Amiserica pseudoincisa Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu 2021, new species
Creators: name: Ahrens, Dirk
name: Liu, Wangang
name: Pham, Phu Van
name: Fabrizi, Silvia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
Amiserica
Amiserica pseudoincisa

description: Amiserica pseudoincisa Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species
Figures 5E–H, 15
Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ China: Guizhou, Leishen pref., Mt. Leigongshan, 4-IV-1994 W. Kitawaki leg. / Coll. Takeshi Itoh, Osaka (Japan)” (ZFMK). Paratypes: 4 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀ “ China: Guizhou, Leishen pref., Mt. Leigongshan, 4-IV-1994 W. Kitawaki leg. / Coll. Takeshi Itoh, Osaka (Japan)” (ZFMK).
Description of the holotype. Length: 7.2 mm, length of elytra: 5.4 mm, width: 4.4 mm. Body oblong, brown, surface dull, labroclypeus shiny, antenna yellowish brown, dorsal surface almost glabrous.
Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins weakly convex and convergent to moderately rounded anterior angles, lateral border and ocular canthus producing a distinct obtuse angle; anterior margin weakly emarginate medially, margins weakly reflexed; surface flat and shiny, finely and densely punctate, with a few long erect setae; frontoclypeal suture indistinctly impressed and angled medially; smooth area anterior to eye 1.5 times as wide as long. Ocular canthus moderately long and narrow, finely and sparsely punctate, with a short terminal seta, equal to 1/3 of ocular diameter. Frons dull, anterior third shiny, finely and moderately densely punctate, with sparse evenly distributed long setae. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.74. Antenna with ten antennomeres, club with four antennomeres, slightly reflexed externally, 2.8 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and flattened anteriorly.
Pronotum transverse, widest at base, lateral margins in basal half straight and weakly convergent, in anterior part strongly curved and convergent to moderately produced and blunt anterior angles, posterior angles nearly rectangular; anterior margin distinctly convex, with the marginal line narrowly interrupted at middle; basal margin without marginal line; surface with dense and coarse punctures each bearing a minute seta, otherwise glabrous; anterior and lateral borders sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate, basal margin of hypomeron not produced ventrally. Scutellum triangular, apex sharp, with coarse and moderately dense punctures, punctures with minute setae only.
Elytra oblong, widest in posterior third, striae distinctly impressed, with fine and dense punctures; intervals moderately convex, with fine and moderately dense punctures concentrated along striae, punctures with minute setae only, on odd intervals with a very few short, fine setae; epipleural edge moderately strong, ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border membraneous, with a distinct rim of microtrichomes.
Ventral surface dull, with coarse and dense punctures, with short and fine setae in punctures. Metacoxa laterally additionally with a few robust longer setae. Abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate and minutely setose, each sternite with a distinct transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a short, robust seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.37. Pygidium strongly convex and dull, with coarse, dense punctures and numerous fine, long setae.
Legs slender; femora finely densely and coarsely punctate and glabrous, except for minute setae of punctures, with two longitudinal rows of setae; anterior margin of metafemur acute, with an adjacent continuously serrated line, ventral posterior margin weakly widened in apical half but not serrate, dorsal posterior margin completely smooth as well. Metatibia slender and long, widest at apex, ratio width/length: 1/4.0, sharply carinate dorsally, basal group of spines at middle, the apical one at 5/6 of metatibial length, basally with a few single spines in punctures; beside dorsal margin without a continuously serrated line; lateral face longitudinally convex, with dense and coarse punctures bearing each a minute seta; ventral margin serrated, with four fine and long, equidistant robust setae; medial face impunctate and glabrous; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly concavely sinuate. Tarsomeres dorsally impunctate, ventrally with short, sparse setae. Metatarsomeres ventrally with a strongly serrated ridge, laterally not carinate; first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and a quarter of its length longer then dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, protarsal claws symmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw simply but sharply truncate at apex.
Aedeagus: Fig. 5E–G. Habitus: Fig. 5H.
Variation. Length: 7.2–8.5 mm, length of elytra: 5.4–6.4 mm, width: 4.4–4.9 mm. Female: eyes small, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.53; antennal club with four antennomeres, straight, little shorter than remaining antennomeres combined; pygidium weakly convex.
Diagnosis. Amiserica pseudoincisa Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species differs from A. incisa Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species by the evenly wide right paramere (lateral view) and the narrow right dorsolateral apical process of phallobase.
Etymology. The name of the new species is derived from the combined Greek prefix pseudo- (false), the name incisa, with reference to the similarity of the species to the species Amiserica incisa.
description: Published as part of Ahrens, Dirk, Liu, Wangang, Pham, Phu Van & Fabrizi, Silvia, 2021, An overview on the genus Amiserica Nomura, 1974 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Sericini), pp. 1-63 in Zootaxa 5050 (1) on pages 22-23, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5050.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5560512