Loricula unidentata Li & Ren 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Li, Zhaoxu
name: Ren, Guodong
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Microphysidae
Loricula
Loricula unidentata

description: Loricula unidentata sp. nov.
Figs. 9–15
Type depository. MHBU.
Type material. Holotype: ♂: with the following labels: “ 2009-VII-14 // 云南孟连县勐马 // 徐吉山 张利祥 // 河北大学博物馆 ” translated into English as “ 2009-VII-14 // Mengma, Menglian County, Yunnan // Jishan Xu & Lixiang Zhang leg. // Museum of Hebei University” (white, printed, in Chinese), “ N 22°09′17.6″ // E99°24′43.2″ // 1470 m // 河北大学博物馆 ” translated into English as “ N 22°09′17.6″ // E99°24′43.2″ // 1470 m // Museum of Hebei University” (white, printed, in Chinese). “ HOLOTYPE // Loricula unidentata Li & Ren det. 2016” (red, printed and handwritten).
Description. Body (Fig. 12) elongate (BL 10.67 mm), parallel laterally, widest near base of elytra. Mandibles dark brown. Labrum pale brown, clypeus pale brown apically and dark brown posteriorly. Maxillary palpi, antennae and legs brownish yellow, basal part of femora brownish yellow and apical part dark brown. Basal part of head, pronotum, elytra and abdomen blackish brown. Elytra with metallic lustre.
Head (Fig. 13) with sparse pale setae and dense punctures, slightly shiny. Basal part of head convex. HL 1.77 mm, HW 1.47 mm. Labrum distinctly emarginate in middle, labrum and clypeus with long setae and few punctures. Eyes large, transverse, deeply emarginate, space between eyes longer than length of antennomere I, OI=28.03. Maxillary palpi with yellow setae and microgranulation; palpomeres II and III distinctly broadest at apex, ultimate palpomere broadly triangular and concave at apex.
Antennae slender, with dense yellow setae and microgranulation, all antennomeres with few longer setae at apex. Antennomere III distinctly shorter than others. RLA (I–VI): 0.43: 0.21: 1.00: 1.33: 1.41: 1.37. RL/WA(I– VI): 1.63: 1.17: 5.12: 6.33: 6.67: 7.14. (VII–XI broken).
Pronotum (Fig. 13) subquadrate, broadest in middle along midline, with two shallow depressions at sub-base. PL 1.94 mm, PW 2.02 mm, PI=96.04. Surface with sparse long setae, dense punctures distinctly larger than those on basal head but smaller than those on elytral striae. Pronotal borders complete, narrow. Anterior and lateral margins slightly arcuate. Anterior and posterior angles roundly obtuse. Base with shallow, oblique furrows near posterior angles.
Elytra elongate, EL 7.16 mm, EW 2.79 mm, widest at base, parallel on sides, narrowing to apex. Setae on dorsal surface long and dense laterally, short and sparse near suture. Elytral striae with distinct rows of middlesized punctures, larger than on pronotum. Elytral intervals convex, with microgranulation. Elytral epipleura welldeveloped, regularly narrowing to metasternum, then narrowly leading parallel. Scutellum pentagonal, with apex angled.
Sternums of throax with sparse setae and large punctures. Punctures on mesasternum dense and small in middle. Ventrites I–V with dense setae and small punctures.
Legs with pale brown setae and microgranulation. Profemora strongly broadened, upper margin curved. Protibiae (Fig. 14) flat and broadened, ventral margin with a distinct, but short, tooth in middle, dorsal margin rounded arc-shaped, with distinct ridge. Mesotibiae slightly curved; meso- and metatibiae without tooth. Pro- and mesotarsomeres III–IV and metatarsomere III distinctly broadened and lobed. RLT: 1.00: 0.98: 0.78: 0.27: 2.52 (protarsus), 1.00: 0.48: 0.29: 0.15: 1.13 (mesotarsus), 1.00: 0.33: 0.15: 0.74 (metatarsus). Pro-, meso- and metatarsal claws with 30, 26, 20 visible teeth respectively.
Aedeagus (Figs 15–17) strong, ochre-yellow, shiny, length 2.56 mm. Phallobase rounded laterally and regularly narrowing in dorsal view, 3.58 times longer than parameres. Parameres dark brown, covered with short spines, longitudinally slender, rectangular-shaped and narrowing at apex in dorsal view, gradually flat in lateral view.
Female. Unknown.
Diagnosis. This new species can be recognized by subquadrate pronotum; dorsal surface of elytra shiny with metallic lustre; profemora strongly broadened, upper margin curving; protibiae flat and strongly broadened, ventral margin with a distinct short tooth in middle, upper margin rounded arc-shaped with distinct ridge; mesotibiae slightly curve, meso- and metatibiae without tooth. For differences from similar species see the key above.
Etymology. From the Latin “ uni- ” and “ dentata ”, referring to the sharp tooth on the ventral margin of the male protibiae.
Distribution. China (Yunnan).
description: Published as part of Li, Zhaoxu & Ren, Guodong, 2019, Two new species of comb-clawed beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae) from Yunnan, China, pp. 162-170 in Zootaxa 4576 (1) on pages 167-169, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4576.1.9, http://zenodo.org/record/2624779