Dicronychus latifae Dhafer & Platia, 2013, n. sp.
Creators: name: Al Dhafer, Hathal M.
name: Platia, Giuseppe
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Elateridae
Dicronychus
Dicronychus latifae

description: Dicronychus latifae n. sp.
Figs. 6–8.
Material examined: Holotype: ♀ Saudi Arabia, Rawdhat Khorim, 25° 25’ 943”N, 47° 13’ 863E,” 572m, 29-IV- 2012, Al Dhafer (KSMA). Paratypes: (197): 4♂, 7♀ same data as holotype, 69 specimens same data as holotype, 19 V 2012, 2♂, 4♀ and 30 other specimens (KSMA); 15-IV-2012, 4 ♂, 3♀ and 5 other specimens (KSMA); 27-V- 2012, 3♀ and 2 other specimens (KSMA); 28-IV-2012, 1♂ and 11 other specimens (KSMA); 10-VI-2012, 3 specimens (KSMA); 14-IV-2012, light trap, 1 specimen (KSMA); Wasiel, 45 km W Riyadh, Abdurahman AlThonian Farm, 4-V-2008, light trap, M. Otybi, 1♀ (KSMA); Wasiel, 45 km W Riyadh, Mazin AlQwrashi farm, 13-V-2008, light trap, M. Otybi, 1♀ (KSMA); Al Muzahimiyah, AlKhararah, 24° 24’ 24”N, 46° 14’ 40”E, 26-IV- 2011, light trap, Y. Drayhim, H. Al Dhafer, A. Al Gharbawy & M. Al Harbi. 1♂ (KSMA); AlMuzahimiyah, AlKhararah, 24° 24’ 24”N, 46° 14’ 40”E, 17-V-2011, light trap, Y. Drayhim, H. Al Dhafer & A. AlGharbawy, 1♂ (KSMA); same locality, H. Setyaningrum, 1♂, 1♀ (KSMA); Hotat Bani Tamim, Riyadh, 23° 49’ 35”N, 46° 81’ 58”, 16-V-2010, sweeping, A. AlOthman, 1♂ (KSMA); AlMajardah, Wadi Baqrah, 18° 55’ 642”N, 42° 02’ 829”E, 433m, 10-XI-2012, hand collecting, H. Al Dhafer, 1♀ (KSMA).
Description: Head: Dark brown, fine punctures with scattered larger round punctures, covered with decumbent pale hair; frons convex becoming flat toward anterior margin with well-developed apical carina; antennae just reaching the hind angles in males, not reaching the hind angles by about one antennomere in females; antennomere 2 subconical, slightly shorter than antennomere 3; antennomeres 3–10 feebly dilated at apex, longer than wide; antennomere 11 subellipsoidal, narrowed at apex.
Pronotum: As long as wide, convex, widest at middle, dark brown to black, densely and finely round punctures with scattered larger round punctures, lateral margins arcuate; hind angles sharply truncate, carinate dorsally.
Scutellum: Dark brown medially, more blackish along suture, slightly wider than long, heart- shaped, emarginate at base.
Elytra: Yellowish-brown, medially shaded with black (Fig. 6), covered with dense erect yellow setae, striae densely and finely punctate with scattered large rounded punctures, interstriae deeply punctate.
Male genitalia: Parameres without a distinctly produced subapical rounded lobe, apicolateral expansion reduced, teardrop-like, two setae below expansion, distal setae long; median lobe simple, subparallel margins beyond middle apically narrowly rounded (Fig. 7).
Female genitalia: Proximal sclerite of the bursa copulatrix with 9–11 large marginal teeth, terminal teeth largest, and 11–13 smaller internal discal teeth including one just below large marginal terminal tooth (Fig. 8). Etymology. The patronym honors Latifa A. Almutlaq.
Diagnosis. Dicronychus latifae is most similar to D. brancuccii, but can be distinguished in the female by fewer teeth of the proximal sclerite of the bursa copulatrix (Fig. 8). The parameres of the male genitalia lack the distinctly produced subapical rounded lateral lobe with the triangular expansions (Fig. 7), as present in D. brancuccii (Fig. 4). Additionally the apex of the median lobe is more narrowly rounded than either D. brancuccii (Fig. 4) or D. bushrae n. sp. (Fig. 10).
description: Published as part of Al Dhafer, Hathal M. & Platia, Giuseppe, 2013, Contribution to the knowledge of the genus Dicronychus (Coleoptera: Elateridae) from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, pp. 15-22 in Zootaxa 3734 (1) on pages 17-19, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3734.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/285166