Tetraserica weigeli Ahrens 2023, new species
Creators: name: Ahrens, Dirk
name: Lukic, Daniel
name: Pham, Phu
name: Li, Wei
name: Liu, Wangang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Tetraserica
Tetraserica weigeli

description: Tetraserica weigeli Ahrens, new species
Fig. 6A–D
Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “N-Vietnam Cao Bang Pr. vic. Tin Tuc, Son Dong, Nui Pia Oac Nature Reserve 22°37’55’’N; 105°52’98’’E 09.–15.V.2014 850–1300m, leg. A. Weigel, light trap / 1255 Sericini Asia spec.” (NME). Paratype: 1 ♂ “N-Vietnam Cao Bang Pr. vic. Tin Tuc, Son Dong, Nui Pia Oac Nature Reserve 22°37’55’’N; 105°52’98’’E 09.–15.V.2014 850–1300m, leg. A. Weigel, light trap ” (ZFMK).
Description of the holotype. Length: 8.8 mm; length of elytra: 6.5 mm; maximum width: 5.2 mm. Dorsal surface dark brown and glabrous, ventral surface including legs reddish brown, antenna yellow.
Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins moderately convex and convergent to strongly rounded anterior angles, anterior margin weakly emarginate medially, margins moderately reflexed; surface weakly convex, moderately shiny, finely and densely punctate, glabrous; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly incised, flat and weakly curved medially; ocular canthus short and triangular, impunctate, with a single terminal seta. Smooth area anterior to eye three times as wide as long. Frons dull, with sparse, fine punctures, with two single erect setae beside each eye. Antenna yellowish, with ten antennomeres; club short, composed of four antennomeres in male, straight, 0.9 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Eyes moderately small, ratio of diameter/ interocular width: 0.65. Mentum elevated and slightly flattened anteriorly.
Pronotum moderately wide and convex, widest at posterior thirds, lateral margins evenly convex, strongly narrowed anteriorly towards sharp and slightly produced anterior angles, posterior angles convex. Anterior margin of pronotum slightly convex, with fine, complete marginal line. Surface finely and densely punctate, except minute setae glabrous, lateral and lateral anterior margins sparsely setose. Hypomeron not carinate. Scutellum triangular, finely and densely punctate, basal midline impunctate.
Elytra oblong, widest shortly behind middle, striae distinctly impressed, finely and moderately densely punctate, intervals weakly convex, with fine and dense punctures concentrated along striae, with very minute setae in punctures and a very few short setae on odd intervals; epipleural edge robust, ending at convex external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose; apical border with a fringe of microtrichomes (100x).
Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, metasternum sparsely covered with fine, short, or very minute setae; metacoxa glabrous, with a few single setae laterally; abdominal sternites finely and densely punctuate, with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a robust seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.55. Pygidium weakly convex and dull, densely punctate, without smooth midline, almost glabrous, with a few longer setae along apical margin.
Legs wide; femora finely and sparsely punctate; metafemur wide and moderately shiny or dull, anterior margin acute; ventral posterior margin smooth and widened in apical half, dorsal posterior margin smooth, with a few short setae basally, almost straight without any tooth. Metatibia short and wide, widest at middle; ratio width/length: 1/3.2; basal group of dorsal spines of metatibia at first third, apical one at two thirds of metatibial length; ventral margin weakly convex and serrate, with five equidistant robust setae; apical margin bluntly and slightly concavely truncated towards ventral margin. Tarsomeres dorsally smooth, with fine, dense setae ventrally in apical half of tarsomeres, neither laterally nor dorsally carinate; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally and glabrous; first metatarsomere as long as following two tarsomeres combined, one third of its length longer than dorsal tibial spine. Protibia short, bidentate; anterior claws symmetrical, basal tooth of both claws bluntly truncate at apex.
Aedeagus: Fig. 6A–C. Habitus: Fig. 6D. Female unknown.
Diagnosis. Tetraserica weigeli Ahrens, new species differs from T. changshouensis Liu, Fabrizi, Bai, Yang & Ahrens, 2014 by the wider and more flattened ventral lobe of the left paramere, and the smaller apical widening of the ventral lobe of the right paramere; the latter has at the dorsal lobe a distinct and sharp basal hook which is lacking in both, T. changshouensis Liu, Fabrizi, Bai, Yang & Ahrens, 2014 and T. allochangshouensis Fabrizi, Dalstein & Ahrens, 2019.
Variation. Length: 8.8–9.2 mm; length of elytra: 6.5–7.0 mm; maximum width: 5.2–5.7 mm.
Etymology. The new species is named after one of its collectors, Andreas Weigel (noun in genitive case singular).
description: Published as part of Ahrens, Dirk, Lukic, Daniel, Pham, Phu, Li, Wei & Liu, Wangang, 2023, Tetraserica Ahrens, 2004 of continental Southeast Asia: new records, new species and an updated key to species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Sericinae: Sericini), pp. 451-486 in Zootaxa 5374 (4) on pages 465-466, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5374.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10158722