Therates pseudovitalisi subsp. tibetana Matalin et Wiesner 2023, ssp. n.
Creators: name: Matalin, Andrey V.
name: Wiesner, Jürgen
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Cicindelidae
Therates
Therates pseudovitalisi
Therates pseudovitalisi tibetana matalin et wiesner

description: Therates pseudovitalisi tibetana Matalin et Wiesner, ssp. n.
Figs 11, 38, 39, 60, 61, 94, 95, 135.
Therates fruhstorferi vitalisi W. Horn, 1913 — Sawada &Wiesner 2006: 463; Wu 2011: 31.
Type material. HOLOTYPE, 1♂— China, Tibet, Cha Yu [= Zayü] County, Xia-Cha-Yu, 1900–2600 m, 1– 28.7.2004 (JW); PARATYPE, 1♀ —same labeled as the holotype (JW).
Diagnosis. This new subspecies is best distinguished from the nominotypical form by the shape of antennomeres 9–11 (Figs 38, 39 vs. Figs 36, 37); by the proportions of hind tibiae and tarsi—mean HTbL/HTaL = 1.25 vs. HTbL/ HTaL = 1.32; by virtually transverse, clearly dilated in lateral portion central dot (Figs 11, 94, 95 vs. Figs 9, 10, 90–93) and by shorter elytra—mean EL/AL = 2.48 vs. mean EL/AL = 2.61.
Description. TL = 10.2 mm in male, 11.6 mm in female.
Head shining black-blue with light violet reflection; orbital plates slightly striated in posterior third; frons semi-circular (see above), slightly downward anteriorly (see at the side), smooth, frontal sulci deep and indistinctly convergent in anterior 2/3, shallow and sharply divergent in posterior third; occiput flat or slightly concave in anterior margin. Mandibles in male brown underside, pale-yellow topside with brown teeth and apical molar; in female dark brown except yellow-brown basal half of topside. Two basal labial palpomeres light brown, palpomere 3 pale-yellow with brown apex, apical palpomere dark brown; palpomeres 1 and 2 of maxillary palpi brown, palpomeres 3 and 4 brown-black. Antennae barely extend shoulders, antennomeres 9–11 in males distinctly dilated and slightly club-shaped, antennomeres 9 and 10 with protruding downward anterior lower margins, antennomere 11 with sharply cut straight anterior margin (Fig. 39); antennomeres 9 and 10 in female only slightly protruding downward, antennomere 11 oval with protruding apex (Fig. 38). Labrum as long as width (LL = LW— 1.2 mm in male; 1.5 mm in female), in male black-brown with medium-sized yellow-brown apical spot clearly separated from central apical teeth (Fig. 60), in female with small barely visible brown spot in anterior third (Fig. 61).
Pronotum shining black-blue; indistinctly transverse, PW/PL = 1.05–1.06 (mean = 1.05, n = 2), apical lobe indistinctly wider in central portion; thorax shining blue with light golden reflection.
Fore femora yellow-brown with blue-tinged posterior side; middle femora in male black-brown with yellowbrown base and light blue-tinged anterior margin, in female entirely brown with blue tinge; hind femora pale-yellow in basal third and black with blue tinge in apical 2/3; fore and middle tibiae in male light brown in basal third and dark-brown blue-tinged in apical third; hind tibia entirely black with violet reflection; in female all tibiae black with blue lustre; tarsi black with indistinct blue tinge; HTbL/HTaL = 1.24–1.25 (mean = 1.25, n = 2).
Elytra shining blue with light purple-violet reflection; indistinctly divergent toward apex, EL/EW = 1.95–1.97 (mean = 1.96, n = 2); punctuation deep and regular between base of humeral hump and central dot, shallower and sparse in the middle and practically absent in apical quarter; scutellum black with blue tinge; apical margin clearly cut. Elytral pattern consists of pale-yellow very small basal portion of humeral lunule (see in front) and elongate practically transverse central dot clearly dilated in lateral portion; basal dot virtually invisible in male, entirely absent in female (Figs 11, 94, 95).
Aedeagus gradually sinuate with elongate rounded apex lacking lateral carinae (Fig. 135); AL = 2.6 mm, EL/AL = 2.48.
Etymology. This new species is named after the type area—Chinese Tibet Autonomous Region.
Distribution. CHINA: Tibet Autonomous Region (Cha Yu [= Zayü] County) (Fig. 184).
description: Published as part of Matalin, Andrey V. & Wiesner, Jürgen, 2023, Revision of the Therates fruhstorferi complex (Coleoptera, Cicindelidae), pp. 401-433 in Zootaxa 5256 (5) on pages 408-409, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5256.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7758872