Limbodessus aldente, 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.15602641
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/7849C62D-7CA0-5A63-BD5D-243E08643A99
treatment provided by	Alpine Entomology by Pensoft
scientific name	Limbodessus aldente
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Limbodessus aldente sp. nov.

Figs 1 C View Figure 1 , 12 C View Figure 12 , 13 B View Figure 13 , 14 View Figure 14

Type locality.

Small, mossy puddles, Mt. Trikora area, 3,450 m [138°43'E, 04°13'S], West Papua, Indonesia.

Type material.

Holotype, female: “ IRIAN JAYA: Trikora Gebiet 19. - 20. 10. 1993, Habbema [Lake] and Kali Oue Tal [Valley] , ca. 138°43'E 04°13'S, 3450 m, leg. M. Balke (39) ”, “ Holotype Limbodessus aldente sp. nov. Balke et al. 2025 ” [red printed label] ( NHMW). GoogleMaps

Paratypes. 2 females with the same data as the holotype ( NHMW, ZSM) GoogleMaps . Both paratypes are provided with a red printed paratype label.

Measurements.

Holotype: TL = 1.90 mm; TL-H = 1.75 mm; MW = 0.80 mm. Paratypes: TL 1.80–1.90 mm, TL-H = 1.75–1.80 mm; MW = 0.80–0.85 mm.

Description.

Rather small, elytra somewhat parallel-sided; body with distinct discontinuity in lateral outline between pronotum and elytron; pronotum cordiform, strongly narrowed posteriorly. Cervical or sutural line absent. Pronotal and elytral stria present and distinct (Fig. 1 C View Figure 1 ).

Color. Body chiefly black. Clypeus anteriorly, pronotum anteriorly and laterally slightly paler: dark ferruginous to castaneous brown. Antennomeres 1–5 / 6 dark ferruginous, 6–11 darker, blackish. Legs dark ferruginous (Fig. 1 C View Figure 1 ). Ventral side chiefly black. Prosternum, epipleura and sternite 7 ferruginous.

Sculpture. Head densely and evenly punctate; microreticulation indistinct; shiny. Pronotum with moderately dense punctation; discally sparser; microreticulate, also laterally. Elytron with moderately dense and evenly distributed punctation. Ventral side with few punctures, shiny; only sternite 7 with distinct microreticulation.

Structures. Metacoxal lines anteriorly diverging and not reaching posterior margin of metaventrite.

Male unknown.

Female. Elytron dull, with distinct microreticulation between punctures. Antenna stout with some antennomeres being conspicuously modified: 6–8 distinctly dilated, 9–11 slightly dilated (Figs 12 C View Figure 12 , 13 B View Figure 13 ).

Etymology.

Named for our friend Alexander Riedel, Munich, Germany, inventor of the “ aldente ” way to prepare keladi, a staple food in West Papua. The name is a noun in the nominative standing in apposition.

Distribution.

Only known from the Lake Habbema area, in the Central Highlands of Papua (Fig. 14 View Figure 14 ).

Differential diagnosis.

Limbodessus aldente sp. nov. belongs to a group of smaller (TL = 1.55–1.90 mm) and almost blackish high alpine species. The new species is close to L. aipo sp. nov., L. elit sp. nov. and L. wilhelmina sp. nov. but can be separated from them by the form of the female antennae, which is stout with antennomeres being conspicuously modified: 6–8 distinctly dilated, 9–11 slightly dilated (Figs 12 C View Figure 12 , 13 B View Figure 13 ).

Habitat.

Small puddles in alpine meadows overgrown with mosses.