Limbodessus paniai, Balke & Villastrigo & Hájek & Surbakti & Panjaitan & Hendrich, 2025

Balke, Michael, Villastrigo, Adrián, Hájek, Jiří, Surbakti, Suriani, Panjaitan, Rawati & Hendrich, Lars, 2025, A review of Limbodessus Guignot, 1939 from New Guinea, with description of eight new tropical-alpine species (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Bidessini), Alpine Entomology 9, pp. 5-28 : 5-28

publication ID

https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.9.147831

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:15F39A4A-E56E-41F1-860B-90B05ABF06E8

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15602656

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0291C5DD-BB37-5C16-9C34-80116D8B3B36

treatment provided by

Alpine Entomology by Pensoft

scientific name

Limbodessus paniai
status

sp. nov.

Limbodessus paniai sp. nov.

Figs 5 C View Figure 5 , 9 B View Figure 9 , 11 J View Figure 11 , 13 L View Figure 13 , 14 View Figure 14 , 15 C View Figure 15

Type locality.

Mats of floating grasses, Enarotali, Lake Paniai, 1,900 m [3°55'16S, 136°22'33E], Papua, Indonesia.

Type material.

Holotype, male. “ IR 25 - W. New Guinea, Enarotali [Bobairo], Danau Paniai , 1900 m, 29. vii. - 4. viii. 1991, Balke & Hendrich leg. ” [IR 91 # 25], “ Holotype Limbodessus paniai sp. nov. Balke et al. 2025 ” [red printed label] ( NHMW) .

Paratype: 1 female with the same label data as the holotype ( ZSM) . The paratype is provided with a red printed paratype label.

Measurements.

Holotype: TL = 2.1 mm; TL-H = 2.0 mm; MW = 1.0 mm. Paratype: TL = 2.05 mm; TL-H = 2.0 mm; MW = 1.0 mm.

Description.

Small, body oblong-oval, somewhat parallel-sided, with almost no discontinuity in lateral outline between pronotum and elytron. A faint cervical line visible; sutural line absent. Pronotal and elytral stria present and distinct, both straight; elytral stria short (Fig. 5 C View Figure 5 ).

Color. Head dark brown, clypeus paler, ferruginous. Pronotum yellow. Elytron darker yellowish. Body appendages yellow (Fig. 5 C View Figure 5 ). Prosternum, epipleura and ventrites posteriorly yellow. Mesoventrite dark ferruginous to blackish.

Sculpture. Head with sparse, coarse punctation; posterior of cervical line impunctate but with microreticulation. Pronotum with moderately dense punctation along anterior margin; otherwise faint and sparse, almost impunctate; punctures however rather shallow giving the pronotum an exceptionally smooth and shiny impression. Elytron with moderately dense and evenly distributed punctation; punctures rather shallow rendering elytron comparably smooth. Ventral side with few punctures only.

Structures. Metacoxal lines anteriorly diverge and do not reach posterior margin of metaventrite.

Male. Elytron shiny, without visible microreticulation between punctures. Antenna stout (Fig. 13 L View Figure 13 ). Median lobe as in Fig. 9 B View Figure 9 and parameres as in Fig. 11 J View Figure 11 .

Female. Elytron dull, with distinct microreticulation between punctures. Antenna stout but without conspicuous modifications.

Etymology.

Named after the type locality, Lake Paniai (= Wisselmeren). The name is a noun in the nominative standing in apposition.

Distribution.

Only known from the type locality (Fig. 14 View Figure 14 ).

Differential diagnosis.

The new species can be easily separated from most of the other New Guinean Limbodessus by its yellowish dorsal surface without any dark markings (Fig. 5 C View Figure 5 ). Limbodessus paniai sp. nov. is close to L. baliem (Fig. 5 A, B View Figure 5 ) but can be separated by its smaller size ( L. paniai sp. nov. = 2.0– 2.1 mm; L. baliem = 2.6–3.0 mm], the form of the median lobe (Fig. 9 B View Figure 9 ), and the form of the parameres (Figs 10 H View Figure 10 , 11 I, J View Figure 11 ).

Habitat.

Both specimens were collected in very shallow water, among sun exposed floating mats of grasses, at the edge of the large Paniai lake near the village Enarotali (Fig. 15 A – D View Figure 15 ). The species was associated with numerous Rhantus ekari Balke & Hendrich, 1992 , the most common diving beetle in that habitat ( Balke and Hendrich 1992).

NHMW

Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien

ZSM

Bavarian State Collection of Zoology

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Coleoptera

Family

Dytiscidae

Tribe

Bidessini

Genus

Limbodessus