Gynaecoserica bihtanensis Ahrens 2021, new species
Creators: name: Ahrens, Dirk
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Melolonthidae
Gynaecoserica
Gynaecoserica bihtanensis

description: Gynaecoserica bihtanensis Ahrens, new species   
Fig. 1A–D  
 Type material examined. Holotype ♂ “ Birmanie S.S.S. Monti Cariani Bihtan 5-1937 R. Perego / Asia Sericini sp. 38” (MSNM).   
 Description of the holotype, male. Length: 4.4 mm, length of elytra: 2.5 mm, width: 2.3 mm. Body oblong, dorsal surface dark greenish brown, antenna and legs yellowish, except shiny head dorsal surface dull, sparsely setose.   
Labroclypeus widest at base, subsemicircular, lateral margins strongly convex, anterior angles strongly convex, lateral border and ocular canthus producing a distinct blunt angle; margins weakly reflexed; anterior margin shallowly sinuate medially; surface weakly convex and shiny, finely and densely punctate, distance between punctures less than their diameter, with a few coarser punctures behind anterior margin each bearing a long, erect seta; frontoclypeal suture feebly incised and curved; smooth area in front of eye little wider than long; ocular canthus short and slender (length subequal 1/4 of ocular diameter), finely and densely punctate, with a short terminal seta. Frons shiny, with fine, dense punctures, glabrous except some erect setae beside eyes and behind frontoclypeal suture. Eyes moderately large, ratio of diameter/ interocular width: 0.69.Antenna yellow, with ten antennomeres; club dark, with six antennomeres, 1.1 times as long as the remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum weakly elevated and flattened anteriorly.  
Pronotum moderately wide, widest shortly before base, lateral margins weakly curved and convergent anteriorly, anterior angles moderately produced and sharp, posterior angles blunt; anterior margin convexly produced medially, with a distinct fine marginal line, basal margin without marginal line; anterior and lateral margins sparsely setose; surface with dense and fine punctures, with microscopic white setae in punctures, otherwise glabrous; hypomeron distinctly carinate at base but not ventrally produced. Scutellum narrow and short, triangular, with sparse, fine punctures, punctures with microscopic setae.  
Elytra moderately long, widest shortly at middle, striae weakly impressed, finely and densely punctate; intervals weakly convex, with fine and moderately dense punctures concentrated along striae, punctures with minute white adjacent setae, odd intervals with a few single robust, white, adjacent setae; interior apical angle of elytra with a strong seta; epipleural edge fine ending at strongly curved external apical angle of elytra; epipleura sparsely setose, apical border without short microtrichomes (at magnification 100x).  
Ventral surface dull, with fine and moderately dense punctures, sparsely setose; metacoxa only laterally with a few strong adjacent setae. Each abdominal sternite with indistinct transverse row of coarse punctures bearing short setae between fine, dense punctation. Mesosternum between mesocoxae as wide as mesofemur, with irregularly scattered very strong setae. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/ 1.55. Pygidium weakly convex, coarsely and densely punctate, without smooth midline, on apical half dull, with a few long setae beside apical margin.  
Legs moderately slender and long; femora dull, with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate; metafemur shiny, sharply margined anteriorly and without a submarginal serrate line, posterior margin weakly convex and glabrous, its external (ventral) part only weakly widened in apical half and not serrate, internally (dorsally) finely serrate, with short setae. Metatibia slender and moderately long, widest at middle of metatibial length, ratio width/ length: 1/ 3.0, dorsally sharply carinate, with two groups of spines, basal one at anterior third, apical one at three quarters of metatibial length, basally with a few single, fine setae; external face longitudinally convex, with sparse and coarse punctures, glabrous; ventral margin carinate and serrate, with three strong spines, of which the two distal are widely separated; internal face very finely and sparsely punctate; apex interiorly near tarsal articulation sharply and deeply truncate. Tarsomeres dorsally glabrous and very sparsely punctate, ventrally with sparse, short setae; metatarsomeres ventrally with a strongly serrate ridge, beside which is a fine longitudinal carina; first metatarsomere slightly shorter than two following tarsomeres combined and little less than twice as long as dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, bidentate, protarsal claws symmetrical.  
Aedeagus: Fig. 1A–C. Habitus: Fig. 1D.  
Female unknown.  
 Diagnosis. Gynaecoserica bihtanensis Ahrens, new species differs from all other Gynaecoserica species by having a double lateral process at the right apex of the phallobase, of which one is positioned more lateral and the other is originating at the base of the insertion of right paramere (looking like a separate paramere) which is as in all other Gynaecoserica species fused with the left paramere.   
 Etymology. The new species is named according to the type locality Bihtan (adjective in nominative singular).
description: Published as part of Ahrens, Dirk, 2021, New species of the genus Gynaecoserica Brenske, 1896 from Indochina (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Sericini), pp. 218-226 in Zootaxa 5005 (2) on pages 219-220, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5005.2.7, http://zenodo.org/record/5141509