Carpophilus (Carpophilus) saharaensis Kirejtshuk & Kovalev 2018, sp. n.
Creators: name: Kirejtshuk, A. G.
name: Kovalev, A. V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Nitidulidae
Carpophilus
Carpophilus saharaensis

description: Carpophilus (Carpophilus) saharaensis sp. n.
(Figs 1–4, 6–9)
Material. Holotype, ♂ (MNHN) with labels: “Algérie, Teniet el Haad, June, 1892” [Algeria, Theniet el Had], “ Carpophilus bifenestratus ” (det. Grouvelle),“ Coll.A. Grouvelle ”. Paratypes, 16 specimens (11 – MNHN, 5 – ZIN) with labels: “ Algérie, Teniet el Haad, June, 1892”, “Algérie, Teniet el Haad” or “Algérie, Teniet el Had”, “ Carpophilus bifenestratus ” (det. Grouvelle), “ Coll. A. Grouvelle ”.
Description. Male (holotype). Body length 3.2, breadth 1.1, height 0.4 mm. Subflattened dorsally and moderately convex ventrally; pitchy brown to blackish upper surface and slightly lighter lower surface, with yellowish spots on elytra (usually asymmetric and somewhat displaced to suture at suturoapical angle) and with light brownish to reddish appendages; slightly shining; integument with recumbent and moderately conspicuous greyish hairs, 2–2.5 times longer than distance between their insertions.
Head, pronotal and elytral integument with distinct and regular punctures nearly twice greater than eye facets in diameter (at sides on pronotum and elytra) or somewhat smaller (on head and pronotal disk), interspaces between them greater than one puncture diameter at pronotal disk and smaller on other places, smoothly cellularly microreticulated. Uncovered tergites and hypopygidium with suboval and indistinct punctures, markedly smaller than those on other dorsal sclerites, interspaces between them about one puncture diameter, with dense and coarse microreticulation. Prosternal integument with less distinct punctures about twice as great as eye facets in diameter, interspaces between them markedly less than one puncture diameter and with rather smooth microreticulation. Integument of metaventrite with distinct and quite deep punctures, as coarse as those on prosternum, interspaces between them about 1–3 times as great as one puncture diameter and almost completely smooth; punctures on ventrites 1–4 becoming smaller, shallower and sparser distally, interspaces between them nearly smoothed on ventrite 1 and becoming more clearly microreticulated on ventrites 2–4.
Head about 0.7 time as long as distance between eyes. Antennae about 0.8 time as long as width of head; antennomere 2 (pedicel) slightly longer than antennomere 3 and more than 3 times as long as antennomere 4; their club suboval (about 1.2 times as long as wide), comprising about third of total antennal length and with subequal width of antennomeres 9–11. Pronotum evenly convex, with abrupt anterior and slightly bisinuate posterior edges, sides even to slightly undulate, arcuately narrowed from middle to rounded anterior angles and subparallel-sided in posterior half, its posterior angles widely rounded and scarcely projecting. Scutellum subpentagonal with slightly projecting and widely rounded apex. Elytra shorter than wide combined, flattened on disk, sides steeply sloping to lateral edges. Pygidium somewhat longer than penultimate tergite, with apical edge widely rounded. Antennal grooves distinctly outlined in both inner and outer edges and strongly convergent.Ultimate labial palpomere somewhat widened to apex and almost as wide as long. Mentum more than 3 times as wide as long. Distance between procoxae nearly twice smaller and that between metacoxae 1.5 times as great as that between mesocoxae. Prosternal process strongly carinate in narrowest place and strongly widened before apex, its apex about 1.7 times as wide as antennal club, posterior edge subtransverse in middle and widely rounded at sides. Mesoventrite without both trace of isolated flattened distal plate and median carina. Metaventrite subflattened andwith median suture (discrimen), deeply depressed at convex anterior edge between mesocoxae, its posterior edge between metacoxae feebly angularly excised. Postmesocoxal line almost smooth to very weakly undulate, subparallel to posterior edge of cavities and deviating only at inner edge of metepisterna. Ventrite 1 markedly longer than ventrite 4, hypopygidium slightly longer than ventrite 1 and without depressions at medioapical excision. Epipleura at base slightly narrower than antennal club.
Tibiae comparatively short and rather stout; pro- and mesotibiae somewhat wider, but metatibia somewhat narrower than antennal club, subtriangular, with nearly straight inner edge and slightly prominent outer subapical angle, outer edge of meso- and metatibiae with sparse and short stout spines. Femora with anterior and posterior edges gently curved, pro- and mesofemora about 1.5 times, and metafemur about 2.5 times as wide as corresponding tibiae. Protarsus about half as wide as protibiae, claws long and narrow.
Aedeagus comparatively small,length of tegmen 0.3 and width of ventral plate 0.1 mm, tegmen heavily sclerotized with one hyaline accessory process at lateral edges of tegmen; armature of inner sac of penis represented by unclear sclerotization at proximal end.
Female.Differs from male in slightly narrower protarsi, longer subtriangular and subflattened pygidium with subacute apex and much longer hypopygidium (nearly 1.5 times as long as ventrite 1). Ovipositor similar to that of C. (C.) bifenestratus; moderately long and slightly sclerotized, but its apex with long styli located apically.
Variations. Body length 1.9–3.2 mm, ratio of general length to width l.7–2.7. Some variation is observed in body coloration, puncturation and microsculpture, although yellowish spots on elytra and lightening of antennal flagella and legs in all cases are more or less expressed. Ultimate labial palpomere demonstrates a certain variability width of its apex.
Diagnosis. This new species stands far apart from other species of the hemipterus -group (Carpophilus (Carpophilus) bifenestratus,? C. (C.) bipustulatus, C. (C.) binotatus, C. (C.) bisignatus, C. (C.) delkeskampi, C. (C.) hemipterus, C. (C.) indicus, C. (C.) jelineki, C. (C.) ligatus, C. (C.) quadrisignatus, C. (C.) spinosus and C. (C.) tegmenalis) due to its comparatively slender and dorsally subflattened body, peculiar pattern of elytral spots, not raised distal plate of mesoventrite, as well as due to the male genital structure, particularly in the tegmen. Carpophilus (Carpophilus) saharaensis sp. n. belongs to the bifenestratus -subgroup consisting of narrower species with almost simple postmesocoxal line (see above) and it is distinct among the members in the absence of trace of distal plate on its mesoventrite, as on that of C. (C.) spinosus, however, the male aedeagi (particularly tegmina) of both lastly-mentioned species are rather different (Figs 6, 7, 10, 11). On the other hand, the hyaline processes on the lateral edges of tegmen are known, except the new species, only in one member of the subgenus Carpophilus s. str., only in C. (C.) indicus (hemipterus -subgroup), but the shape of the tegmina of this species and C. (C.) saharaensis sp. n. as well as the position and shape of their hyaline processes along the lateral edges of tegmina are rather different (Figs 6, 7, 12, 13). In addition to this genital difference C. (C.) indicus has also a rather raised distal plate on the mesoventrite (Fig. 5) and other characters mentioned for the hemipterus -subgroup (see above). Besides, the new species differs from other members of hemipterus -group in the comparatively shorter antennal flagella.
Carpophilus (Carpophilus) saharaensis sp. n. and C. (C.) spinosus have no remains of lateral and median ridges of the distal plate of the mesoventrite, while such plate is variable in more or less common species of the subgenus Carpophilus s. str., and in many specimens of C. (C.) bifenestratus it become rather reduced, particularly in smallest representatives (which were frequently determinated as “ Carpophilus bipustulatus ”).
Dobson [1993] described “ Carpophilus delkeskampi australiensis ” from Australia differing from C. (C.) delkeskampi and C. (C.) indicus, according to the original description, mostly in the castaneous body with the uniformly lighter elytra and the tegmen with “small angular terminal hyaline projection of the lateral lobes” [Dobson, 1993: 9]. It can be supposed that this form seems to be a separate species of the subgenus Carpophilus s. str. quite different from both (C. (C.) delkeskampi and C. (C.) indicus) in the mentioned characters, however, it could not be a member of the bifenestratus -subgroup.
description: Published as part of Kirejtshuk, A. G. & Kovalev, A. V., 2018, A new species of the genus Carpophilus (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Carpophilinae) from Algeria, and taxonomic notes, pp. 3-8 in Caucasian Entomological Bulletin (Suppl.) (Suppl.) 14 on pages 4-7, DOI: 10.23885/18143326201814S38, http://zenodo.org/record/8145584