Morphostenophanes curvitibialis Zhou, new species
Creators: name: Zhou, De-Yao
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Tenebrionidae
Morphostenophanes
Morphostenophanes curvitibialis

description: Morphostenophanes curvitibialis Zhou, new species ẉḆẎȐAEƤ
(Figs. 2O; 7 A–D; 16C, H, V; 17B, G; 18C, R–T; 19R; 20C, N)
Type materials. CHINA: Guangxi: ♂ (Holotype, SNUC), Mount Mao’er, 2000 m, 2012.vii.22, Wen-Xuan Bi. Paratypes (5♀♀): CHINA: Guangxi: 1♀ (SNUC), 1♀ (CZBS, a sample of muscle tissue was preserved in 99.7% ethanol at –18 °C in CZDY), Mount Mao’er, 2000 m, 2018.viii, Bi-Shen Zhan; 1♀ (CBWX), Mount Mao’er, 1577 m, 2019.vii.8, Y.-Q. Lu; 2♀♀ (CBWX), Guilin City, Lingui District, Huangsha Country, 1350 m, 2019.vi.4, Y.-Q. Lu.
Diagnosis. Medium-sized, slender, moderately convex, bronze and slightly greenish, with metallic luster. Elytra widest slightly behind middle, with densely and irregularly scattered round or oval segments of striae, each encircled area moderately convex. Male pro- and mesotibiae evenly curved, metatibiae straight.
Description. Male (Fig. 7A, C). Greenish, bearing bronze luster, antennae, mouth parts, and tarsi dark brown. Body elongate, length 18.1 mm, width 6.1 mm, moderately convex, noticeably constricted between pronotum and elytra.
Head (Fig. 16C, H) quadrate, densely scattered with large and shallow punctures; with outer margin deeply notched between genae and clypeus; clypeus transversely heptagonal, gently bent downwards in front, anterior margin rounded, nearly straight in middle, clypeal transverse impression vague, frontoclypeal suture deeply furrowed, widely U-shaped; genae strongly raised, depressed before eyes, roundly produced anterolaterally; frons broad, anterior part gradually sloping forwards, vertexal lateral impressions triangular, each furrowed at deepest point; eyes transversely reniform, strongly convex laterally; inner ocular sulci finely depressed along inner margins; tempora weakly convex, coarsely punctate. OI = 54.0. Antennae (Fig. 18C) slender, reaching basal fifth of elytra, with antennomeres weakly thickened to apices; relative lengths of antennomeres: 0.51: 0.26: 0.82: 0.82: 0.82: 0.89: 0.89: 0.85: 0.85: 0.85: 0.99. Mentum (Fig. 16H) quadrate, lateral margins nearly straight; medial surface sparsely and finely punctate, with several large pores with long setae, gradually rising anteriorly, depressed along both sides.
Pronotum (Fig. 17B) quadrate, PW/PL = 1.16, widest in anterior third, anterior margin emarginate, anterior marginal border strongly marked; lateral margins nearly straight, lateral marginal borders thin, visible in dorsal view along anterior half; posterior margin feebly rounded, emarginate, posterior marginal border marked; anterior angles rounded; posterior angles obtuse; disc strongly convex, with a pair of shallow transverse impressions near basal third, shagreened, densely scattered with markedly punctaures. Scutellum triangular, glossy.
Elytra oblong, widest slightly behind middle, EL/EW = 1.98; moderately convex, highest slightly before middle; with densely and irregularly scattered round or oval segments of encircled striae, each encircled area moderately convex; intervals sparsely and finely punctate.
Prosternum (Fig. 17G) shagreened, finely and sparsely punctate; prosternal process straight produced posteriorly; hypomeron rugulose, shagreened. Metasternum weakly wrinkled. Abdomen (Fig. 19R) depressed, surface smooth, somewhat wrinkled along anterior margin and sides of each sternite, densely and markedly punctate; sternites III and IV each feebly depressed in posterior middle, with central portion of each impressions weakly convex.
Legs slender. Protibiae (Fig. 18R) evenly curved, apical 3/5 of inner margins pubescent; mesotibiae (Fig. 18S) evenly curved, apical 3/5 of inner margins pubescent; metatibiae (Fig. 18T) straight, apical 3/5 of inner margins weakly pubescent, outer margins depressed in apical fifth.
Aedeagus (Fig. 20C) elongate, weakly curved in lateral view; parameres slender, 0.22 as long as total length, with flabellate apex. Sternite VIII (Fig. 20N) with apical lobes each produced posteriorly, superior margin bent to exterior margin, roundly bent to inferior margin.
Female (Fig. 7B, D). Stouter than male, length 20.9–25.2 mm. OI = 48.4–56.3, PW/PL = 1.15; elytra more convex and widened, EL/EW = 1.63, dorsum only weakly rounded, highest in middle, elytral impressions lightly pinkish; abdomen straight in lateral view; without impressions on sternites. Ovipositor (Fig. 2O) shortened, abruptly narrowing terminally from apical third.
Variability. The holotype male and one female have mesosternum with posterior margins of lateral portions roundly protruding (Fig. 16V), while the rest of female paratypes have straight one as in any other species (Fig. 16U).
Comparative notes. Morphostenophanes curvitibialis resembles M. luoxiaoshanus, but can be distinguished by its slightly more slender body, quadrate pronotal outline (barrel-shaped in the latter), evenly curved male pro- and mesotibiae (weakly curved at apical fourth of the latter), and pinkish luster of elytral encircled areas faintly presented, and more distinct in female (completely missing in the latter).
Comments. Type series of this species were all from the northern end of Yuechengling Mountains, which run through north Guangxi and south Hunan. Therefore, this species may be found in Hunan in the future.
Distribution. (Map 1) CHINA: Guangxi.
Etymology. The new specific epithet refers to the evenly curved pro- and mesotibiae of the male of the new species.
description: Published as part of Zhou, De-Yao, 2020, A revision of the genus Morphostenophanes Pic, 1925 (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Stenochiinae, Cnodalonini), pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 4769 (1) on pages 16-17, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4769.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3797078