Cyphochilus orbachi Sabatinelli 2020, n. sp.
Creators: name: Sabatinelli, Guido
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
Cyphochilus
Cyphochilus orbachi

description: Cyphochilus orbachi n. sp.
Figs 77-79
Holotype: MHNG (MHNG-ENTO-81696); 1 ♂; VIETNAM: // N. Vietnam, Xuat Hoa / Bac Kan, 22˚04.18’ N, 105˚52.51’ E, 336 m / IV.2015; Hoa Binh leg. (P on yellow) // HOLOTYPUS ♂ / Cyphochilus / orbachi mihi / G. Sabatinelli, 2020 (T on red) //.
Paratypes: 16 specimens.
VIETNAM: MHNG; 1 ♂; Tonkin, Baokan; Lemee 1908. – PCAR; 2 ♂; N. Vietnam, Tam Dao, 950 m; 25- 28.III.2004; leg. Hoa Binh & Th. Frederking. – MZUF; 1 ♂; Vietnam, Bac Kan prov., Ba Be distr., Ba Be nat. park, 350 m; 8.VI.2011; leg. E. Orbach. – MHNG; 1 ♂; same previous data. – MHNG; 1 ♀; N. Vietnam, Tai Nguyen Prov., Mo Ba, 450 m; 15.V.2012; leg. Hoa Binh. – MHNG; 1 ♂; N. Vietnam, Lao Cai, Taphin, Kreis Sapa; VII-VIII.2011; leg. Hoa Binh. – PCAR; 1 ♂; same data as previous. – MHNG; 1 ♂; N. Vietnam, Xuat Hoa, NE Tam Dao; VII.2012; leg. Hoa Binh. – MHNG; 3 ♂; N. Vietnam, Xuat Hoa, Bac Kan, 22˚04.18’ N 105˚52.51’ E, 336 m; IV.2015; leg. Hoa Binh. – PCAR; 4 ♂; same data as previous.
Description of the holotype male: Size – BL: 19.3 mm, BW: 8 mm, BWX: 11.2 mm, situated at midpoint of elytra. Color – Integument light brown; surface with white-cream scales not aggregated along the sides of pronotum and margins of elytra. Head – CW/L: 3; anterolateral edges of clypeus rounded, lateral edges of clypeus curved divergent posteriad; frons large, making eyes relatively small (F/O: 3.7); antennal club slightly longer than antennomeres 2-7 (A2-7/CL: 0.9). Pronotum – Transverse (PnW/L: 2), strongly convex; apical angles and lateral margins narrowly flattened, apical angles right not protuberant; basal lateral margins curved, basal angles largely rounded. Elytra – With striae slightly visible among scales, not elevated. Thoracic sterna – Surface with short, white pubescence and scales, mesosternum slightly developed anteriorly (MstL: 0.23 mm) but visible between the mesocoxae in lateral view. Abdomen – Sternites with sparse scales except the median part of the eight sternite; pygidium convex with apical margin narrowly reflected. Legs – Protibia tridentate with the basal tooth well developed; slender apical tooth as long as the middle tooth. Aedeagus – Parameres strongly asymmetric with 4 appendices (Figs 77-79).
Variability: BL: 18-20 mm (x = 19.7, n = 16).
Females: BL: 19.3 mm, BW: 8 mm, BWX: 11.2 mm, antennal club ovate, shorter than preceding antennomeres (A2-7/CL: 1.5)
Etymology: Eylon Orbach is an Israeli entomologist who collected this new species during some of the expeditions in Vietnam he took part.
Type locality: Bac Kan is a Province in the Northeast part of Vietnam about 240 kilometers northwest of the capital city Hanoi.
Distribution: Cyphochilus orbachi is known only from several localities all in the north portion of Vietnam. The holotype and one paratype were collected recently, during an expedition of the Natural History Museum of Florence (Italy), in the Ba Be National Park. The park (about 100 km 2) is located in a hilly and mountainous area, surrounded with rivers, set up to protect the Ba Be Lake along with surrounding limestone and lowland evergreen forests.
Remarks: This species is close morphologically to C. leducthoi n. sp., having small body size, elytral striae slightly visible, mesosternum slightly developed and parameres with four appendices. The two species can be readily separated from all other congeners and from each other by the unique form of the parameres.
description: Published as part of Sabatinelli, Guido, 2020, Taxonomic notes on the genus Cyphochilus Waterhouse, 1867 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea, Melolonthinae) with description of 10 new species, pp. 157-181 in Revue suisse de Zoologie 127 (1) on page 176, DOI: 10.35929/RSZ.0014, http://zenodo.org/record/5743429