Colposcelis (Turcmenicola) ustyurtensis Bekchanov & Nabozhenko & Bekchanova 2023, sp. n.
Creators: name: Bekchanov, Norbek Kh.
name: Nabozhenko, Maxim V.
name: Bekchanova, Mokhira Kh.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae
Colposcelis
Colposcelis ustyurtensis

description: Colposcelis (Turcmenicola) ustyurtensis Bekchanov & Nabozhenko, sp. n.
(Figs 3, 4)
Skopin 1964: 290 (? as Colposcelis (Scelocolpis) jachontovi); Bekchanov et al. 2023: 175, fig. 23 (Colposcelis (Turcmenicola) sp.)
Type material. Holotype, ♂ (ZIN) and paratypes, 11 ♀♀ (ZIN, IZUZ, PCMN, PCNB): Uzbekistan, Karakalpakstan, Kungrad District, between Elabad and Kungrad, Ustyurt Plateau, clay desert, 43°05ʹ08ʺ N, 58°32ʹ25ʺ E, 23.iv.2023 (M.V and S.V. Nabozhenko, N.Kh. and Kh.U. Bekchanov, U.E. Duschanov, D.A. Yavkachev). Paratype, ♀ (ZIN): Kazakhstan, Mangystau Region, Beyneu, 16.iv.2011 (A. Abramov).
Description. Male. Body length 9 mm, width 3.7 mm. Body robust, with long and slender legs and antennae, elytra much wider than pronotum, black, weakly shiny, legs black or dark-brown (Figs 3A–C). Head widest at eye level, where 1.07 times as wide as at genal level. Eyes moderately convex. Head at eye level 1.2 times as wide as interocular space. Lateral margin of eyes together with temples evenly rounded, not angulate (Fig. 3E). Puncturation very fine and sparse, punctures 6–7 times as short as interpuncture distance. Keels inside from eyes moderately short, not reaching middle of genae. Temples ventrally with coarse punctures and longitudinal wrinkles, head surface between temples with coarse and sparse punctures (Fig. 3C). Antennae long, with four distal antennomeres extending beyond base of pronotum. All antennomeres with fine and sparse puncturation.
Prothorax (Figs 3A, B, D). Pronotum oval, transverse (1.13 times as wide as long), widest slightly ahead of middle, 1.13 times as wide as head. Anterior margin straight in middle, lateral margins evenly strongly rounded, base slightly rounded. Lateral margins and base completely bordered, while anterior margin bordered only on sides. Disc of pronotum strongly convex, very finely and sparsely punctured. Prosternum and prothoracic hypomera with almost invisible fine and sparse puncturation; each puncture with very short white seta (Fig. 3D). Prosternal process widely depressed between procoxae and with weakly protruded narrowest middle part (Fig. 3D).
Pterothorax (Figs 3A–D). Elytra convex, wide, widest at middle (1.3 times as long as wide), 1.83 times as wide as head, 1.6 times as wide and 3.36 times as long as pronotum. Border of elytral base 1.2 times as wide as width of pronotum, interrupted in middle (not reaching scutellar shield) (Figs 3A, B). Humeri widely rounded, poorly expressed. Puncturation of elytra very fine and sparse, almost invisible. Epipleura slightly depressed in basal part. Mesoventrite with simple (not rasp-like) concentric deep merged foveae in anterior half (Fig. 3D). Posterior part of mesoventrite with intercoxal process, mesepimera, metepisterna and metepimera finely and sparsely punctured. Mesepisterna with sparse rasp-like puncturation. Metaventrite with very fine and sparse poorly visible puncturation in general and bracket-like coarse foveae along mesocoxae (Fig. 3D).
Abdomen. Intercoxal process of abdominal ventrite 1 not bordered at apex; the border interruption with straight grooves before apex; surface along these grooves with bracket-like coarse foveae (Fig. 3D). Other surface of abdominal ventrite 1 and ventrites 2–5 with very sparse and fine punctures. Male terminalia and genitalia (Fig. 4). Male inner sternite VIII weakly sclerotized and apical part and more sclerotized in basal part, with deep emargination and acute apices (Fig. 4G). Spiculum gastrale with transverse triangular blades (Fig. 4F). Apical piece of tegmen evenly roundly narrowed from base to apex; basal piece 1.38 times as long as apical piece, widest at apical third (Fig. 4D). Median lobe very narrow, widest at basal stem, strongly sclerotized laterally (Fig. 4E).
Legs long and slender. Trochanters without setae (Fig. 3D). Protibiae slightly S-shaped from extensor side, weakly bent along entire length from dorsal view (Figs 4A, B).
Female (Figs 3B, C). Body length 9.5–9.7 mm, width 4.3–4.4 mm. Body more robust, antennae shorter, only with three apical antennomeres extending beyond base of pronotum. Pronotum widest at middle, 1.18–1.2 times as wide as long. Elytra 2–2.1 times as wide as head and 1.7–1.75 times as wide as pronotum. Legs shorter, protibiae not S-shaped from extensor side.
Etymology. The name derives from the Ustyurt plateau in Middle Asia.
Comparative diagnosis. The new species is very similar to C. jachontovi, but clearly differs from the latter in characters presented in a key below. In addition, C. ustyurtensis sp. n. can be distinguished from C. jachontovi in the black body with black or dark-brown legs (brown body with brown legs in C. jachontovi) and the structure of blades in spiculum gastrale which are transverse and triangular in the new species (Fig. 4F), but longitudinal and oval in C. jachontovi (Fig. 2F). Both species are well different in the structure of aedeagus (compare Figs 2C, D and 4D, E).
Bionomics and photographs of habitats are given in Bekchanov et al. (2023) (as Colposcelis (Turcmenicola) sp.).
description: Published as part of Bekchanov, Norbek Kh., Nabozhenko, Maxim V. & Bekchanova, Mokhira Kh., 2023, Review of the subgenus Turcmenicola Bogatchev, 1952, the genus Colposcelis Dejean, 1834 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Tentyriini), pp. 550-564 in Zootaxa 5375 (4) on pages 554-557, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5375.4.6, http://zenodo.org/record/10203164