Penthicus khorasanicus 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 khorasanicus

description: Penthicus khorasanicus sp. nov.
(Figs 59, 60)
Material. Holotype, ♂ (HMIM) and paratypes, 1♂, 2♀ specimens (HMIM): Iran, Khorasan Razavi Prov., county Khoshab, Seyedabad village., H= 1100–1200 m, 36°22ʹ52.2ʺN, 58°07ʹ46..9ʺE, 28.iii.2024 (leg. K. Seyedabadi). Paratypes: 1♂, 1♀ specimens (PCML): Iran, N Khorassan [in fact Khorasan Razavi Prov.], Binalud Mts., 36°20ʹN, 59°11ʹE, Abardeh 40 km W Mashadi, 30.iii.1989 (leg. J. Kaláb).
Comparative material. Penthicus bogatchevi Kaszab, 1970 (Figs 61, 62): 2♂♂, 1♀ (ZIN): Afghanistan, Herat, SW Karuch (= Karokh), 1360 m, 12.ix.1969 (leg. O. Kabakov).
Description. Male (Figs 59A, B). Body robust, widened, moderately convex, dull, black, dorsally glabrous.
Head widest across genae. Lateral margins of genae straightly converging to epistome in apical half and slightly rounded in basal half, genae slightly angular at widest portion. Widest level of gena located at anterior portion of eye. Head sparsely punctured by circular punctures on frons, rasp-like punctures around eyes, dense and coarse punctures on genae and epistoma. Eyes dorsally transverse (1.33 times as wide as long). Head ventrally with dense granulation in basal area to submentum and sparse puncturation around mouthparts laterally and eyes.
Prothorax. Pronotum strongly transverse (1.71–1.85 times as wide as long), trapezoid, widest very across base, 1.67 times as wide as head, slightly converging from widest portion to anterior margin, ratio width of pronotum at base, widest portion (very near base) and anterior angles: 18.1: 17.5: 12.5. Anterior margin widely evenly emarginated. Lateral edges very slightly rounded, more rounded at anterior portion. Base rounded at median portion and straight on sides. Anterior angles acute, tipe narrowly rounded, posterior angles obtuse, tip narrowlyrounded. Lateral edges coarsely margined at basal half, narrowly margined at apical half. Margin of anterior edge interrupted in middle, base finely margined. Disc of pronotum moderately convex, not flattened on sides (only with narrow groove along lateral margin), sparsely and finely punctured by circular punctures in median portion (interpuncture spaces near 3–5 times as long as puncture diameter), coarsely and densely punctured by slightly elongate punctures on lateral sides; without visible secondary micropuncturation. Lateral sides of prothoracic hypomera widely flattened; flattened portion strongly narrowing from base to anterior angle, finely and sparsely punctured. Other surface with dense small round granules and coarse large longitudinal wrinkles; each granule bears short suberect seta. Prosternum with dense rasp-like granulated puncturation and recumbent short setation. Prosternal process moderately convex, slightly protruded beyond procoxae.
Pterothorax. Elytra oval, with rounded lateral margins, widest at middle (1.33 times as long as wide), 1.77 times as wide as head, 1.09 times as wide and 1.92 times as long as pronotum. Basal margin of elytra in epipleural portion slightly oblique, humeral angles obtuse, tip pointed, lateral edge of elytra not emarginated near humeral angle. Elytral strial punctures large, circular (interpuncture spaces 1–3 times as long as puncture diameter), depressed, furrows absent; interstriae flate, very finely and sparsely punctured. Epipleuron in apical portion 1.92 times as wide as metepisternum. Ventral side of pterothorax sparsely pubescent with short recumbent setae. Mesoventrite coarsely rugose and granulated, metepisterna with sparse round granules, metaventrite with distinct round sparse granules on sides and sparse rasp-like puncturation at middle, granules with short recumbent setae.
Abdomen. Abdominal ventrites 1–3 sparsely and finely granulated on sides and punctured with fine and dense punctures medially; ventrites 4–5 with simple denser and coarser puncturation, ventrite 5 finely entirely margined apically. Setation of abdomen shorter than on pterothorax ventrally. Genitalia (Figs 60A–C). Inner sternite VIII narrowly widely triangularly emarginated, with widely rounded lateral angulations. Spiculum gastrale with wide S-shaped strongly curved rods and strongly elongate-oval blades. Parameres moderately wide, strongly S-shaped. Basal piece 1.58 times as long as parameres.
Legs. Legs short, pro- and mesofemora slightly extending beyond elytral margin, mesofemora longer, moderately extending beyond elytral margin. Apical width of protibiae s, almost the same profemora in widest portion. Lateral margin of protibiae simple, not obliquely truncated near apex. Protarsomeres moderately short, combined length of 1–3 tarsomeres subequal to apical width of protibia.
Female (Fig. 59C). Lateral margins of pronotum widely flattened at basal portion, interstria flat or slightly convex on sides. Femora shorter, profemora not extending beyond margion of pronotum, mesofemora poorly visible dorsally. Tarsi slightly shorter than in male. Ovipositor (Figs 60D, E). Valvifer strongly widened from base to very wide and rounded apical margin, baculi distinct, bent at apical portion along apical margin; coxite lobes 4 wide, moderately widely rounded at apex, sparsely covered with short setae, gonostyli, narrow, cylindrical, with one long seta at apex. Baculi of paraproct narrow, S-shaped, narrowed from anterior to posterior portions.
Body length (both sexes) 10–11.7 mm, width 4.8–5.3 mm.
Etymology. The name of this new species refers to Khorasan historical region in Iran.
Comparative diagnosis. The new species belongs to the remotus species-group and it is very similar to P. bogatchevi (CS—comparared species) from Afghanistan (type locality: Herat Prov., Karokh), which has a similar body shape, the slightly elongate puncturation on sides of the pronotum, the very sparse and fine puncturation of elytral interstriae and the entirely finely margined abdominal ventrite 5. Both species have the similar shape of parameres and the spiculum gastrale. The new species externally differs by the straight lateral margins of genae from the widest portion to the epistome (Fig. 59D) (vs slightly rounded in CS (Fig. 61B)); shape of the pronotum with slightly acute anterior angles (Fig. 59E) (vs obtuse in CS (Fig. 61C)) and not sinuous lateral margins of elytra near humeral angles (Figs 59A, C) (vs shortly sinuous in CS (Fig. 61A, B)). Ovipositors in both species strongly differ. Penthicus khorasanicus sp. nov. has the long narrow cylindrical gonostyli and the short (Fig. 60E), strongly widened (from outer to inner margin) valvifer with the widely rounded apical margin (Fig. 60D), while the gonostyli in P. bogatchevi are very short (as granules) (Fig. 62D), and the valvifer elongate, widely lanceolate, with the narrowly rounded apical margin (Fig. 62C).
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 76-78, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5573.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14745717