Paraphloeostiba rufula Shavrin 2024, sp. n.

Paraphloeostiba rufula sp. n.

(Figs 80, 126–132)

Type material. Holotype ♂ (dissected): ‘ NEW GUINEA | Okapa, 16.VI.1965, | flying in daylight’ <printed>, ‘ R. Hornabrook | BM 1970-232.’ <printed>, ‘ HOLOTYPE | Paraphloeostiba | rufula sp. n. | Shavrin A. V. des. 2024’ <red, printed> (BMNH).

Paratypes: 3 ♀♀ (one specimen dissected; one specimen without right antennomeres 6–11); underside of the card of two specimens with handwritten ‘1/64’): same data as the holotype, with additional red printed label: ‘ PARATYPE | Paraphloeostiba | rufula sp. n. | Shavrin A. V. des. 2024’ <red, printed> (BMNH).

Description. Measurements (n=4): HW: 0.45–0.46; HL: 0.23–0.24; OL: 0.15; TL: 0.04; AL (holotype): 0.61; PL: 0.37–0.41; PWmax: 0.55–0.61; PWmin: 0.48–0.53; ESL: 0.63–0.76; EW: 0.67–0.77; MTbL (holotype): 0.35; MTrL (holotype): 0.18 (MTrL 1–4: 0.07; MTrL 5: 0.11); AW: 0.72–0.78; AedL: 0.55; BL: 2.00–2.32 (holotype: 2.15).

Habitus as in Fig. 80. Head, pronotum and abdomen reddish brown; elytra yellow-brown, with slightly darkened latero-apical and apical portion of pronotum; antennomeres 6–11 brown; mouthparts, antennomeres 1–5 and legs yellowish. Middle portion of head with very fine and sparse punctation; neck without visible punctures; pronotum with fine and sparse punctation, slightly larger than that on middle portion of head, sparser in middle and indistinct in mediobasal and mediolateral portions; elytra with moderately sparse punctation about as that on pronotum, finer and sparser in parascutellar portion and along suture. Pronotum with dense and isodiametric microsculpture, distinctly coarser than that in middle portion of head; microsculpture of elytra dense, slightly larger and less coarser than that on pronotum.

Head 1.9 times as broad as long, with short and deep anteocellar foveae as long as diameter of ocellus. Ocelli large, located slightly below level of postocular carinae; distance between ocelli about as long as distance between ocellus and posterior margin of eyes. Antennomeres 7–10 distinctly transverse; antennomere 5 indisticntly broader than 4, 6 slightly longer and distinctly broader than 5, 7 slightly shorter than 6, 8–10 slightly broader than 7.

Pronotum 1.4 times as broad as long, 1.2–1.3 times as broad as head, widest in middle, slightly more narrowed posteriad than anteriad; middle portion without impressions, but two paratypes with traces of very indistinct wide impressions in mediobasal third; lateral and laterobasal portions slightly impressed.

Elytra 1.7–1.8 times as long as pronotum.

Male. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII truncate (Fig. 128). Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII concave (Fig. 129). Aedeagus with wide basal portion, gradually narrowed toward small rounded apex; parameres reaching apex of median lobe, distinctly broadened apically, with three moderately long apical and fourfive preapical setae, median parts of each paramere with three moderately long setae; internal sac moderately short and narrow, with elongate sclerotized structures in basal part (Fig. 126). Lateral aspect of the aedeagus as in Fig. 127.

Female. Posterior margin of abdominal tergite VIII truncate (Fig. 130). Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII rounded (Fig. 131). Accessory sclerite short, from widest apical portion gradually narrowed toward rounded apex (Fig. 132). Spermatheca not recognized.

Comparative notes. Based on the very broad median lobe and apical portions of the parameres, P. rufula sp. n. is similar to P. assimile sp. n., P. celebensis Steel, 1960, P. papuana, P. penelopeae sp. n. and P. tonkinesis. It can be distinguished from all these species by the following morphological features:

from P. assimile sp. n. by the larger body, darker head, pronotum and abdomen, the presence of the punctation on the head, the narrower pronotum and the shorter parameres;

from P. celebensis by the larger body and narrower apical portions of the parameres;

from P. papuana by the larger and darker body, the narrower pronotum, and slightly longer parameres with narrower apical portions;

from P. penelopeae sp. n. by the darker body, the presence of the punctation on the head and the narrower pronotum, the longer elytra, smaller apical part of the median lobe and the shorter parameres;

from P. tonkinesis by the distinctly larger body, the absence of the longitudinal impressions in the middle of the narrower pronotum, the narrower apical portion of the median lobe and the shorter parameres.

From all these species P. rufula sp. n. differs by the details of the external and internal structure of the aedeagus.

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

Etymology. The specific epithet is the Latin rufulus, - a, - um (reddish). It alludes to the general coloration of the body.

Bionomics. All specimens were collected flying in daylight.