Serica (Taiwanoserica) tianpingshanensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu 2022, new species
Creators: name: Ahrens, Dirk
name: Fabrizi, Silvia
name: Bai, Ming
name: Liu, Wangang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
Serica
Serica tianpingshanensis

description: Serica (T.) tianpingshanensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species
Figures 17A–E, 25
Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ Mts. Tianpingshan, Sangzhi, Hunan, 14.VIII. 1988, 350m, leg. Liu Hong / LW-037/ 1142 Sericini Asia spec.” (IZAS). Paratypes: 1 ♂ “ Mts. Tianpingshan, Sangzhi, Hunan, 14.VIII. 1988, 350m, leg. Liu Hong ” (IZAS), 2 ♂♂ “ Mts. Tianpingshan, Sangzhi, Hunan, 13.VIII.1988, 1640m, leg. Yang Xingke ” (IZAS), 1 ♂ “ Mts. Tianpingshan, Sangzhi, Hunan, 12.VIII.1988, 1650m, leg. Yang Xingke ” (ZFMK), 1 ♂ “ Wang’erbao, Wanxian, Sichuan, 11.VIII.1993, 1200m, leg. Chen Xiaolin ” (IZAS), 1 ♂ “ Fenshuiling, Mts. Hefeng, Hubei, 30.VII.1989, leg. Sun Baowen ” (IZAS), 1 ♂ “ Fenshuiling, Mts. Hefeng, Hubei, 30.VII.1989, 1250m, leg. Sun Baowen ” (IZAS), 1 ♀ “ Fenshuiling Forestry Farm, Mts. Hefeng, Hubei, 30.VII.1989, 1200m, leg. Sun Baowen ” (IZAS), 1 ♀ “ Fenshuiling Forestry Farm, Mts. Hefeng, Hubei, 30.VII.1989, 1250m, leg. Sun Baowen ” (IZAS), 1 ♂ “ Mts. Jinfoshan, Nanchuan, Chongqing, 23-24.VII.2003, leg. Liu Yushuang, Yuan Caixia ” (HBUM), 1 ♂ “ Mts. Jinfoshan, Nanchuan, Chongqing, 24-28.VII.2003, leg. Liu Yushuang, Yuan Caixia ” (HBUM), 1 ♂ “ Huguosi Temple, Mts. Fanjingshan, Guizhou, 14.VIII.2001, leg. Pang Hong ” (LYYSU), 1 ♂ “ Tiechanghuang?, 11.VIII.1989, 1450m, leg. Yang Longlong ” (IZAS), 1 ♂ “ Wangerbao, Wanxian, Sichuan, 11.VIII.1993, 1200m, light trap, leg. Chen Xiaolin, Sun Baowen / LW-049” (IZAS), 1 ♂ “ Wangerbao, Wanxian, Sichuan, 14.VIII.1993, 1200m, light trap, leg. Chen Xiaolin, Sun Baowen ” (IZAS).
Description of the holotype. Length: 8.8 mm, length of elytra: 6.5 mm, width: 4.9 mm. Body oval, dark brown, dull, partly with greenish toment, ventral surface and legs reddish brown, elytra yellow brown with numerous dark spots, in punctures lighter, antenna yellow; dorsal surface almost glabrous except some single and short, white adpressed setae on pronotum and elytra.
Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent anteriorly, preapically abruptly angled; anterior angles blunt; anterior margin deeply emarginate medially; margins moderately reflexed; surface flat and moderately shiny, finely and densely punctate, partly punctures fusing to transverse wrinkles, with a few erect setae; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, weakly bent medially; smooth area anterior to eye small and convex, 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and slender (1/4 of ocular diameter), impunctate, without a short terminal seta. Frons completely dull and flat, with fine and dense punctures, posteriorly with numerous fine and short setae. Eyes small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.56. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, little longer than remaining antennomeres combined and straight. Mentum strongly elevated anteriorly, flattened anteriorly. Labrum strongly produced along middle, narrowly but deeply emarginate medially.
Pronotum moderately narrow and subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins evenly and weakly convex and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles well produced, weakly rounded in the tip; posterior angles blunt; anterior margin straight, robust marginal line widely interrupted medially; surface irregularly, partly densely and partly sparsely punctate, sparse punctures finer, along midline narrowly impunctate and medially on each side with a shallow impression, with sparse, short or minute, white, adpressed setae; lateral margins sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate at base, moderately produced ventrally. Scutellum large, triangular, finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures, on basal midline impunctate.
Elytra oval, widest at posterior third, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate; intervals flat, with fine, sparse punctures; with a few single, fine, short, white, adpressed setae on all intervals; epipleural edge fine, ending at moderately curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose; apical margin narrowly membraneous, with a fine rime of minute microtrichomes (magnification 100x).
Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, sparsely setose, widely glabrous; metacoxa glabrous, except a few short lateral setae. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as the slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.34. Abdominal sternites with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a long seta, otherwise glabrous; penultimate sternite at posterior margin with a wide membraneous rim being one third as long as sternite. Pygidium strongly convex and dull, dark, in punctures yellow, finely and densely punctate, smooth midline narrow, with sparse, moderately long setae.
Legs slender, shiny, pro- and mesofemur dull; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate between the rows. Metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, without a continuously serrated line behind anterior edge; ventral posterior margin serrated and only weakly widened at apex, dorsal posterior margin completely serrated, in basal half with a few long setae which are half as long as metafemur width. Metatibia slender and long, widest shortly before apex, ratio of width/ length: 1/3.6; dorsal margin sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group at one third, apical group at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few single, robust setae; external face densely and coarsely but superficially punctate, without longitudinal wrinkles; ventral margin serrated, with two widely separated robust setae; medial face finely sparsely punctate, glabrous; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation bluntly truncate. Tarsomeres ventrally with sparse, minute setae, dorsally smooth. Metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, laterally and dorsally carinate, with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally; first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and little longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, external margin smooth but bluntly extended at middle; anterior claws asymmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw widened and sharply pointed at apex.
Aedeagus: Fig. 17A–D. Habitus: Fig. 17E.
Diagnosis. Serica tianpingshanensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species differs clearly from the closely related and very similar Serica kuankuoshuiensis Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species in the shape of parameres: the dorsal lobe of the left paramere is much smaller and shorter, the basal lobe of the right paramere is much shorter and directed basally rather being bend distally.
Etymology. The species is named (adjective in singular nominative case) after its type locality, Mts. Tianpingshan.
Variation. Length: 6.9–8.8 mm, length of elytra: 5.2–6.5 mm, width: 4.2–4.9 mm. Female: Eyes and antennal club as in male; pygidium a little less convex.
description: Published as part of Ahrens, Dirk, Fabrizi, Silvia, Bai, Ming & Liu, Wangang, 2022, Taxonomic revision of Serica MacLeay, 1819 (sensu lato) from China and adjacent areas (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Sericini), with updates on Nipponoserica Nomura, 1972, pp. 1-83 in Zootaxa 5186 (1) on pages 65-67, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5186.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7073769