Nesamblyops hobbit Sokolov 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Sokolov, Igor M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Carabidae
Nesamblyops
Nesamblyops hobbit

description: Nesamblyops hobbit, sp. nov.
Figures. 9C, 12C, 14G–I, 17C, 19
Type material. HOLOTYPE, male, in NZAC, labeled: \ Mt.Domett 1000m 1 Dec 71 G.W.Ramsay \ Litter 71/176 \ DSIR \ No \ NZ PB \. PARATYPES (30 specimens, dissected 5 exx.), 6 males and 6 females labeled same as holotype; 1 male and 3 females labeled: \ Mt.Domett 1463m 1 Dec 71 J.S. Dugdale \ mat plants 71/181 \ DSIR \ No \ NZ PB \; 2 males and 2 females labeled: \ Mt.Domett 1250m Nov-Dec 71 G.Kuschel \ moss 71/169 \ DSIR \ No \ NZ PB \; 2 females labeled: \ MtDomett NN 1000m 1 Dec 71 G.W. Ramasay \ Litter 71/176 \ NZ PB \; 1 male labeled: \ L.Aorere 914m NN Mt.Domett Nov 71 \ J. McBurney \ moss 71/165 \ DSIR \ No \ NZ PB \; 6 males and 1 female labeled: \ 9 miles N. Karamea \ 1200’ 20.vi. 67 F. Alack \ litter 67/217 \ DSIR \ No \ NZ PB \.
Etymology. The specific epithet is a noun in apposition in the nominative case based on the imaginary race of people in the novel of J. R. R. Tolkien “The Hobbit”, and refers to this species’s way of life.
Type locality. New Zealand, South Island, Nelson, Kahurangi National Park, Mt Domett.
Recognition. Adults of this species (Fig. 9C) are practically indistinguishable from the adults of many Nesamblyops species based on external characters (e.g., Figs 9A, 10C) and are distinguished from them by the structures of the male genitalia.
Description. Large for genus (SBL range 1.97–2.19 mm, mean 2.09± 0.082 mm, n=16).
Habitus. Body form (Fig.9C) markedly convex, elongate ovoid, general proportions wide (WE/SBL0.40±0.009), head narrow relative to pronotum (WH/WPm 0.66±0.028), proportions of pronotum in comparison to elytra average for genus (WPm/WE 0.75±0.018).
Color. Body color brunneorufous, appendages testaceous.
Prothorax. Pronotum (Fig. 12C) moderately long in comparison to elytra (LP/LE 0.42±0.010) and moderately transverse (WPm/LP 1.22±0.035), with lateral margins arcuately constricted posteriorly (WPm/WPp 1.30±0.026). Anterior angles indistinct, posterior angles obtuse (109–117°), rounded. Width between posterior angles greater than between anterior angles (WPa/WPp 0.86±0.029). Basal margin almost rectilinear, slightly convex at middle.
Elytra. Ovoid, narrowly depressed along suture, comparatively long (LE/SBL 0.59±0.005) and moderately wide (WE/LE 0.68±0.015). Humeri completely rounded. Lateral margins slightly divergent at basal half, subparallel at middle and evenly rounded to apex in apical third.
Male genitalia. Median lobe of aedeagus (Fig. 14I) moderately arcuate and moderately twisted. Shaft subparallel basally, tapering in apical half.Apex almost straight with narrowly rounded tip. Apical orifice long, occupies almost half of the shaft length. Ventral margin of median lobe straight. Walls of shaft with a number of poriferous canals scattered along ventral margin. Dorsal copulatory sclerites with well-developed rC-sclerite and reduced V-contour with short dorsal branch slightly protruding toward basal orifice (Fig. 14I). Left paramere (Fig. 14G) comparatively wide, with attenuate apex, bearing three long setae. Right paramere (Fig. 14H) long and narrow, bearing three long setae, which are slightly shorter than the length of paramere. Ring sclerite as in Fig. 17C.
Female internal genitalia. Not examined.
Geographical distribution. The species inhabits the central-western part of the Kahurangi National Park with a range stretching from the catchment of the Aorere River at the northeast to the northernmost parts of the West Coast District, South Island (Fig. 19, black circles).
Habitat. Specimens were collected from moss, mat plants, and litter samples.
Relationships. The structure of the male genitalia of N. hobbit suggests its relatedness to the other species with trisetose parameres, a well-developed rC-sclerite with small V-contour in the internal sac of median lobe, such as N. canaanensis and N. ovipennis, described below.
description: Published as part of Sokolov, Igor M., 2023, Fourteen new species of the genus Nesamblyops Jeannel (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Anillini) from the South Island of New Zealand with redescription of the genus and description of a new subtribe, pp. 151-192 in Zootaxa 5375 (2) on pages 168-169, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5375.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10184224