Morphostenophanes crassus Zhou, new species
Creators: name: Zhou, De-Yao
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Tenebrionidae
Morphostenophanes
Morphostenophanes crassus

description: Morphostenophanes crassus Zhou, new species ṞẎȐAEƤ
(Figs. 42 A–D; 47A, F, K, P; 48A, J–L; 49A, E)
Type material. CHINA Yunnan: ♂ (Holotype, SNUC), Diqing Prefecture, Shangri-La City, Hutiaoxia, 27°12’31.82”N, 100°06’35.75”E, 2312 m, 2010.vii.2, Xiao-Bin Song.
Diagnosis. Small, stubby and convex species. Head and pronotum densely and coarsely punctate. Pronotum extremely wide, posterior angles vertical, markedly projecting laterally. Elytra with irregularly scattered short strial punctures, intervals convex, with sharp punctures. Inner margin of protibiae gently projected in middle, outer margin of protibiae each concave slightly behind apex.
Description. Male (Fig. 42 A–D). Uniformly reddish brown (originally with green metallic luster shown in Fig. 42D). Body stubby, length 14.4 mm, width 5.5 mm, strongly convex, noticeably constricted between pronotum and elytra.
Head (Fig. 47A, F) transversely subquadrate, densely and coarsely punctate; clypeus transversely hexagonal, gently bent downwards in front, anterior margin slightly emarginate, clypeal transverse impression short, marked; frontoclypeal suture grooved, widely U-shaped; genae gently raised, depressed before eyes, roundly produced anterolaterally; frons rather broad, gradually sloping forwards; eyes transversely reniform, moderately convex laterally; inner ocular sulci deeply grooved along inner margins, becoming shallower and broader posteriorly; tempora moderately convex, coarsely punctate. OI = 59.8. Antennae (Fig. 48A) slender, reaching basal fourth of elytra, with antennomeres only weakly thickened to apices; relative lengths of antennomeres: 0.49: 0.24: 0.66: 0.60: 0.65: 0.70: 0.70: 0.65: 0.63: 0.58: 0.75. Mentum (Fig. 47F) square, lateral margins straight, gradually rising anteriorly, depressed along both sides; surface smooth along midline, wrinkled and coarsely punctate on depressed area, with several large pores bearing long setae.
Pronotum (Fig. 47K) barrel-shaped, PW/PL = 1.3, widest slightly before middle; anterior margin straight, anterior marginal border obsecured, interrupted in middle; lateral margins roundly curved, lateral marginal borders thin; posterior margin gently rounded, posterior marginal border faintly presented; anterior angles rounded, slightly produced anteriorly; posterior angles vertical, slightly projecting laterally; disc moderately convex, presenting a thin longitudinal impression along midline, flank depressed on each side slightly behind the middle, coarsely punctate. Scutellum widely triangular, coarsely punctate.
Elytra elongate oval, widest near middle, EL/EW = 1.65; strongly convex, highest slightly before middle; with irregularly distributed short strial punctures; intervals moderately convex, weakly wrinkled and evenly scattered with sharp punctures.
Prosternum (Fig. 47P) densely rugulose, finely and sparsely punctate; prosternal process strongly declivous, apex pointed, strongly dilated in ventral view; hypomeron strongly rugulose, sparsely and finely punctate. Metasternum finely punctate, metaventral anterior process short, transversely wrinkled.Abdomen slightly depressed, surface coarsely punctate, sternites III–V wrinkled.
Legs slender. Protibiae (Fig. 48J) nearly straight, inner margins emarginate and densely pubescent along apical half, gently projecting in middle, outer margins of protibiae concave slightly behind apex; mesotibiae (Fig. 48K) strongly curved in apical third, apical half of inner margins pubescent; metatibiae (Fig. 48L) nearly straight, inner margins widely emarginate near apical third, pubescent.
Aedeagus (Fig. 49A) elongate, gently curved in lateral view; parameres slender, very weakly curved towards dorsally in basal half, dorsum weakly ridged along midline, 0.27 as long as total length, with broadly widened and flabellate apex with apical marginal carina. Apical lobes of Sternite VIII (Fig. 49E) rectangular in lateral view, with interior margins rounded, cornered at lowest point.
Female: Unknown.
Comparative notes. Morphostenophanes crassus is similar to M. jendeki jendeki. Both are small and stout, have wrinkled elytral disc with irregularly scattered short strial punctures, and strongly dilated apex of prosternal process in ventral view, but can be distinguished from M. jendeki jendeki by its wider pronotum and elytra, longer antenna, extremely widened pronotum with projecting posterior corners, male protibiae with inner margin bulged in middle; straight, wider and flatter metatibiae, and very short metaventral process.
Comments. M. crassus is described from a weakly sclerotized (teneral) specimen which has faded to reddish brown. Although the only photograph showing its original color is very faint, strong luster of pronotum and elytra can be seen. Therefore, the real color of M. crassus may be similar to that of M. jendeki jendeki, M. jendeki similis and M. tanikadoi.
Distribution. (Map 1) CHINA: Yunnan.
Etymology. The new species is named from the Latin epithet ‘crassus’ referring to its stubby and strongly convex habitus.
description: Published as part of Zhou, De-Yao, 2020, A revision of the genus Morphostenophanes Pic, 1925 (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Stenochiinae, Cnodalonini), pp. 1-81 in Zootaxa 4769 (1) on pages 63-66, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4769.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3797078