Amiserica gulinqin 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 gulinqin

description: Amiserica gulinqin Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species
Figures 11I–L, 19
Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ China, Yunnan: Hongue Gulinqin, 520m, LFF, 22°43’30.7’’N, 103°59’56.9’’E, 11.VI.2018 primary forest leg. A. Weigel / 1085 Sericini Asia spec.” (ZFMK). Paratypes: 3 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀ “ China, Yunnan: Hongue Gulinqin, 520m, LFF, 22°43’30.7’’N, 103°59’56.9’’E, 11.VI.2018 primary forest leg. A. Weigel / 1085 Sericini Asia spec.” (NME, ZFMK).
Description of the holotype. Length: 5.6 mm, length of elytra: 3.9 mm, width: 3.2 mm. Body oblong, yellow, frons blackish, surface shiny, antenna yellow, dorsal surface glabrous.
Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, widest at base, lateral margins strongly convex and convergent to moderately rounded anterior angles, lateral border and ocular canthus producing a distinct angle; anterior margin weakly emarginate medially, margins moderately reflexed; surface convex and shiny, finely and irregularly, moderately densely punctate, with a few long erect setae in anterior part; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, angled medially; smooth area anterior to eye three times as wide as long. Ocular canthus short and wide, finely and sparsely punctate, with a short terminal seta, equal to 1/3 of ocular diameter. Frons finely and irregularly densely punctate, with a few long setae beside eyes. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.7. Antenna with nine antennomeres, club with three antennomeres, straight, as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and flattened anteriorly.
Pronotum widest at base, lateral margins in basal half weakly convex and nearly subparallel, in anterior part moderately curved and convergent to distinctly produced and sharp anterior angles, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin distinctly convex, marginal line fine and complete; basal margin without marginal line; surface with partly dense and fine punctures, glabrous, only on side punctures bearing each a minute seta; anterior and lateral borders sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate, basal margin of hypomeron not produced ventrally. Scutellum triangular, apex sharp, with fine and dense punctures, glabrous.
Elytra oblong, widest at middle, striae distinctly impressed, with fine and dense punctures; intervals moderately convex, with fine and moderately dense punctures concentrated along striae, glabrous, only minute setae in punctures; epipleural edge moderately strong, ending at strongly rounded external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border narrowly membraneous, with a rim of short microtrichomes.
Ventral surface shiny, with coarse and dense punctures, glabrous except a minute seta in punctures. Metacoxa only laterally 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: 1/1.75. Pygidium moderately convex and shiny, with coarse, dense punctures and a few fine, short setae on apical margin.
Legs moderately slender; femora finely densely and coarsely punctate and glabrous, with 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, smooth, not serrate, dorsal posterior margin also smooth. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest shortly before apex, ratio width/length: 1/3.1, moderately carinate dorsally, with only one group of spines at 5/6 of metatibial length, basally with a few single spines in punctures; beside dorsal margin with a continuously serrated line until 3/4 of metatibial length, convergent with dorsal margin, between serrated line and dorsal margin finely punctate and with long setae; lateral face longitudinally convex, with sparse and fine punctures bearing each a minute seta; ventral margin finely serrated, with three fine and long, robust equidistant setae; medial face sparsely finely punctate, punctures with minute setae; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation shallowly truncate. Tarsomeres dorsally sparsely to densely punctate, ventrally with short, sparse setae. Metatarsomeres ventrally with a strongly serrated ridge and sparsely setose, laterally not carinate; first metatarsomere distinctly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and little longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, protarsal claws symmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw simply but sharply truncate at apex.
Aedeagus: Fig. 11I–K. Habitus: Fig. 11L.
Variation. Length: 5.2–5.9 mm, length of elytra: 3.7–4.1 mm, width: 3.1–3.4 mm. Female: Eyes almost as large as in male (ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.68); antennal club little shorter than remaining antennomeres combined; pygidium strongly convex medially.
Diagnosis. Amiserica gulinqin Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species differs from the other Amiserica species with an antenna composed of nine antennomeres by the stouter body shape, the shiny dorsal surface, the serrated anterior margin of metafemur, the asymmetric parameres, and the lacking dorsomedian apical process of phallobase.
Etymology. The new species is named after one its type locality, Gulinqin (noun in apposition).
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 46-47, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5050.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5560512