Penthicus germanni Nabozhenko & Mofrad, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Nabozhenko, Maxim V.
name: Mofrad, Farhad Eshraghi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Tenebrionidae
Penthicus
Penthicus germanni

description: Penthicus germanni sp. nov.
(Figs 9–10)
Material. Holotype, ♂ (HMIM) and paratypes, 6 ♂♂, 10 ♀♀ specimens (HMIM): Iran, Khuzestan Prov., Shushtar city, Kushkak Ridge, H = 100 m, 32°4ʹ52.97ʺN, 48°50ʹ18.438ʺE, 28.viii.2023 (leg. F. Eshraghi Mofrad). Paratypes: 5 specimens (HMIM): Iran, Khuzestan Prov., Zagros Mts., Gotvand city, Kiars Ridge, H= 270 m, 32°22ʹ7.869ʺN, 48°56ʹ22.586ʺE, 23.vi.2023 (leg. F. Eshraghi Mofrad); 7 specimens (HMIM): Iran, Khuzestan prov., Zagros Mts., Masjed Soleyman city, Moradabad village, H= 300–350 m, 32°3ʹ16.377ʺN, 49°15ʹ20.038ʺE, 10.iii.2024 (leg. F. Eshraghi Mofrad); 8 specimens (HMIM): Iran, Khuzestan Prov., Zagros Mts., Saland city, Abolhasan village, H= 800–900 m, 32°35ʹ55.967ʺN, 48°50ʹ20.671ʺE, 31.iii.2024 (leg. F. Eshraghi Mofrad); 7 specimens (HMIM): Iran, Khuzestan prov., Dezful city, Shevi waterfall Rd., H= 1300–1400 m, 32°43ʹ37.786ʺN, 48°53ʹ35.072ʺE, 25.iv.2024 (leg. F. Eshraghi Mofrad).
Description. Male (Figs 9A, B). Body robust but elongated, moderately convex in dorsal aspect, opaque, black, dorsally glabrous.
Head widest across genae. Lateral margins of genae rounded, converging from widest portion to epistome. Widest area of gena located at midlength of eye. Head dorsally coarsely and moderately densely punctured by rasp-like punctures, epistoma with simple circular punctures. Eyes dorsally small, slightly transverse, 1.2–1.3 times as wide as long. Head ventrally with dense granulation around mouthparts and puncturation around eyes.
Prothorax. Pronotum strongly transverse (1.61–1.65 times as wide as long), trapezoid, widest across base, 1.62 times as wide as head, strongly converging from its widest portion to anterior margin, ratio width of pronotum at base and anterior angles 17: 11.3. Anterior margin widely emarginated near angles. Lateral margins slightly rounded, shortly sinuous near anterior angles. Base rounded at middle and slightly bisinuate at each side, median portion protruded backwards. Anterior angles acute, projected, tip narrowly rounded, posterior angles right-angled, tip widely rounded. Lateral edges narrowly margined, margin of anterior edge widely interrupted at middle; base not margined, finely serrated laterally. Disc of pronotum moderately convex, not flattened on sides, with narrow groove along lateral margin. Median portion sparsely and finely punctured with circular punctures (interpuncture spaces about 3–4 times as wide as punctures), lateral sides covered with coarser and denser reniform and slightly raduliform punctures; without visible secondary micropuncturation. Lateral sides of prothoracic hypomera not flattened, with sparse small granules and (at base) smooth wrinkles; each granule bears short erect setae. Prosternum with dense rasp-like rugose granulation and recumbent short setation. Prosternal process moderately convex, slightly protruded beyond procoxae.
Pterothorax. Elytra elongate, widest behind midlength (1.55 times as long as wide), 1.81 times as wide as head, 1.11 times as wide and 2.87 times as long as pronotum. Basal margin of elytra in epipleural portion slightly oblique laterally, humeral angles obtuse, tip widely rounded, lateral margin of elytra not emarginated near humeral angles. Strial punctures large, circular and depressed, transformed to elongate punctures in grooves on apical third; interstriae moderately convex, punctured by moderately coarse sparse punctures. Epipleuron in apical portion 1.86 times as wide as metepisternum. Ventral side of pterothorax sparsely pubescent with short recumbent setae. Mesoventrite coarsely rugose and granulated, mesepisterna with merged foveae in apical and sparse granules in basal portion, metaventrite with distinct round sparse granules on sides and sparse rugose punctures at middle, all granules setose.
Abdomen. Abdominal ventrites 1–3 sparsely and finely granulated on sides, medially coarse granulated among longitudinal wrinkles; ventrite 4 with simple puncturation, ventrite 5 with sparse, finer, slightly raduliform puncturation, not margined at apex. Setation of abdomen shorter than on pterothorax ventrally. Genitalia (Figs 10A–C). Inner sternite VIII widely evenly emarginated with almost pointed lateral angulations. Spiculum gastrale with S-shaped right and almost straight left rod, with oval, moderately elongated blades rounded at apex. Parameres narrow, rounded at apex, regularly constricted from base towards apex; lateral margins very slightly emarginated. Basal piece 1.38 times as long as parameres.
Legs. Legs short, profemora slightly extended beyond prothoracic margin, mesofemora not extending, and metafemora distinctly extending beyond elytral margin. Protibiae narrow, profemur 1.2 times as wide as apical width of protibia, 3.3 times as long as wide. Lateral margin of protibiae simple, not obliquely truncated near apex, outer angle acute. Protarsomeres long, combined length of tarsomeres 1–2 equal to apical width of protibia.
Female (Fig. 9C). Body more robust, base of pronotum laterally emarginated near posterior angles, lateral margins of elytra stronger rounded; pro- and metafemora comparatively shorter. Ovipositor (Figs 10D, E). Valvifer strongly widened from base to rounded apical portion, baculi distinct distinct, curved at apex; coxite lobes 4 not triangular and not acute, moderately wide, obliquely truncated at apex, gonostyli granuliform, well-expressed; coxite lobes 3+4 laterally with long sparse setae. Baculi of paraproct widened, strongly bent, S-shaped.
Body length (both sexes) 12–14 mm, width 5.5–5.9 mm.
Etymology. The new species is named in honour of Dr Christoph Germann, curator of Life Sciences at Natural History Museum Basel (Switzerland) supporting several taxonomic revisions of the first author with co-authors, including the present paper, with images of type material deposited in NHMB.
Comparative diagnosis. The new species is most similar to P. mesopotamicus sp. nov. (CS = compared species) in the trapezoidal pronotum with very fine and sparse puncturation on median portion, the elongate elytra, the moderate body (not a small species as P. rufescens (Mulsant et Rey, 1859), P. oblongopunctatus and P. zhenzhuristi afghanus), but differs from the latter in the following characters: the pronotum wider (1.61–1.65 times as wide as long vs 1.51–1.52 in CS (Fig. 11D)), stronger trapezoid (the base 1.5 wider than the width at anterior margin vs 1.36 in CS) (Figs 9D, E); the anterior angles of the pronotum acute with narrowly rounded tip (Fig. 9D) (right-angled and widely rounded tip in CS (Fig. 11D)); the lateral margins of the pronotum shortly sinuous near anterior angles (Fig. 9D) (rounded in CS (Fig. 11D)); the base of the pronotum not margined (finely margined from the posterolateral angles towards the protruded median portion in CS); the elytra widest behind middle (Figs 9A, C) (at middle in CS (Figs 11A, C)), much longer than the pronotum (Fig. 9A) (2.87–3.06 times as long vs 2.5–2.64 in CS (Fig. 11A)); the elytral interstriae distinctly convex in both male and female (very slightly convex in male, flat in female in CS); the metaventrite stronger elongate (Fig. 9B) (2.5 times as wide as long vs 2.76 in CS); the parameres wider, rounded at apex, regularly constricted from the base towards the apex (Fig. 10A) (the parameres narrower, almost pointed at apex, strongly narrowed in the apical half in CS (Fig. 12A)). The ovipositor differs from that in all Middle East species of the nomynotypical subgenus: the lobes of coxite 4 not triangular and not acute, moderately wide, obliquely truncated at the apex, the gonostyli small, granuliform, well-expressed (very small, sometimes invisible in CS (Fig. 12D)) (Figs 10D, E). Both, P. germanni sp. nov. and P. mesopotamicus sp. nov. are externally similar to P. pinguis, from which they differ by the shorter metaventrite, which is 2.3 times as wide as long in the latter species and the pronotum. Disc of the pronotum is not narrowly flattened along lateral edges.
description: Published as part of Nabozhenko, Maxim V. & Mofrad, Farhad Eshraghi, 2025, Progress in the knowledge of the genus Penthicus Faldermann, 1836 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Opatrini) of Iraq, Iran and Pakistan with descriptions of 17 new species, pp. 1-100 in Zootaxa 5573 (1) on pages 16-18, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5573.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14745717