Cyphochilus rohingyae Sabatinelli 2020, n. sp.
Creators: name: Sabatinelli, Guido
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
Cyphochilus
Cyphochilus rohingyae

description: Cyphochilus rohingyae n. sp.
Figs 71-73, 90-91
Holotype: MHNG (MHNG-ENTO-81702); 1 ♂; MALAYASIA: // W. Malaysia, Pahang / Frasier’s Hill, ca 1300 m / 17-21.III.1993, light trap / Löbl & Calame, #14 (P) // HOLOTYPUS ♂ / Cyphochilus / rohingyae mihi / G. Sabatinelli, 2020 (T on red) //. (Fig. 90).
Paratypes: 57 specimens.
MALAYSIA: MHNG; 27 ♂, 16 ♀; Malaysia, Perak State, Taiping; II.1982. – MHNG; 2 ♂, 2♀; Malaysia Peninsula, Pahang, Frasier’s Hill, 1300 m; 22.III.-1.IV.2013; leg. Azarov. – MHNG; 2 ♂; West Malaysia, Perak, Taiping, Buki Larut (Maxwell Hill); 14.IV.1996; leg. S. Becwar. – ISNB (Fig. 91); 4 ♀; Malaysia, Perak, Taiping; IV.1981. – ZMHB; 3 ♂, 1 ♀; Malaysia, Tenasserim; III.1995; leg. S. Steinke. – PCMN; 3 ♂; Malaysia, Bukit Fraser, 1-5.V.2003; leg B. Mkovský. – PCDK; 1 ♂, Cameron Highlands.
Description of the holotype male: Size – BL: 17.8 mm, BW: 6.9 mm, BWX: 9.2. 4 mm, situated at midpoint of elytra. Color – Integument dark shiny brown; dorsal surface with white-silver scales densely aggregated along the sides of pronotum and margins of elytra. Head – CW/L: 3.2; anterolateral edges of clypeus rounded, lateral edges of clypeus curved divergent posteriad; frons large, making eyes relatively small, not prominent (F/O: 4.9); antennal club longer than antennomeres 2-7 (A2-7/CL: 1.7). Pronotum – Transverse (PnW/L: 1.9), strongly convex; apical angles and lateral margins flattened, apical angles acute and protuberant; basal lateral margins straight, basal angles obtuse and smooth. Elytra – Without any visible striae. Thoracic sterna – Surface with short, white pubescence and scales; mesosternum slightly developed anteriorly (MstL: 0.27 mm) however, visible in lateral view between the mesocoxae. Abdomen – Sternites with sparse scales; pygidium convex with apical margin reflected. Legs – Protibia bidentate; slender apical tooth longer than the basal tooth. Aedeagus – Parameres strongly asymmetric with four appendices (Figs 71-73); the two appendices on the right paramere merged for most of their length.
Variability: BL in males: 15.8-19.2 mm (x = 17.7, n = 34). Cyphochilus rohingyae shows a great variability in the color of scales in males and a strong sexual dimorphism (see below). While the holotype and 52% of male specimens have the integument with whitesilver scales (Fig. 90), in the other 48% of specimens the scales are yellow-ochre. Some of specimens with yellow-ochre scales have humeri and scutellum with patches of white scales (Fig. 91).
Females: The females are substantially larger than the males: BL: 19-21.5 mm (x = 19.5, n = 23); antennal club ovate, shorter than preceding antennomeres (A2-7/ CL: 1.6). All female specimens have dorsal cover of uniform white-silver scales.
Etymology: Dedicated to the Rohingya people, an indigenous ethnic group of western Myanmar who were forced to flee in the recent years to Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Type locality: Fraser’s Hill (in Malay: Bukit Fraser) is a hill resort located on the Titiwangsa Ridge in Raub District of Pahang State in West Malaysia; the resort is situated 64.6 miles (104 km) from the national capital city Kuala Lumpur.
Distribution: Cyphochilus rohingyae is known from the Pahang and Perak States of Western Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. A large series of specimens was collected in Taiping, the wettest location in Peninsular Malaysia where the high rainfall (ca 4000 mm) has led to a profuse flora and century-old rainforest trees.
Remarks: Cyphochilus rohingyae, C. feae and C. proximus have similar conformation of parameres and they are present in Myanmar and Malaysian Peninsula. They can be readily separated mainly by the different shape of the apical part of the right paramere (Figs 65, 53, 71)
description: Published as part of Sabatinelli, Guido, 2020, Taxonomic notes on the genus Cyphochilus Waterhouse, 1867 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea, Melolonthinae) with description of 10 new species, pp. 157-181 in Revue suisse de Zoologie 127 (1) on pages 177-178, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0014, http://zenodo.org/record/5743429