionidae
Penthicus
Penthicus shokhini

description: Penthicus shokhini sp. nov.
(Figs 4C, 26, 27)
Type material. Holotype, 1 ♂ (ZIN) and paratypes, 8 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ (ZIN, PCMN, HMIM): Iran, Fars Prov., Pooladkaf, 30°22′N, 51°55′E, h = 2900 m, 8–9.vi.2014 (leg. I.V. Shokhin).
Description. Male (26A, B). Body large, comparatively slender, slightly convex, black, dorsally glabrous.
Head widest across genae. Lateral margins of genae widely rounded in basal half and straightly converging to epistoma in apical half. Widest area of gena located ahead of eye. Head dorsally coarsely and densely punctured circular smooth large punctures and distinct micropunctures (double puncturation), surface of genae granulated in basal half. Eye dorsally subequal in length and width. Dorsal and ventral portions of eye connected by line of one ommatidia in width (Fig. 4C). Head ventrally with dense granulation, smooth surface near cardo.
Prothorax. Pronotum strongly transverse (1.96–2 times as wide as long), widest across middle, 1.8–1.82 times as wide as head, more converging from widest portion to anterior margin than to base, ratio width of pronotum at base, widest portion and anterior angles: 23.3: 25.4: 15.3. Anterior edge widely evenly emarginated. Lateral edges moderately evenly rounded, sometimes sinuous near anterior angles. Base trisinuate, median portion protruded backwards and emarginated medially, lateral edges of base straight from protruded portion to posterior angles. Anterior angles obtuse (109°), tip pointed, posterior angles also obtuse (104°), with pointedtip. Lateral edges finely margined, margin of anterior edge widely interrupted in middle, base entirely margined (margin in middle usually finer). Disc of pronotum slightly convex, obliquely flattened on sides and well expressed pair of depressions along basal margin, with double puncturation: large punctures coarse and moderately dense (interpuncture spaces near two times as long as puncture diameter), micropunctures deep, sparse, well visible between large punctures. Prohypomera very widely flattened on sides, coarsely granulated (granules slightly flattened, elongated and denser in anterior third); surface with fine longitudinal wrinkles near coxae and several smooth large wrinkles at anterior third, each granule bears short suberect seta; flattened portion slightly converging from base to anterior margin, with smooth large longitudinal wrinkles at the inflection area and transverse microwrinkles on flattened area, posterior half of flattened surface with small granules. Prosternum with sharp coarse flattened granules and recumbent short setation. Prosternal process slightly convex, slightly protruded beyond procoxae.
Pterothorax. Elytra elongate, with very slightly rounded lateral margins (sometimes almost subparallel), widest across middle (1.37 times as long as wide), 1.95 times as wide as head, 1.05 times as wide and 2.7 times as long as pronotum. Basal margin of elytra moderately oblique, humeral angles slightly obtuse, tip pointed, slightly projected; lateral edge of elytra usually straight, but sometimes with very short sinuation near humeral angles. Puncturation of elytra moderately coarse and sparse; strial punctures round, slightly larger than interstrial ones and slightly depressed; interstriae flat, with moderately coarse and sparse puncturation. Epipleuron in apical portion 1.8 times as wide as metepisternum. Ventral side of pterothorax sparsely pubescent with short recumbent setae. Mesoventrite with transverse wrinkles and granules, mesepisterna with small smooth raduliform foveae, metaventrite with smooth sparse granules on sides and sparse coarse puncturation medially; metepisterna with small granules.
Abdomen. Abdominal ventrites 1–4 sparsely and finely granulated on sides and punctured with fine and sparse punctures medially, micropunctures well visible (double puncturation); ventrite 5 with coarse and dense puncturation, not margined. Setation of abdomen the same as on pterothorax ventrally. Genitalia (Figs 27A–C). Inner sternite VIII widely evenly roundely emarginated, with widely rounded lateral angulations. Spiculum gastrale with short thickened slightly curved S-shaped rods; blades transverse, oval, with strongly projected and finely punctured outer portions, outer margin and apex rounded. Aedeagus wide. Parameres strongly converging from base to apex, not truncated apically; lateral margins widely slightly emarginated. Basal piece 1.73 times as long as parameres.
Legs. Legs comparatively long, profemora reaching prothoracic margin, mesofemora and metafemora moderately extending beyond elytral margin and their distal portions well visible dorsally. Protibiae wide, profemur 1.14 times as wide as apical width of protibia. Lateral margin of protibiae obliquely truncated near apex, as a result lateral inner and outer margins subparallel in apical 1/5. Protarsomeres comparatively long, combined length of 2.5 proximal tarsomeres subequal to apical width of protibia.
Female (Figs 26C). Body more robust, lateral margins of elytra more rounded, femora shorter, but apices of meso- and metafemora visible dorsally. Ovipositor (Figs 27D, E). Valvifer widest across middle, anterior margin angular, straight between angle, base and apex; apex acute, baculi distinct, forming acute angle at apex of valvifer; coxite lobes 4 wide, widely rounded at apex, gonostyli narrow, subcylindrical, with one long seta apically. Baculi of paraproct comparatively narrow, straight, slightly widened to apex.
Body length 15.6–17 mm, width 7.5–8 mm.
Etymology. The new species is named in honour of friend and colleague of the first co-author, Dr Vladimir Shokhin (Southern Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Rostov-on-Don, Russia), who collected the type series.
Comparative diagnosis. The species belongs to the corpulentus species-group and it is most similar to P. persicus in the body shape and to P. villiersi in the shape of pronotum, male genitalia and terminalia. Penthicus shokhini sp. nov. differs from mentioned two species by the shape of protibiae with the truncated lateral margin apically (Fig. 26H) (roundely or strightly evenly widened from proximal to distal portions in both compared species (Figs 24D, 29E)). The new species and P. villiersi are different from P. persicus by the shape of the parameres with widely emarginated lateral margins (Figs 27A, 30A, B) (straight in P. persicus (Fig. 25A)). Both, P. persicus and P. villiersi have the large barell-like gonostyli (Figs 25E, 30G), while P. shokhini sp. nov. has the narrower subcylindrical ones (Fig. 27E). The valvifer very similar in the new species and P. villiersi (strongly widened at middle, with angular anterior margin) (Figs 27D, 30F), while P. persicus has the narrow subparallel valvifer (Fig. 25D). Penthicus persicus and P. shokhini sp. nov. have the more slender elongate body and longer femora, extending beyond the body margin (Figs 23A–C, 26A–C), while P. villiersi is very robust, with strongly rounded elytral margins, invisible dorsally pro- and mesofemora and poorly visible apex of metafemora dorsally (Figs 28A–E).
description: Published as part of Nabozhenko, Maxim V. & Mofrad, Farhad Eshraghi, 2025, Progress in the knowledge of the genus Penthicus Faldermann, 1836 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Opatrini) of Iraq, Iran and Pakistan with descriptions of 17 new species, pp. 1-100 in Zootaxa 5573 (1) on pages 35-38, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5573.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14745717