Serica (Taiwanoserica) limbourgi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu 2022, new species
Creators: name: Ahrens, Dirk
name: Fabrizi, Silvia
name: Bai, Ming
name: Liu, Wangang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
Serica
Serica limbourgi

description: Serica (T.) limbourgi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species
Figure 16E–H, 25
Type material examined. Holotype: ♂ “ Coll. I.R.Sc.N.B. Vietnam: Pia Oac Mt. NR 22°36’N / 105°53’E 04-06- VIII-2010 / I.G. 31.668 Light Trap Leg. J. Coinstant & P. Limbourg / 1048 Sericini Asia spec.” (ISNB). Paratypes: 7 ♂♂, 7 ♀♀ “ Coll. I.R.Sc.N.B. Vietnam: Pia Oac Mt. NR 22°36’N / 105°53’E 04-06-VIII-2010 / I.G. 31.668 Light Trap Leg. J. Coinstant & P. Limbourg ” (ISNB, ZFMK), 1 ♂ “ Coll. I.R.Sc.N.B. Vietnam: Cuc Phong 11-18-VIII- 2010 I.G. 31.668 Leg. J. Coinstant & P. Limbourg ” (ISNB).
Description of the holotype. Length: 8.9 mm, length of elytra: 6.5 mm, width: 5.2 mm. Body oval, dark brown, iridescent and moderately shiny, partly with greenish toment or shine, ventral surface and legs reddish brown, elytra yellow brown with numerous dark spots, in punctures lighter, antenna yellow; dorsal surface almost glabrous except some short, pale setae on pronotum and elytra.
Labroclypeus subtrapezoidal, little wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins strongly convex and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles moderately rounded; anterior margin deeply emarginate medially; margins moderately reflexed; surface flat and moderately shiny, finely and densely punctate, partly punctures fusing to transverse wrinkles, with numerous erect setae; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, weakly bent medially; smooth area anterior to eye small and convex, 1.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and slender (1/4 of ocular diameter), impunctate, with a short terminal seta. Frons completely dull and flat, with fine and dense punctures, with numerous fine and short, erect setae. Eyes very small, ratio diameter/ interocular width: 0.48. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, 1.1 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined and straight. Mentum strongly elevated anteriorly, flattened anteriorly. Labrum strongly produced along middle, narrowly but deeply emarginate medially.
Pronotum narrow and subtrapezoidal, widest shortly before base, lateral margins evenly and weakly convex and convergent anteriorly; anterior angles distinctly produced and sharp; posterior angles strongly rounded; anterior margin straight, without marginal line; surface finely densely punctate, without smooth midline, with short or minute, fine, erect, pale setae; lateral margins sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate at base, weakly produced ventrally. Scutellum large, triangular, finely and densely punctate, with minute setae in punctures, on midline narrowly impunctate.
Elytra oval, widest at posterior third, striae finely impressed, finely and densely punctate; intervals flat, with fine, sparse punctures; with a few single, fine, short, erect setae on all intervals; epipleural edge fine, ending at moderately curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose (but setae in holotype abraded); apical margin narrowly membraneous, with a fine rime of minute microtrichomes (magnification 100x).
Ventral surface dull, finely and densely punctate, on metasternal disc densely setose, otherwise sparsely setose; metacoxa glabrous, except a few short lateral setae. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as the slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.48. Abdominal sternites with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a long seta, otherwise glabrous; penultimate sternite at posterior margin with a wide membraneous rim being a quarter as long as sternite. Pygidium strongly convex and moderately shiny, dark, in punctures yellow, finely and densely punctate, smooth midline wide, with moderately dense, long and short setae.
Legs slender, shiny, pro- and mesofemur dull; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate between the rows. Metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, without a continuously serrated line behind anterior edge; ventral posterior margin serrated and only weakly widened at apex, dorsal posterior margin completely serrated, in basal half with a few long setae which are half as long as metafemur width. Metatibia slender and long, widest shortly before apex, ratio of width/ length: 1/4.5, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group shortly behind the basal third, apical group at two thirds of metatibial length, basally with a few single, fine setae; external face sparsely and finely punctate, without wrinkles, glabrous; ventral margin serrated, with two widely separated robust setae; medial face finely sparsely punctate, glabrous; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation bluntly truncate. Tarsomeres ventrally with sparse, minute setae, dorsally sparsely finely punctate. Metatarsomeres ventrally glabrous, laterally and dorsally carinate, with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally; first metatarsomere little shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and little longer than dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, external margin smooth but bluntly extended at middle; anterior claws asymmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw widened and sharply pointed at apex.
Aedeagus: Fig. 16E–G. Habitus: Fig. 16H.
Diagnosis. Serica limbourgi Ahrens, Fabrizi & Liu, new species is in shape of aedeagus most similar to Serica sigipinensis Ahrens, 2009. Serica limbourgi differs by the bluntly widened ventral phallobase, and the strongly arched dorsal lobe of both parameres.
Etymology. The new species is named (substantive in singular genitive case) after one of its collectors, Poul Limbourg.
Variation. Length: 8.9–10.4 mm, length of elytra: 6.5–8.1 mm, width: 5.2–5.8 mm. Female: antennal club short, little shorter than remaining antennomeres combined; pygidium at apex strongly convex; eyes as large as in male.
description: Published as part of Ahrens, Dirk, Fabrizi, Silvia, Bai, Ming & Liu, Wangang, 2022, Taxonomic revision of Serica MacLeay, 1819 (sensu lato) from China and adjacent areas (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Sericini), with updates on Nipponoserica Nomura, 1972, pp. 1-83 in Zootaxa 5186 (1) on pages 63-64, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5186.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7073769