Xylopertha elegans Liu & Beaver 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Liu, Lan-Yu
name: Beaver, Roger A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Bostrichidae
Xylopertha
Xylopertha elegans

description: Xylopertha elegans sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E4831142-6943-4892-8A65-B8AC0C2659D8
Figs 1A–B, 2C, 3C, 4B, 5E–F
Amongst the bostrichid collection in the Staatliche Naturhistorische Sammlungen, Dresden (now Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen, Dresden), the senior author found a series of specimens identified as a new species of Xylopertha by J.M. Vrydagh, but not described. Further specimens were found in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. This species is described here using the specific name suggested by Vrydagh.
Etymology
The specific epithet ‘ elegans ’ used by Vrydagh, is from the Latin word for ‘elegant’ or ‘handsome’.
Material examined
Vrydagh selected a holotype, allotype and four paratypes from SNSD, and one paratype from ZMHB. However, the holotype and allotype he selected are in poor condition, and we have accordingly selected a new holotype and allotype in better condition from the same series.
Holotype TURKEY: ♂, [Anatolia, Toros, Karaman, Habiller], (no date), [Muche leg.] (ZMHB).
Allotype TURKEY: ♂, same data as for holotype (SNSD).
Paratypes TURKEY: 6 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀, same data as for holotype (4 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ in SNSD; 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀ in ZMHB; 1 ♂, 1 ♀ in LYL).
Description
Male
BODY. 4–5 mm long, about 3.5 times as long as wide. Head, pronotum and ventral side black, elytra dark reddish brown, antennae, mid- and hind-legs paler.
HEAD. Clypeus finely punctured, with a pair of small rounded projections on either side of mid-line, slightly emarginate laterally. Fronto-clypeal suture distinct, with a median fovea. Frons simple with sparse, fine punctures, each puncture with an upwardly-directed short hair, a pair of very long hairs on each side near the eyes directed towards the midline. Antennae 9-segmented, segments 3–6 together slightly shorter than last segment of club, first and second segments of club slightly wider than long, with small, indistinct areas of dense sensillae, third segment more elongate, and longer than previous segments, without areas of dense sensillae.
PRONOTUM. About 1.1 times wider than long, anterior margin slightly concave, sides quite strongly rounded, widest in basal third, anterior slope quite strongly granulate-punctate in middle above head, without long hairs antero-laterally, disc shining, with very sparse, fine punctures bearing very short hairs.
SCUTELLUM. Tongue-shaped.
ELYTRA. 2.5–2.8 times longer than wide, parallel-sided, shining, disc and sides with confused, dense, moderately strong punctures, bearing minute hairs; declivity commencing a little behind middle, angularly separated from disc, its upper margin without long, erect hairs, the upper part almost flat, a weak transverse convexity just below middle, apical part weakly concave, the apex strongly extended, a short V-shaped emargination separating the pointed elytral apices, declivital margins forming a distinct rim at the sides and apex, puncturation and vestiture similar to disc, the suture raised in middle part of declivity (Fig. 1A).
LEG. Anterior tibiae broadly grooved on external face. Second and third segments of tarsi distinctly wider than the following segments.
ABDOMEN. Abdominal ventrites finely, moderately densely punctured, the punctures with moderately long, whitish hairs; fifth ventrite with large pleural pieces, converging strongly towards apex of ventrite. Aedeagus simple, without long apophyses (Fig. 5E–F).
Female
BODY. Generally similar to male, but differentiated as follows.
HEAD. Clypeus and frons more densely punctured, the punctures with very long yellowish hairs directed towards vertex and partly concealing surface.
PRONOTUM. Anterior face of pronotum wider, very densely, finely punctured, above the head the punctures with very fine, very long, upwardly directed hairs, discal punctures slightly larger and denser.
ELYTRA. 2.6–2.9 times as long as wide, elytral puncturation coarser and denser, disc gradually curving into declivity in apical quarter, declivity very steep, deeply grooved on either side of the raised suture (Fig. 1B), the sides gibbous without a spine or tubercle, the apex of each elytron projecting as a broad approximately rectangular process, its apex with a small pointed tooth next to the suture, the processes separated by a shallow U-shaped emargination, a broad emargination lateral to each process, the edge of the emargination with a fringe of short hairs (Fig. 3C).
ABDOMEN. Abdominal 3rd ventrite projecting medially over 4th ventrite, which is only visible at sides, 5th ventrite very deeply, broadly emarginate, the base of the emargination projecting ventrally as a thin lamina behind the process on the 3rd ventrite and concealing the middle part of the 4th ventrite (Fig. 4B).
Distribution
Central Turkey (Anatolia).
description: Published as part of Liu, Lan-Yu & Beaver, Roger A., 2017, A review of the powderpost beetle genus, Xylopertha Guérin-Méneville, 1845, with a new species and new synonymy (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae: Bostrichinae: Xyloperthini), pp. 1-22 in European Journal of Taxonomy 380 on pages 8-10, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.380, http://zenodo.org/record/1118246