Serica (Serica) zhamu Ahrens, Zhao, Pham & Liu 2024, new species
Creators: name: Ahrens, Dirk
name: Zhao, Ming-Zhi
name: Pham, Phu Van
name: Liu, Wan-Gang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Serica
Serica zhamu

description: Serica (Serica) zhamu Ahrens, Zhao, Pham & Liu, new species
Fig. 3A–F
Type material examined. Holotype ♂ [China] “ Zhamu, Xizang, 19.VI.1978, 2700m, leg. Li Fasheng / Asia Sericini 1327 spec.” (CAU). Paratypes: 1 ♂ [China] “ Yigong, Xizang, 16.VI.1978, 2300m, leg. Li Fasheng ” (CAU), 1 ♂ “ CHINA: TIBET, Nyingchi City, Bomi Co., Tongmai, 2738 m 29°51′14.66″N, 95°46′40.30″E 30.VII.2022 (at light) Chuan-Tao Qu leg.” (CZMZ), 1 ♂ “ CHINA: TIBET, Nyingchi City, Bomi Co., Zhamu Town, 2763 m 29.84114353°N, 95.77863899°E 2023.VII.9 (at light) Hao-Yi Liu leg.” (CZMZ).
Description of holotype. Length: 7.0 mm, length of elytra: 5.2 mm, width: 3.6 mm. Body oblong, red-brown, head darker, antenna yellow, legs yellowish brown, on elytra with indistinct, more or less large, slightly darker spots, dorsal surface dull; pronotum and elytra with sparse, moderately long, adpressed white setae, otherwise glabrous.
Labroclypeus distinctly wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins straight and moderately convergent anteriorly, anterior angles distinctly rounded, anterior margin distinctly and widely emarginate medially, anterior margin strongly reflexed; surface flat, shiny, finely and densely punctate, with a few long, erect setae behind anterior margin; frontoclypeal suture finely incised, slightly elevated and bent; smooth area anterior to eye moderately large and flat, about 1.3 times as wide as long; ocular canthus moderately long and slender (1/3.5 of ocular diameter), smooth, with one short terminal seta. Frons flat, with a concave impression on each side behind frontoclypeal suture, entirely dull; surface with coarse and moderately dense punctures, with a few long, erect setae beside eyes and behind frontoclypeal suture, partly punctures with minute setae. Eyes large, ratio diameter/interocular width: 0.71. Antenna with nine antennomeres; antennomeres three to seven transverse and short; club with three antennomeres, 1.2 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined and reflexed. Mentum elevated, anteriorly flattened. Labrum transverse, short, moderately produced, moderately emarginate medially.
Pronotum moderately wide, widest at base, lateral margins in basal half concave and subparallel, in anterior half moderately convex and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles weakly produced and blunt, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin medially with a complete, distinct marginal line, moderately produced medially; surface densely and finely punctate, midline impunctate, with a few fine, white setae on lateral disc, otherwise only with minute setae in punctures; anterior and lateral margins with long and moderately dense setae; hypomeron distinctly carinate at base. Scutellum slender and long, partly shiny, triangular, finely and densely punctate.
Elytra oblong, widest at apical third, striae weakly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals slightly convex, with fine, moderately dense punctures, dark spots completely smooth; intervals with sparse, fine, short, white setae; epipleural edge fine, ending at moderately curved external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose, apical border chitinous, without membranous rim of fine microtrichomes (magnification 100x).
Ventral surface dull, finely and not densely punctate, moderately densely setose, metacoxa glabrous, with a few long setae only laterally; abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, with a transverse row of coarse punctures, each bearing a short seta. Mesosternum between mesocoxae half as wide as the slender mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/metacoxa: 1/1.45. Pygidium moderately convex and dull, finely and densely punctate, smooth midline lacking, with sparse, moderately long setae.
Legs slender; femora with two longitudinal rows of setae, coarsely and not densely punctate between the rows, with robust setae on basal half; metafemur shiny, anterior margin acute, without a continuously serrated line behind anterior margin, ventral posterior margin serrated in apical half and not widened, dorsal posterior margin completely serrated, in basal half with a few long setae which are half as long as width of metafemur. Metatibia slender and long, widest at apex, ratio of width/length: 1/4.7; dorsal margin sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal group at anterior third, apical group at two thirds of metatibial length, basally with a few single, robust setae; lateral face longitudinally concave, indistinctly, sparsely and superficially punctate; ventral margin serrated, with two very widely separated short but robust setae; medial face with a shallow longitudinal groove medially, sparsely punctate and glabrous; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation distinctly but bluntly truncate. Tarsomeres ventrally with sparse, minute setae, dorsally impunctate and without wrinkles; metatarsomeres laterally weakly carinate, with a strongly serrated ridge ventrally, ventrally glabrous; first metatarsomere slightly shorter than following two tarsomeres combined and almost twice as long as dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, external margin smooth; anterior claws asymmetrical, basal tooth of inner claw small and lobiform.
Aedeagus: Fig. 3A–D. Habitus: Fig. 3E–F. Female unknown.
Diagnosis. Serica zhamu new species differs from S. basumtsoensis Ahrens, 2005 and S. tomiensis Ahrens & Fabrizi, 2009 by the laterally strongly excavated external margin of the right paramere, which is basally to the emargination bluntly angled, furthermore, the right paramere is narrower than in S. tomiensis.
Etymology. The name of this new species (noun in apposition) is derived from its type locality Zhamu (Xizang, China).
Variation. Length: 7.0– 7.2 mm, length of elytra: 5.2–5.4 mm, width: 3.6–4.2 mm.
description: Published as part of Ahrens, Dirk, Zhao, Ming-Zhi, Pham, Phu Van & Liu, Wan-Gang, 2024, Taxonomic updates on Pachyserica Brenske, 1898 and Serica MacLeay, 1819 reveal 38 new species and new challenges of Sericini systematics regarding DNA barcodes and genus-level diagnostic key characters (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Sericinae), pp. 1-89 in Zootaxa 5491 (1) on pages 11-12, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5491.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/13211849