Hemipeplus labuanensis KC & Pollock, 2025

Kc, Sajan & Pollock, Darren A., 2025, Review of the Hemipeplinae (Coleoptera: Mycteridae) fauna of the world with descriptions of twenty-nine new species, Zootaxa 5574 (1), pp. 1-140 : 119-121

Hemipeplus labuanensis KC & Pollock , sp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:511C2535-8586-4E6E-8579-6B9E2F281982

(Figs 55, 65)

Type Material. Holotype, male, labeled: ‘BRITISH N. BORNEO Labuan Island Nov. 28–29, 1959 [last digit corrected in ink] / T. C. Maa Collector BISHOP / [green label] ♂ / [light green label] BPBM / [red label] HOLOTYPE ♂ Hemipeplus labuanensis KC & Pollock’, in BPBM . Allotype, female, labeled: ‘BORNEO (Brit. N) Labuan I., 15m. Oct. 24, 1957 / Nr. air strip / grass / J. L. Gressitt Collector BISHOP Museum’, in BPBM. One paratype, female, labeled same as allotype, in BPBM .

FIGURE 55. Hemipeplus labuanensis sp. nov. (Holotype). A. Dorsal habitus (with scale bar); B. Dorsal head and prothorax; C. Lateral view of head and prothorax; D. Male genitalia dorsal view with spiculum gastrale; E. Tegmen dorsal view (with scale bar).

Derivation of Specific Epithet. The specific name (adjective in the nominative case, in gender agreement with substantive) is given in allusion to the species’ type locality, i.e., Labuan, Malaysia .

Diagnosis. Hemipeplus labuanensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from the similar-appearing H. sinensis sp. nov. (Fig. 54.1, 54.2) by its less produced anterolateral pronotal angles, wider pronotal pad, and inner margins of parameres with prominent expansions. Hemipeplus labuanensis sp. nov. has the following diagnostic features: temples tiny and roundish; scape moniliform, apically dilated; eyes moderately large (just as long as scape + pedicel), moderately wide and moderately convex; pronotum subcordiform; anterior emargination broad, deep, and distinct; anterior half wider than posterior half; pronotal pad wide and distinct; anterior pronotal angles rounded, produced rather upward than sideward; posterior angles obtuse, rounded; pronotal lobe almost absent without median notch; body long; elytra slightly convex; color dull, uniformly testaceous; distribution: Malaysia (Labuan).

Description. Measurements (in mm)—GHW: 0.55–0.62; HL: 0.53–0.58; AL: 0.86; GPW: 0.63–0.68; PL: 0.53–0.57; GEW: 0.76–0.87; EL: 2.80–3.15; TL: 3.86–4.30.

Head (Fig. 55B) wide (GHW/HL: 1.04–1.07); eyes moderately large (just as long as scape + pedicel), moderately wide and moderately convex; temples very short and roundish; occiput with strongly raised areas; antennae shorter than head and pronotum length combined; antennal scape moniliform, apically dilated and externally produced on one side; pedicel small moniliform; antennomere III more elongate and apically dilated; IV smaller, moniliform; V slightly larger, moniliform, apically dilated; VI smaller, moniliform, apically dilated; VII–X subtriangular or bowl shaped, each wider than the next; XI subpyriform with apex narrowed after the notch; lateral mandibular tooth absent. Pronotum (Fig. 55B) wide (GPW/PL: 1.19), subcordiform; anterior margin with broad, deep, and distinct emargination; anterolateral angles rounded, produced upright; lateral margins moderately sinuate; posterior half contracted; posterolateral angles obtuse to square, rounded; pronotal lobe almost absent without median notch; pronotal pad (Fig. 55C) wide and distinctly setose; pronotal pits shallow without proper grooves. Scutellar shield subhexagonal, transverse, less than twice as wide as long. Elytra (Fig. 55A) long (EL/GEW: 3.62–3.68), slightly convex; vestiture moderately long and dense; apical patch short and broad to moderately long, faint. Ventral surface. Prosternal process short, not extending posterior of procoxae; hypomeral edges well separated; mesosternal process narrow and linear. Color dull, uniformly testaceous.

Male Genitalia (Figs 55D–F). (Tegmen length = ca 0.25 mm, not measured) Lobe of basale moderately long, slender; shoulders obtusely angled, moderately slanted; apicale and basale with distinct suture; parameres very short, slightly arcuate at the apices, tips sharp; inner margins of parameres with prominent expansions; penis wide, longer than tegmen.

Geographical Distribution (Fig. 65). Malaysia (Labuan).

Natural History. According to specimen label data, H. labuanensis sp. nov. is associated with grasses ( Poaceae ).