Nidella palawana sp. nov.

(Fig. 1)

General distribution: Philippines: Palawan Island.

Description. Body elongated, narrow, subparallel, black. Elytra dorsally with six white spots, but pronotum laterally with white spot. Body lenght 13.0 mm, maximal width: 1.2 mm.

Head flattened, with rectangular apical portion and convex, bilobate yellow-brown eyes. Dorsal surface of head with coarse punctures and sparse pubescence, especially along the raised margins, with short, longitudinal line between thick and extended antennal bases. Frontal portion of head vith elongated middle line. Cheeks covered with dense silvery-grey pubescence. Labrum brown, narrow, pubescent. Clypeus brown, transverse, shiny. Mandibles brown, with sharp apex, massive, wide, shiny, lateral sides with pubescence. Antennae slender, relatively long. Female antennae shorter than body, covered with fine punctures and fine, sparse pubescence; antennomeres 1–5 thickened apically, antennomeres 1–2 black, remaining antennomeres brown.

Elytra almost parallel-sided, in the middle narrowed, flattened dorsally, with distinct, slightly raised shoulders hump. Elytra black, matt, with weak reflection and microsculpture. Each elytron with three yellow spots. Punctation of elytra very dense, not arranged in longitudinal rows. Apical margins of elytra near suture with small, sharp extension.

Ventro-lateral surface of body black, shinny, particularly covered with pubescence. Legs dichromatic, with yellow-brown or brown tibia and tarsus, and forelegs and middle legs with dark femora, while hind legs femora are dark with a yellow-brown base, covered with very fine pubescence.

Pronotum black, cylindrical, elongated, neck-shaped narrowed in apical and basal portions, in the middle portion laterally with large triangular spot of silver-grey, dense pubescence. Pronotal disc without pubescence, with dense and coarse punctures and wrinkles.

Scutellum small, with dense pubescence. Pars stridens partially visible because it is under the posterior edge of the pronotum, forming smooth spot, with very fine transverse microsculpture.

Differential diagnosis. Regarding the shape of the body, the new species differs from all other species of this genus by six yellow spots on elytra and triangular lateral spot in the middle of pronotum. No other species of this genus known so far have such characteristics.

Etymology. This species is named after the Palawan island, where it occurs [Palawan - palawana].