Airapus malaitaensis Minkina & Jakl 2024, new species
Creators: name: Minkina, Łukasz
name: Jákl, Stanislav
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Airapus
Airapus malaitaensis

description: Airapus malaitaensis Minkina & Jákl, new species
(Figs. 1 – 3, 7, 11)
Type locality. Solomon Islands, Malaita Island, south coast Hahorarumu Uru Tribal Area.
Type material. Holotype, female: Solomon Islands | South Pacific, Malaita Island, | south coast Hahorarumu Uru | Tribal Area (conservation area), | 100 – 250 m., 7. – 13.xii.2017 | leg. S. Jákl [SJCP].
Description of the holotype (female). Dorsum (Fig. 1). Length: 4.2 mm; maximum width: 1.65 mm. All punctures bearing very short, almost imperceptible (except apex and sides of elytra where are very short, but well visible) macrosetae. Body dark brownish; antennae, tarsomeres and mouth parts brown.
Head (Fig. 7) moderately convex, shiny, with trace of microreticulation; transversely trapezoidal; clypeus anteriorly widely sinuate, distinctly denticulate each side of median emargination, sides very widely rounded, weakly notched before genae, which are obtusely rounded and distinctly exceeding eyes. Fronto-clypeal suture absent, trace of it visible only on sides. Punctures on clypeus irregular in size and shape, dense, quite regularly distributed.
Epipharynx (Fig. 11) transverse, with sides rounded, anterior margin weakly sinuate, with distinctly produced corypha bearing two short, thick celtes at apex.Acanthopariae, acropariae, prophobae without chaetae. Chaetopariae, adelochaetae, chaetopediae with dense belts of long chaetae; chaetopariae and adelochaetae thick, chaetopediae thin. Epitorma somewhat Christmas-tree-shaped. Tormae very long.
Pronotum moderately convex, distinctly transverse, somewhat wider than base of elytra, widest in the middle, shiny, with a trace of microreticulation.Anterior angles rounded, somewhat right-angled, sides very widely rounded; very weakly sinuate before hind angles. Posteror margin of pronotum before hind angles truncate. Anterior margin not bordered, sides very distinctly bordered, posterior margin distinctly bordered. Punctation double: smaller punctures two to four times smaller than larger, dense, not fine, quite regularly distributed, irregular in size; larger punctures dense, quite regularly distributed, very irregular in size, posteriorly larger.
Scutellar shield small, triangular, with somewhat ogival sides, matt, with very distinct microreticulation, with few small punctures basally.
Base of elytra quite distinctly bordered, with small but distinct humeral denticles, additionally border covered by very short and very dense macrosetae. Elytra elongate, moderately convex, somewhat widened to apex, widest at apical third of length. Elytra with ten striae and ten interstriae. Interstriae distinctly convex, shiny, with only a trace of microreticulation on sides, and with irregular row of moderately large, quite dense punctures. Striae shiny, with distinct, not so coarse, quite sparse punctation; punctures of striae quite distinctly encroaching on interstriae; striae variably connected before apex.
Pygidium with similar structure as abdominal ventrites.
Legs. Profemora shiny, with trace of microreticulation, distinctly bordered anteriorly and posteriorly, surface with double puncatation: larger punctures dense and coarse, smaller punctures fine and sparse; meso- and metafemora shiny, with trace of microreticulation, mesofemora bordered anteriorly; metafemora bordered anteriorly only in apical half, surface with fine punctures; meso- and metafemora moderately densely, and weakly coarsely punctate, punctures weakly variable in size and shape, some with macrosetae. Protibiae distinctly tridentate laterally, proximally not serrulate, with dorsal side smooth; apical spur outwardly curved before apex, somewhat downwardly bent. Metatibiae superior apical spur distinctly shorter than basimetatarsomere, latter as long as following four tarsomeres combined. Claws very short, thin, distinctly arcuate.
Macropterous.
Venter (Fig. 2). Metaventral plate shiny, without microreticulation, very weakly convex, with distinct, narrow, quite deep longitudinal line in the middle; medial surface with not so fine, regular in size, moderately dense punctation. Abdominal ventrites shiny, with a trace of microreticulation; anterior margins narrowly, weakly fluted, except the last one which is distinctly fluted; with distinct, dense, variable in size punctation.
Sexual dimorphism. Unknown.
Etymology. Toponymic; an adjective derived from the name of Malaita Island, where the new species was collected.
Differential diagnosis. Airapus malaitaensis, new species among all known Airapus species seems to be closely related to A. burrundieae. Both species share the following morphological features:elytra without granules, pronotum broader than the base of the elytra, anterior angles of pronotum rounded, somewhat rectangular, posterior margin of pronotum distinctly bordered (grooved), and similar shape and density of pronotal punctation. Further similarities include: basal margin of elytra with very short and very dense macrosetae, shape and punctation of elytral striae and interstriae, size and proportions of apical spurs, etc. Based on these similarities, Airapus malaitaensis, new species can be linked to A. burrundieae using the key to species for Airapus of New Guinea by Stebnicka (1998). Further comparisons between A. malaitaensis, new species and A. burrundieae are summarized below (Table 1).
description: Published as part of Minkina, Łukasz & Jákl, Stanislav, 2024, Two new species of Eupariini Schmidt, 1910 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae) from Indonesia, pp. 561-570 in Zootaxa 5537 (4) on pages 562-564, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5537.4.8, http://zenodo.org/record/14240408