Monolepta tsoui Lee, new species
Creators: name: Lee, Chi-Feng
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae
Monolepta
Monolepta tsoui

description: Monolepta tsoui Lee, new species
Description. Total length: males: 4.5–5.5 mm (O: 5.15 mm; n= 6); females: 5.3–6.0 mm (O: 5.57 mm; n= 4). General color yellowish-brown; margin and area along margin of elytra, metasternum and metepisternum blackish-brown; antenna dark brown (Figs. 3–4), but two basal antennomeres yellowish-brown; tibia and tarsi dark brown. Antennomeres 4–10 about 5.5 times longer than broad at apex (Fig. 26); length of second to third antennomere 0.62–0.75 (O: 0.69); length of third to fourth antennomere 0.58–0.65 (O: 59) (Fig. 25). Pronotal length to width 0.61–0.68 (O: 0.64). Maximal width of elytra to length of elytra 0.63–0.69 (O: 0.66). Length of basi-metatarsus to metatibia 0.51–0.57 (O: 0.54).
Color variation. Some individuals are yellowish-brown in general except for blackish-brown antenna, tibia, and tarsi; some are similar to typical form but with the black elytra (Fig. 5); some are entirely black except for yellowish-brown abdomen (Fig. 6).
Male genitalia (Fig. 21). Median lobe broad, sub-parallel, not curved apically; apex rounded. Tectum very narrow, with a pair of acute sclerites at middle, about 0.6x as long as median lobe. Ventral surface medially and weakly sclerotized from apical 1/5 to base, parallel-sided; with circular opening near apex. Endophallus with two short median spiculae, lateral spiculae curved, apex acute, ventral specula single, rounded. Female genitalia. Spermathecal cornu (Fig. 22) slender, slightly curved, apically tapering; middle part long, apically curved, slightly widened near cornu; nodulus spherical, large; proximal spermathecal duct short, larger near nodulus. Bursa-sclerites weakly sclerotized, only with a row of several visible teeth dorsally and ventrally (Figs. 23–24).
Type Material. Holotype 3: “ Taiwan: Kaoshiang Shihshan logging trail, 11.X.2008, leg. C.-T. Yao” (NMNS); paratypes: 23, same data as holotype; 13, same but with “ 08.X.2008 ”; 13, same but with “ 09.X.2008 ”; 23, same with “ 10.X.2008 ”; 13, same but with “ 31.VII.2008 ”; 13, same but with “ 01.VIII.2008 ”; 2ƤƤ, same but with “ 12.VIII.2008 ”; 23, same with “ 19.VIII.2008 ”; 1Ƥ, same but with “ 09.IX.2008 ”; 13, same but with “ 17.IX.2008 ”; 13 (#5449), 1Ƥ: “ Taiwan: Hsinchu Mamei, 18.V.2008, leg. M.-H. Tsao”; 1Ƥ, same but with “leg. S.-F. Yu”; 13 (#2742), 1Ƥ (#2589): “ Taiwan: Pingtung Tahanshan, 18.VII.2007, leg. M.-H. Tsao” (all in TARI).
Etymology. This new species is named after Mei-Hua Tsou (= Tsao), who made a great contribution in collecting materials for the present study.
Diagnosis. The yellowish-brown individual and those with the black-margined elytra are very similar to Monolepta gracilipes, but differs by the black tibia, presence of a lateral process on middle of the tectum, absence of apical spiculae, the median spiculae consisting of only one pair of the curved sclerites; and the reduced bursa-sclerites.
Distribution. Taiwan.
description: Published as part of Lee, Chi-Feng, 2009, A taxonomic revision of Monolepta pallidula species group in Taiwan (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae), pp. 15-27 in Zootaxa 2170 on pages 23-24, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.189193