Eulepida mbala Sehnal 2018, new species
Creators: name: Sehnal, Richard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
Eulepida
Eulepida mbala

description: Eulepida mbala Sehnal, new species
(Figs. 1A–C, 2A)
Type locality. Zambia, Northern Province, 15 km W of Mbala.
Type material. Holotype (male) and 2 paratypes (1 male and 1 female): “ ZAMBIA, Northern prov. | 15 km W Mbala - lake | Tanganyika, 15. XII. 2009 | Michal Bednařík leg. 1500 m [printed]”. Type depository: holotype in Národní muzeum Praha, Czech Republic, both paratypes in Richard Sehnal collection, Velenice, Czech Republic.
Description of holotype (male). Body length 22.3 mm, elongate, almost parallel-sided, gently convex. Dorsal and ventral surface weakly shiny, head blackish brown, pronotum and elytra chestnut brown, pronotum with darker disk, pronotal and elytral sides darker, macrosetation almost white (Fig. 1A–B). Dorsal surface of head covered with erect macrosetae, pronotum, scutellum and elytra covered with narrow, medium long, recumbent macrosetae; ventral surface of thorax and abdomen with narrow, pale yellow, short and long, recumbent macrosetae and with sparse, yellow, long, erect macrosetae. Head appendages and legs covered with pale yellow, medium long macrosetae.
Head with labrum transverse, deeply bilobed; lobes rounded, irregularly and weakly punctate; lobes covered with long, erect macrosetae. Head including clypeus densely wrinkled and coarsely punctate; each puncture with long, erect macroseta. Macrosetae 4x longer than puncture diameter. Clypeus sparsely, evenly, moderately punctate with macrosetae, as on head. Without frontoclypeal carina. Frons densely punctate with macrosetae, as on head. Occipital carina poorly indicated. Occiput sparsely, evenly, moderately punctate. Canthus narrow, short, glabrous. Eye large, distinctly extending beyond canthus. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; club with three antennomeres, almost straight, 1.7x longer than antennal shaft (antennomeres 1–7 combined). Antennomeres 1–7 with sparse long macrosetae; club with sparse short macrosetae. Terminal maxillary palpomere expanded near midlength, club-shaped, shorter than palpomeres 2 and 3 combined.
Pronotum transverse, widest at base, anterolateral wrinkles present. Lateral margins crenulate, with short macrosetose. Base bordered, medially gently arched toward elytra, with smooth margin paralleled by a row of fine punctures and sharp lateral angles. Disk with deep punctures separated by 1–2 puncture diameters and macrosetae 3x longer than puncture diameters. Punctation of remaining surface similar, macrosetae yellowish white, semirecumbent.
Scutellum large, almost equilaterally triangular, with sides and apex rounded; punctation irregular, each puncture bearing narrow, white, almost recumbent scale-like macroseta 3x longer than puncture diameter.
Elytra weakly convex, widest near rounded apex; apical angle of elytron approximately rectangular. Striae absent. Humeral umbone present, weakly swollen. Surface not microsculptured, matt, with shallow, coarse punctures arranged in evenly spaced rows separated by 2 puncture diameters, and interspersed with fine punctures separated by 1–3 puncture diameters. Each puncture bears a narrow, yellowish-white, weakly recumbent macroseta, laterally some macrosetae become scale-like. Epipleuron distinct, complete, wide, membranous, laterally glabrous.
Macropterous species, wings fully developed in both sexes.
Legs with femora narrow, shiny, irregularly punctate, macrosetaceous. Protibia narrow, distinctly bidentate; inner terminal spur at level of proximal tooth. Mesotibia and metatibia slightly expanded distally, with two macrosetiferous longitudinal carinae. Metatibial apical carina vague. Upper terminal spine of metatibia slightly longer than lower spine, apically pointed. Claws bifid, with ventrobasal teeth.
Ventrum covered by narrow, recumbent, yellowish-white macrosetae.
Pygidium slightly longer than wide, convex, completely bordered, apically broadly rounded and with a pronounced elongate cuticular invagination; evenly covered by deep macrosetose punctures, macrosetae 3x longer than puncture diameters.
Male genitalia (Figs. 2A). Parameres symmetrical, longer than phallobase, evenly curved in ventral aspect, rounded with double hump in lateral aspect, apically curved and expanded in dorsal aspect; macrosetae absent.
Variability in males. The only known male paratype is slightly smaller, 22.2 mm long. Colouration as in holotype.
Sexual dimorphism. Female differs from male in the following respects: body length 23.0 mm; antennal club shorter; border of clypeus evenly rounded (Fig. 1B); protibial teeth wider and longer; elytra widest behind midlength (Fig. 1B); pygidium simple, wider, shorter, concave (Fig. 1C); metatibia more strongly expanded distally; tarsomeres of all legs shorter.
Geographic distribution. Zambia, Northern Province.
Differential diagnosis. Eulepida mbala new species can be differentiated from all other species of the genus using the following diagnostic characters in males: protibia bidentate; antennal club distinctly longer than antennal shaft; pygidium narrow, longer than wide, with a pronounced apical invagination; scales on pronotum shorter and wider than on elytra; macrosetae on elytra narrow, with interspersed isolated scale-like macrosetae; aedeagus evenly curved in ventral aspect, rounded with double hump in lateral aspect, apically curved and expanded in dorsal aspect; body length <23 mm.
Etymology. Derived from the name of the type locality Mbala (Northern Province, Zambia); noun in apposition.
description: Published as part of Sehnal, Richard, 2018, Eulepida mbala, a new species from Zambia (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae), pp. 591-595 in Zootaxa 4399 (4) on pages 591-593, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4399.4.10, http://zenodo.org/record/1206812