Xenoceraspis kurseongana
Creators: name: Bezděk, Aleš
name: Lu, Yuanyuan
name: Král, David
name: Bai, Ming
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Xenoceraspis
Xenoceraspis kurseongana

description: Xenoceraspis kurseongana (Moser, 1917)
(Figures 5–9, 15, 18, 23, 25, 27)
Dichelomorpha kurseongana Moser, 1917, p. 95 (primary description).
Xenoceraspis kurseongana: Sabatinelli 1993, p. 594 (catalogue); Schoolmeesters 2024 (online catalogue).
Xenoceraspis kurseonganus [incorrect subsequent spelling]: Arrow 1941, p. 4 (new generic placement); Bezděk 2006, p. 191 (catalogue); Krajčík 2012, p. 263 (catalogue); Bezděk 2016, p. 212 (catalogue).
Xenoceraspis dispar Arrow, 1920, p. 454 (primary description); Arrow 1941, p. 4 (junior subjective synonym of Dichelomorpha kurseongana); Zhang 1988, p. 246 (comparison with Xenoceraspis longimacularia); Sabatinelli 1993, p. 594 (catalogue); Bezděk 2006, p. 191 (catalogue); Krajčík 2012, p. 263 (catalogue); Bezděk 2016, p. 212 (catalogue).
Type locality
Dichelomorpha kurseongana: ‘Kurseong’; Xenoceraspis dispar: ‘ Sikkim: Gopaldhara, Rungbong Valley’.
Type material examined
Dichelomorpha kurseongana: ST, 1 ♂ with genitalia missing, labelled: Himalaya | Kurseong [hw] || Dichelomorpha | kurseongana | Typ ♂ Mos[er]. [hw]; ST, 1 ♀: Himalaya | Kurseong [hw] || Dichelomorpha | kurseongana | Typ ♀ Mos[er]. [hw]; ST, 2 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀: Himalaya | Kurseong [hw] (Figures 5, 6); ST, 1 ♂: Jndia [p] | Kurseong [hw] || Dichelomorpha | kurseongana | Moser | fide K. Katovich 2002 [p, red label]; ST, 1 ♀: Himalaya | Kurseong [hw] || Dichelomorpha | kurseongana | Moser | fide K. Katovich 2002 [p, red label]. All syntypes are deposited in MFNB.
Xenoceraspis dispar: ST, 1 ♂, labelled: Type H.T. [p, round label, red margin] || ♂ [p] || Sikkim | Gopaldhara | Rungbong Vall. | H. Stevens [p] || Xenoceraspis | dispar | type Arrow [hw]; ST (Figures 7, 8), 1 ♂: Sikkim | Gopaldhara | Rungbong Vall. | H. Stevens [p] || Xenoceraspis | dispar | Arrow | fide K. Katovich 02 [red label]; ST, 1♀: ♀ [p] || Sikkim | Gopaldhara | H. Stevens | 1919–162 [p]; ST, 1 ♀: ♀ [p] || Sikkim | Gopaldhara | Rungbong Vall. | H. Stevens [p]. All syntypes are deposited in BMNH.
Additional material examined
India (Sikkim): 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (MHNG), Lachen-Lachung; 3 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ (BMNH), Singhik, 23. iv.1924, Maj. R.W.G. Hingston [lgt.]; 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (BMNH), Tsuntang, 24.iv. 1924, Maj. R.W.G. Hingston [lgt.]; 1 ♀ (MNCP), Gangtok, 1.–4.v.1984, dr. A. Hamet lgt.; India (West Bengal): 2 ♀♀ (MHNG), Kurseong, 1894, R.P. Bretaudeau [lgt.]; 1 ♂ (IECA), Kurseong, 1898, R.P. Decoly [lgt.]; 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀ (ISNB), 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (IECA, Figure 9), Kurseong, 1904, Verschraeghen [lgt.]; 1 ♀ (MHNG), Maria Basti, 1900; 1 ♂ (IECA), 1 ♀ (MHNG), Pedong, A. Desgodins [lgt.]; India (Tamil Nadu): 1 ♂ (BMNH), Madura district, Kodaikanal, Palni Hills, vi.1915, L.V. Newton [lgt.]; India (no precise locality): 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀ (ISNB).
Redescription
Males. Body length 9.1–10.0 mm (Figures 5, 7). Body elongate, moderately convex, dorsal surface brown or black, elytra brown, brown with longitudinal black stripe or completely black; ventral surface brown to blackish brown; femora always bicoloured, brown with blackish apex; head appendages brown, shiny, setation black and pale. Head covered with short, stout, semierect setae; surface of pronotum with short, recumbent, pale setae mixed with few extremely long, erect black setae and with longitudinal stripe of recumbent pale, scale-like setae in the middle. Elytra irregularly covered with semierect, pale setae and several patches of pale, scale-like setae, lateral parts of elytra with several very long, stout, erect setae. Legs and ventral surface with long, pale, resumbent setae, partially mixed with sparse, short and stout setation.
Head including clypeus densely and coarsely punctate with short, semierect setae. Clypeus transverse, anterior margin distinctly upturned with rounded angles. Frontoclypeal and occipital carinae absent. Eye canthus broad, short. Eyes rather small, only slightly extended beyond canthus laterally. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club trimerous, distinctly shorter than antennal shaft. Antennomeres 1–7 with few isolated setae, club sparsely covered with moderately long, erect setae. Labrum transverse, lobes rounded, with coarse irregularly spaced punctures bearing long erect setae. Maxillary palpus tetramerous, terminal palpomere narrow, only slightly expanded laterally, nearly as long as palpomeres 1–3 combined. Labial palpus trimerous, very short.
Pronotum distinctly longer than wide, convex, widest about at middle; base broader than anterior margin. Basal margin with two angular projections and rounded lobe between them. Surface of pronotum very densely and coarsely punctate with exception of narrow transverse mostly impunctate area in front of the scutellum. Surface covered by dense, short, semirecumbent setae mixed with few isolated long, erect setae and with longitudinal stripe of scale-like setae at middle. Lateral margins slightly crenulate, with long setae.
Scutellum broad, basally with two projections fitting into notches of pronotum. Surface punctate and covered by scale-like setae, with the exception of impunctate stripe at middle.
Elytra convex, distincly dilated laterally just in front of metacoxal plate, sutural angle obtuse-angulate. Striae absent, humeral bone distinct, sparsely punctate. Surface of elytra shiny, covered with shallow, irregularly spaced punctures and moderately dense, semirecumbent short setae mixed with several remarkably long, stout, erect setae and with several patches of scale-like setae. Epipleura distinct, complete, narrow, with row of short erect setae.
Macropterous. Legs with femora shiny, irregularly punctate, setaceous; metafemora distinctly enlarged with row of stout short, erect setae on posterior margin; metacoxal plate remarkably enlarged. Protibiae narrow, distinctly bidentate; terminal spur absent. Mesotibiae slightly expanded apically, with no trace of transversal carina. Mesotibial apical spurs short, subequal in length, flattened, acute apically. Metatibiae modified, moderately enlarged apically (Figure 18), with no trace of transversal carina, ventrally with shallow, depressed rounded area covered with short, erect setae. Terminal spurs of metatibiae absent. Protarsomeres moderately broad; protarsomeres 2–4 about as long as wide, with setaceous pads ventrally; protarsomere 5 elongated, nearly as long as protarsomeres 2–4 combined, with two rows of short, erect setae ventrally and two conspicuous stout, erect setae ventrobasally. Mesotarsomeres 1–4 distinctly modified, strongly contracted, saucer-shaped, with setaceous pads ventrally, mesotarsomere 5 elongated, stout. Metatarsomeres unmodified, narrow, elongated. Tarsal claws long, stout, symmetrical, equal in length; protarsal claws cleft apically.
Ventral side of thorax and abdominal ventrites 3–7 covered with moderately long, erect setae. Pygidium large, convex, irregularly coarsely punctate with short, semirecumbent setae mixed with few scale-like setae. Lateral margins of pygidium distinctly bordered.
Male genitalia. Parameres symmetrical, covered with moderately long, sparse, erect setae (Figure 15).
Females (Figure 9) differs from males in the following characters: body length: 8.9–10.2 mm, antennal club slightly shorter, pronotum covered with dense, moderately long, erect setae, metafemora and metatibiae unmodified, protarsomeres 2–4 longer than wide, mesotarsomeres 1–4 much less contracted, about as long as wide.
Differential diagnosis
Xenoceraspis kurseongana is a very similar species to X. longimacularia. The males of both species can be recognised by the shape of the apex of the metatibiae, which is only moderately enlarged in X. kurseongana (Figure 18), but considerably enlarged and clearly beak-like in X. longimacularia (Figure 19). The females of X. kurseongana can hardly be distinguished from those of X. longimacularia. The useful character seems to be the shape of the lateral part of the elytra (compare Figures 23 and 24). See also the key for identification below.
Distribution
India: Sikkim and Darjeeling district of West Bengal (Moser 1917; Arrow 1920; this paper) (Figure 27). Male from ‘Kodaikanal’ in the southern Indian state Tamil Nadu is evidently mislabelled.
Remarks
Xenoceraspis kurseongana is a remarkable species with a narrow geographical range. It was described by Moser in 1917 on the basis of specimens from ‘Kurseong’ in the Darjeeling district. Arrow (1920) was not aware of this description and inadvertently described the same species under the name X. dispar based on specimens from the nearby locality of ‘Gopaldhara, Rungbong Valley’, which is about 20 km northwest of Kurseong. Later, Arrow (1941) corrected this error and synonymised X. dispar with D. kurseongana by comparing the original descriptions. The examination of all syntype specimens of both species completely confirmed Arrow’s opinion.
description: Published as part of Bezděk, Aleš, Lu, Yuanyuan, Král, David & Bai, Ming, 2025, Review of Diphycerini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae). Part I - the genus Xenoceraspis Arrow, 1920, pp. 57-75 in Journal of Natural History 59 (1 - 4) on pages 63-66, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2024.2442795, http://zenodo.org/record/14765099