Paraphloeostiba telnovi Shavrin 2024, sp. n.

Paraphloeostiba telnovi sp. n.

(Figs 141, 144–147)

Type material. Holotype ♂ (Fig. 141; dissected): ‘ NEW GUINEA | Okapa, | 27.VIII.1965, | forest litter’ <printed>, ‘ R. Hornabrook | BM 1970-232.’ <printed>, ‘ HOLOTYPE | Paraphloeostiba | telnovi sp. n. | Shavrin A. V. des. 2024’ <red, printed> (BMNH).

Description. Measurements: HW: 0.42; HL: 0.22; OL: 0.12; TL: 0.02; AL: 0.50; PL: 0.27; PWmax: 0.54; PWmin: 0.47; ESL: 0.50; EW: 0.65; MTbL: 0.30; MTrL: 0.16 (MTrL 1–4: 0.05; MTrL 5: 0.11); AW: 0.62; AedL: 0.37; BL: 1.82.

Habitus as in Fig. 141. Body reddish-brown, with paler laterobasal portions and lateral margin of pronotum and middle portion of elytra; antennomeres 6–11 brown; mouthparts, antennomeres 1–4 and legs yellow (two apical maxillary palpomere slightly darker). Head with indistinct fine punctation, denser and larger in middle portion; neck without visible punctures; pronotum with fine and sparse punctation, slightly finer than that in middle part of head, sparser and finer in middle. Pronotum with dense isodimaetric microsculpture, slightly finer than that in middle portion of head; microsculpture of elytra similar to that in pronotum, but slightly larger.

Head about twice as long as broad, with narrow and deep anteocellar foveae. Antennomere 6 slightly and antennomeres 7–10 distinctly transverse; antennomere 5 slightly broader than 4, 6 distinctly broader than 5, 7 slightly longer and distinctly broader than 6, 8–10 slightly shorter and broader than 7.

Pronotum twice as broad as long, 1.2 times as broad as head, widest in middle, strongly narrowed posteriad, with widely concave latero-basal margins in front of obtuse hind angles and widely rounded apical angles slightly protruded apicad; lateral margins distinctly impressed; laterobasal impressions wide and deep.

Elytra 1.3 times as long as pronotum.

Abdomen slightly narrower than elytra.

Male. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII rounded (Fig. 146). Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII somewhat truncate (Fig. 147). Aedeagus with very wide basal portion, gradually narrowed toward median lobe with rounded apex; parameres narrow, short, distinctly not reaching apex of median lobe, with two moderately long apical and two preapical setae, inner margin of apical half of each paramere with several moderately long setae; internal sac long and moderately narrow, with several elongate sclerotized structures in basal portion (Fig. 144). Lateral aspect of the aedeagus as in Fig. 145.

Female unknown.

Comparative notes. Based on the general shape of the aedeagus with moderately broad median lobe and narrow parameres, distinctly shorter than apex of the median lobe, P. telnovi sp. n. is similar to P. okapensis sp. n., from which it can be distinguished by the shape of the pronotum, more strongly narrowed posteriad and with wide apical portions slightly protruded apicad, the absence of the longitudinal impressions in the middle of the pronotum, the larger punctation of the forebody, broader apical part of the median lobe, slightly narrower parameres and different structure of the internal sac. Besides that, based on the absence of the longitudinal impressions in the middle of the pronotum, and the general shape of the apical portion of the median lobe, P. telnovi sp. n. is somewhat similar to P. singularis (Kraatz, 1859), known from the Oriental and Australian regions (Herman 2001), and P. apicalis (Cameron, 1925), known from Philippines and Indonesia (Shavrin 2023b). From both species it can be distinguished by the shape of the pronotum with distinctly impressed lateral margins and widely rounded apical angles, slightly protruded apicad, the shorter parameres, and the different morphology of the internal sac. From all these species P. telnovi sp. n. can be distinguished by the details of external and internal morphology of the aedeagus.

Distribution. Paraphloeostiba telnovi sp. n. is known only from the type locality in the central part of Papua New Guinea.

Etymology. Patronymic, the species is named to honour my colleague, Dmitry Telnov (London), well known coleopterologist and explorer of the Papuan beetle fauna.

Bionomics. The holotype was collected in the forest litter.