Neatus turcicus, Soldati & Leo & Jansson & Avci & Coşkun & Kayiş, 2025

Soldati, Fabien, Leo, Piero, Jansson, Nicklas, Avci, Mustafa, Coşkun, Mustafa & Kayiş, Tamer, 2025, A new species of the genus Neatus J. L. Leconte, 1862 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Tenebrionini) from Türkiye, with new country records and a key to holarctic species, Zootaxa 5659 (2), pp. 179-190 : 181-185

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5659.2.2
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8B4A6DB6-340E-43AB-B3CF-651A7895A360
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15823077
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0388D123-0B70-9B70-0D8A-FB7FFE4DFA67
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Neatus turcicus
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Neatus turcicus sp. nov. F. Soldati & P. Leo

( Figs 5 View FIGURES 1–6 , 11, 14, 16–17 View FIGURES 7–17 , 24, 27–28 View FIGURES 18–28 )

Body length from clypeus top to elytral apex: 14.4–15.8 mm; short and convex; entirely black, with little shine, femora and tibiae brown to reddish-brown.

Head. Strongly and densely punctate, punctation less dense on clypeus, the latter slightly indented; genae subparallel in front of eyes, hiding insertion of antennae ( Fig. 16 View FIGURES 7–17 ); temples short and strongly narrowed behind eyes; antennae stout, gradually enlarged apicad; 1 st antennomere globose, a little longer than wide; 2 nd small, not longer than wide, almost quadratic; 3 rd by far the most elongated, about 1.5 times longer than wide; 4 th –6 th scarcely longer than wide, 7 th and 8 th scarcely transverse, 9 th and 10 th very transverse, 11 th and largest antennomere, sub orbicular, not or scarcely longer than wide; mentum sub cordiform, with strong but spaced punctation.

Pronotum. Very transverse, with evenly rounded sides, fairly thick lateral margin, prominent and acute anterior angles, anterior margin only slightly indented, almost straight in the middle; anterior margin not rimmed along most of its length, edge visible only at anterior angles; basal margin thin and complete; base of pronotum bisinuate in front of 3 rd –5 th elytral interstriae; punctation of pronotum strong, tight and double-sized, with very large punctures mixed with distinctly smaller ones, present mainly on sides but also numerous on disc ( Fig. 11 View FIGURES 7–17 ); prohypomera fossulate punctate, punctation tending to merge and form longitudinal wrinkles; anterior and posterior edges of prothorax provided with a dense fringe of long yellow bristles.

Elytra. Subparallel on their anterior half, then slightly widened posteriorly, humeral angles marked but obtuse, lateral margin visible from above along its entire length, clearly widened posteriorly where it forms a gutter; elytral striae well marked, consisting of series of large, tightly packed punctures at least 5 times larger than those of interstriae, striae complete and clearly visible up to the apex with 3 rd and 6 th, as well as 4 th and 5 th striae connected to each other well before apex; interstriae not very convex, but sufficiently so to reveal the furrowed striae, with very fine, tight punctation, always clearly visible, on a micro reticulate background; basal striole, near scutellum, not very visible and partially erased, consisting of 5–10 large punctures similar to those of striae; epipleura strongly punctate and broad to apex; scutellum quite large, triangular, with strong, dense punctation.

Tibiae. Male protibiae barely sinuate at inner margin with small granules on distal half ( Fig. 14 View FIGURES 7–17 ); female protibiae shorter, hardly sinuate at inner margin but smooth; male mesotibiae slightly arcuate and with granules at inner margin; similar in female but smooth at inner margin; male metatibiae with granules on distal inner half, smooth in female.

Ventrites. First three ventrites densely punctate striolate, 4 th and 5 th ventrites simply punctate; last ventrite simply rounded and entirely rimmed in both sexes.

Aedeagus. Length of 4.2 to 4.3 mm, parameres measuring slightly less than 1/3 of the total length of the organ ( Fig. 24 View FIGURES 18–28 ), evenly narrowed to apex which is barely spatulate ( Fig. 28 View FIGURES 18–28 ) and slightly sinuate at the apex, seen in profile ( Fig. 27 View FIGURES 18–28 ); Rp of 3.37 to 3.96.

Sexual dimorphism. Hardly perceptible; all male tibiae granulate in distal half of inner margin, smooth in females; male protibiae barely longer and slightly more sinuate at inner margin.

The nearest Neatus species morphologically and geographically to N. turcicus sp. nov. are N. subaequalis and N. noctivagus . The new species is distinct from N. subaequalis by its proportionally larger aedeagus, with differently shaped parameres, longer and evenly narrowed towards the apex, which is much more acuminate ( Figs 24, 28 View FIGURES 18–28 vs. Figs 21–22 View FIGURES 18–28 ) and less sinuate in profile. The male protibiae are also clearly less sinuate on the inner margin. Moreover, the genae are widened in front of the eyes in N. subaequalis , not subparallel at the sides. Neatus turcicus sp. nov. can be distinguished from N. noctivagus by the subparallel genae in front of eyes, strongly and angularly widened in noctivagus ( Fig. 16 View FIGURES 7–17 vs. Fig. 15 View FIGURES 7–17 ), short male protibiae with barely sinuate inner margin ( Fig. 14 View FIGURES 7–17 vs. Fig. 13 View FIGURES 7–17 ), the aedeagus smaller in length (L= 4.2–4.3 mm vs. 4.5–6.0 mm) and proportion (Rp=3.37–3.96 vs. 2.75–3.33), with parameres narrowed almost in a straight line and only slightly sinuate in profile ( Figs 24, 27–28 View FIGURES 18–28 vs. Figs 18–19, 26 View FIGURES 18–28 ). These three species inhabit different areas of Türkiye but may cohabit locally.

Type material. HOLOTYPE ♂ ( Fig. 5 View FIGURES 1–6 ) labelled: “ Turkey, Eğirdir, Gelendost, AfŞar village , Hollow Q. ithaburensis , 38°07’10.5’’N; 30°58’14.8’’E, P-trap: 18 2015-4/7, M. Avci / N Jansson ” (white label); “Holotype ♂, Neatus turcicus sp. nov., F. Soldati & P. Leo, des. 2025” (red label), Entomological Museum, Isparta University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, Isparta, Türkiye ( IEM). GoogleMaps

PARATYPES: 5 ♂♂ and 4 ♀♀; 1 ♂, “ Turkey, Kizilen , 50 km N Erdemli, old oak, 3P, 2005-07-07, N. Jansson / M. Coskun ” (white label) ; 1 ♂ and 1 ♀, “ Turkey, 30 km N Erdemli , ihåliga ekar [hollow oaks], 2001-06-01, N. Jansson ” (white label) ; 1 ♀, “ Turkey, Mersin, 40 km N Gülnar, N 36°30’22,5”; E 33°07’43,3”, Köseçobanli / TaŞdüŞtü ,, P-trap 16, Hollow Quercus , 2006-08-26, Nicklas Jansson / Mustafa Avci” (white label) GoogleMaps ; 2 ♂♂ and 2 ♀♀, “ Turkey, environs of Konya, 9-12.VII.1999, Werner leg. (white label)” ; 1 ♂, “ Turkey, environs of Osmaniye ( Adana ), VII.2000, Werner & Lizler leg. (white label)”. All paratypes bear a red label: “ PARATYPE ♂ (or ♀), Neatus turcicus sp. nov., F. Soldati & P. Leo des. 2025”. Paratypes are deposited in the IEM, FS and PL collections.

Etymology. The name turcicus is an adjective derived from Türkiye, corresponding to Turkish.

Ecology. Several adult specimens of Neatus turcicus sp. nov. were collected in pitfall traps placed in hollow trunks of old oaks (e.g. Quercus ithaburensis Decne. ). This species probably inhabits the decayed wood or the wood mould in hollow oak cavities.