Arabotroglops Tshernyshev 2022, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Tshernyshev, Sergei E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Melyridae
Arabotroglops

description: Arabotroglops gen. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 3B5C9DBD-BED3-48EA-B173-82456696552D
Type species
Arabotroglops longantennatus gen. et sp. nov., designated by monotypy in the present paper.
Diagnosis
Size small, 1.3 mm, with the body elongate, parallel-sided and twice narrowed, at the base of pronotum and at the middle of elytra (Fig. 25), slightly expanded posteriorly. Body brown, antennae, legs, commissure of adbominal ventrites, underside of head yellow, spots on elytra pale-yellow. Antennae filiform, long, extending over apices of elytra, 1 st segment sub-conic, 2 nd oval, 3 rd triangular, 4 th cylindrical, 5 th –10 th elongate, narrow with stretched outer edge at the apical fourth, apical antennomere the longest, oval, 1.2 × as long as 10 th, 6 th –10 th antennomeres of the same length, 5 th 1.2 × as long as 4 th, 4 th 1.1 × as long as 3 rd, and 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd are almost of equal length. Head small, flat, wider than pronotum, interocular area slightly impressed in the middle with U-shaped carina between antennae; eyes simple, not large, slightly protruding. Pronotum longitudinal, trapezoid, strongly sinuate at base, with evenly rounded angles, straight anteriorly and posteriorly, and with thin margination of sides; disc convex anteriorly and strongly depressed at the base, with posterior margin, elevate and narrow. Elytra subparallel, compressed near the middle, slightly expanded posteriorly, sparsely and finely punctured, with small, distinct and weakly protruding shoulders; apices evenly rounded, simple. Anterior tarsi 5-segmented, lacking comb above the 2 nd segment, but the 3 rd segment depressed at base, all femora and tibiae thin and straight, simple. Metathorax slightly swollen and weakly bituberculate, with longitudinal median groove, lacking appendage or tuft of hairs.
Pygidium undivided, wide and transverse, evenly rounded and weakly narrowed distally, lacking emargination in distal side; 8 th ultimate abdominal ventrite undivided, wide and strongly narrow, weakly rounded distally, with triangular emargination in middle; aedeagus slightly curved dorsally, widened in the middle, with elongate flat and straight lamella; two parallel groups of three black-brown curved and strong bristles are visible in the inner sac at both sides of the aedeagus. Tegmen elongate, with short parameres and protruding lobe between them.
Etymology
The new genus ‘ Arabotroglops ’, is composed of two words, ‘ Arabo ’ – from the name of ‘ terra typica ’ Arabian Peninsula, and ‘ Troglops ’ – name of the genus, nominative to the tribe Troglopini.
Comparison
A species of the genus comparable only with the Troglomorphus omanus Wittmer, 1996, but differing in its small size, extremely long antennae, longitudinal pronotum, narrowed and depressed at base.
Notes
This tiny species possesses extremely long antennae, longer than the whole body length, thin and of ‘Cantharidae-type’. Massive head with carinate clypeus transversely impressed above, strongly sinuate to the base pronotum and typical genitalia with double-side armed aedeagus and narrow transverse sternite allow this species to be attributed to the tribe Troglopini. Small size (ca 1.3 mm in length), characteristic shape of the body depressed at base of the pronotum and below scutellum as in Myrmecospectra Motschulsky, 1858 (see Tshernyshev & Kopetz 2018) differentiate this genus from all other members of the tribe.
The key below differentiates Arabotroglops gen. nov. from the other genera of the tribe Troglopini that occur in the Arabian Peninsula.
Distribution
The monotypic genus includes a species known from one locality in the United Arab Emirates, which is presumably endemic to the area.
List of species of the genus Arabotroglops gen. nov.
1. Arabotroglops longantennatus gen. et sp. nov. (UAE).
description: Published as part of Tshernyshev, Sergei E., 2022, Soft-winged flower beetles (Coleoptera: Malachiidae) of the United Arab Emirates, pp. 58-77 in European Journal of Taxonomy 817 on pages 70-72, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2022.817.1763, http://zenodo.org/record/6518289