Themus (Haplothemus) quadratiformis Yang & Liu & Yang 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Yang, Yuxia
name: Liu, Haoyu
name: Yang, Xingke
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cantharidae
Themus
Themus quadratiformis

description: Themus (Haplothemus) quadratiformis Y. Yang et X. Yang, sp. nov.
Figs 2, 10‒12, 26, 31
Type material. Holotype male (IZAS), CHINA, Shaanxi, Taibaishan, Luotuoshu, 2100m, 6.VIII.1983, collector unknown. Paratypes: CHINA, Shaanxi: one male, one female (IZAS), same data as the holotype; one female (MHBU), Taibaishan, Luotuoshu, 2100m, 15.V.1983, collector unknown; five males (one male in MHBU, one male in NAFU and the rest in IZAS), Taibaishan, 26.VII.1956, collector unknown; one female (NAFU), Taibaishan, Minghuangsi, 3.VIII.1956, collector unknown.
Distribution. China (Shaanxi).
Description. Male (Fig. 2). Head dark brown, black in middle of clypeus and both sides of vertex on dorsum, mouthparts dark brown, darkened at apices of mandibles, antennae dark brown, more or less darkened dorsally, prothorax dark brown, pronotum with two large irregular black markings on disc, the markings more or less conjoint together in middle, never extending to any margin, scutellum dark brown, elytra black, legs dark brown, slightly darkened at apical parts of femora and tibiae and tarsi, ventral surface dark brown. Body densely covered with decumbent brown pubescence, mixed with slightly long, semi-erected pubescence on elytra and a few long hairs along anterior margin of clypeus.
Head rounded, sparsely and finely punctate, surface lustrous; eyes moderately protruding, head width across eyes slightly wider than anterior margin of pronotum; terminal maxillary palpomeres nearly long-triangular, widest at basal two-fifths length, with outer margins slightly arcuate, inner apical margins slightly sharp and apices acute; antennae slightly thickened, almost extending to basal two-thirds length of elytra, antennomeres II about twice as long as wide, III slightly shorter than II, IV about 1.5 times as long as III, V longest, V‒X gradually shortened and narrowed one by one, XI slightly shorter than X and pointed at apices, IV‒VIII each with a small round or oblong impression near middle of outer margin.
Pronotum subquadrate, about 1.2 times as wide as long, anterior margin arcuate, lateral margins nearly parallel, posterior margin nearly straight and narrowly bordered, anterior angles nearly rectangular, posterior angles rounded, disc convex at postero-lateral parts, sparsely and finely punctate like that on head, surface matt.
Elytra about 5.5 times longer than pronotum, 3.0 times as long as humeral width, with lateral margins nearly parallel, disc rugulose-lacunose and coarsely punctate, surface matt.
Aedeagus (Figs 10‒12): ventral process of each paramere narrow, nearly straight and pointed at apex; conjoint dorsal plate of parameres slightly shorter than ventral processes, with lateral margins slightly converging apically, widely and triangularly emarginated in middle of apical margin, latero-apical angles subrectangular; laterophyses compressed and nearly as long as conjoint dorsal plate, separated on both sides of median lobe and nearly parallel to each other, acute and slightly hooked at apices, which pointed dorsally.
Female. Similar to male, antennae thinner and shorter, roughly extending to basal one-half length of elytra, IV‒VIII without impressions; pronotum about 1.2 times as wide as long; elytra about 3.0 times longer than humeral width.
Abdominal sternite VIII (Fig. 31) triangularly emarginated in middle and on both sides of posterior margin, the lateral emargination distinctly wider and slightly deeper than the middle one, the portion between the middle and lateral emarginations truncated at apex.
Internal genitalia (Fig. 26): vagina stout, with diverticulum and spermatheca situated at apex, median oviduct at basal one-third part of ventral side; diverticulum moderately long and thick sac-shaped, slightly shorter than vagina, distinctly expanded at apical half part, about twice as long as maximal width, rounded at apex; spermatheca short sac-shaped, distinctly shorter than diverticulum, moderately expanded apically and rounded at apex, and provided with a moderately long and thin accessory gland at base; diverticulum and spermatheca surrounded with a strongly sclerotized ring at base, which is confluent in middle and extending to median oviduct on ventral side, the opening of spermatheca arising from middle of the sclerotized ring on dorsal side.
Body length (both sexes): 15.0‒17.0 mm; width 3.2‒4.0 mm.
Diagnosis. This species is similar to T. (H.) quadratus, but can be distinguished from the latter in the following characters: aedeagus: laterophyses compressed and nearly parallel to each other, with apices pointed dorsally (while depressed and diverging from each other, with apices pointed towards lateroapical angles of conjoint dorsal plate in T. (H.) quadratus); abdominal sternite VIII of female triangularly emarginated on both sides of posterior margin, the portion between the middle and lateral emarginations truncated at apex (while in T. (H.) quadratus, bisinuately emarginate on both sides of posterior margin, the portion between the middle and posterior lateral emarginations acute at apex).
Etymology. The specific name is derived from the Latin suffix - formis (-like), referring to its similarity to T. (H.) quadratus Wittmer.
description: Published as part of Yang, Yuxia, Liu, Haoyu & Yang, Xingke, 2018, A contribution to the knowledge of Themus (Haplothemus) Wittmer from China (Coleoptera: Cantharidae), pp. 241-253 in Zootaxa 4407 (2) on pages 244-245, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4407.2.5, http://zenodo.org/record/1216378