Endelus (Endelus) chikatunovi, Kalashian, 2020

Kalashian, Mark Yu., 2020, A new species of the jewel beetle genus Endelus Deyrolle (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Agrilinae: Aphanisticini) from Laos, Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 50 (2), pp. 87-92 : 88-91

Endelus (Endelus) chikatunovi n. sp.

( Fig. 1)

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:052D7AA3-CE74-47D5-9FC2-9A295283BC2B .

Etymology: The new species is dedicated to Prof. Vladimir I. Chikatunov of the Steinhardt MUseUm of NatUral History (Tel Aviv, Israel) on the occasion of his 80 th anniversary.

Diagnosis: Body ( Fig. 1) of medium size, moderately elongate, approximately 2.50× as long as wide, moderately convex, rather metallic dark­blUe, legs and antennae black with bluish tint. Dorsal surface and prosternum with fine but distinct microreticulate shagreenity, with silky shine, rest of thorax and abdominal ventrites with strongly obliterate shagreenity and shinier. Body length 4.9 mm, width 1.95 mm.

Description: Female. Head large, distinctly narrower than anterior margin of pronotum, slightly narrowed anteriad; eyes large, reniform with wide upper and narrow lower portion (in lateral view), clearly visible in dorsal view, moderately convex, not protruding beyond head contour; temples rather long, very finely projecting behind eyes. Oculofrontal margins obtuse, rounded. Clypeus continues surface of frons, strongly transversely triangular, with very shallow, nearly indistinct triangular emargination. Frons very slightly widened posteriad, slightly triangularly depressed with sides nearly straight (in dorsal view), with deep slit-like furrow behind clypeus and antennal cavities; this furrow upcurved laterally along lower half of lateral margins of eye (in frontal view), nearly reaching them; similar slit-like longitudinal furrow starting from the middle of former one, extending posteriad, reaching approximately level of Upper ⅓ of eyes (in frontal view), and slightly widened there to form a very narrow drop-shaped pit; these furrows together forming an anchor-shaped structure. Frons anteriorly with nearly indistinct singlular small punctures slightly deepened backwards and more distinct on vertex.Antennae 1.55× as long as vertical diameter of eye, serrate beginning from approximately equilaterally triangular 5 th antennomere; following antennomeres strongly transverse; antennomeres 1 and 2 longitudinal, big and swollen, 3 rd and 4 th antennomeres longitudinal, small, slightly widened distally.

PronotUm 1.88× as wide as long, widest slightly behind middle, narrowed anteriad almost rectilinearly and then shortly arcuately just behind anterior angles, and slightly concavely narrowed posteriad toward obtuse-angled basal angles. Sides finely irregularly serrate, with fine edging continuing along the entire bisinuate anterior margin, posterior margin bisinuate with wide median lobe slightly concavely truncate opposite scutellum. Pronotum rather widely and slightly irregularly flattened along margins. Disc slightly elevated along anterior margin and rather strongly along posterior one, and with two rather short, transverse bolster-shaped carinae both becoming lower along midline of pronotum, anterior carina is distinctly shorter and lower and with more obtuse edge than posterior one. Surface with irregular, rather sparse medium-sized flat punctures, on elevations smoothed and nearly indistinct.

Scutellum slightly transverse, triangular, moderately convex.

Elytra 1.9× as long as wide, distinctly wider than pronotUm, weakly and almost rectilinearly widened immediately behind humeri, then weakly and somewhat concavely widened approximately to level of posterior ⅖ reaching their maximUm width, then first slightly arcuately and then (in distal part) finely concavely narrowed toward rather widely and slightly separately, irregularly rounded apices. Margins of elytra finely serrate (slightly more distinctly at apex), with fine edging wedging oUt approximately at level of apical ⅓ of elytra. Sides of elytra behind hUmeri with narrow flat area wedging oUt approximately in apical ⅖. Disc convex, narrowly elevated along base, distinctly depressed medially of humeral tubercles, this depression continued towards scutellum and along suture toward elytral apex narrowing backward. Surface rather densely covered with medium-sized punctures and with irregular undulate transverse wrinkles, coarse anteriorly and strongly smoothened posteriorly but distinct nearly as far as elytral apex.

Prosternal process with several rather coarse, transversely oval punctures; hypomera with traces of small pinned punctures nearly invisible on microreticulated background; rest of ventral side of body with reticulation of fine undulate wrinkles bearing in places very fine pinned punctures; sculpture smoothened but distinct as far as apex of abdomen.

Anal ventrite widely, slightly irregularly rounded at apex.

Male. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis: By the anchor-shaped structure of the frontal furrows, the microreticulated dorsal surface and the structure of pronotum, the new species belongs to the recently established Endelus (Endelus) pyrrhosiae KUrosawa, 1985 species groUp (Kalashian, 2019). From two other species of the groUp, E. kabakovi Kalashian, 2019 ( Fig. 2) and E. pyrrhosiae KUrosawa, 1985 (with two sUbspecies E. p. pyrrhosiae ( Fig. 3) and E. p. aokii KUrosawa, 1985, known to me from its description), E. chikatunovi n. sp. can be easily distinguished by its coloration (in E. kabakovi, the body dorsally is copper-red and ventrally black with weak greenish tint, both subspecies of E. pyrrhosiae are dark bronze with a more or less distinct reddish or greenish tint, the frons is dark olive-green, the pronotum with the more distinct olive tint anteriorly). Additionally, E. kabakovi differs in having a larger body (5.2–6.1 mm), a deeper frontal depression, coarser and denser punctuation of the head and pronotum, and the elytral surface densely covered with small short stroke-shaped punctures. In E. pyrrhosiae , the pronotum is widest before its middle, its punctuation is intermediate between those in E. kabakovi and E. chikatunovi , the carinae of the pronotum are shorter and less distinct, and the elytra are covered with more delicate and sparser pinned punctures.

Holotype: ♀ LAOS north [LUang Namtha Prov.], 13­24.V.1997 / 15 km NW LoUang Namtha / N 21°07.5 E 101°21.0 / alt. 750± 100m / E. Jendek & O. ŠaUša leg. (p, PC) ( EJCB) // Holotype / Endelus (Endelus) / chikatunovi sp. n. / M. Kalashian det. 2020 (red, p, PC).

Distribution: Indochina: Laos (Luang Namtha Prov.).

Ecological information: A single specimen was collected from a fern in disturbed mountain rainforest ( Fig. 4).