6. Onthophilus lijangensis Zhou and Lou, new species
(Figure 1 and 2)
Diagnosis. This species is relatively larger and strongly punctured. It differs from most of its congeneric species by the most prominent but interrupted elytral costae, which form elongate tubercles in appearance. From those species that have interrupted elytral costae, it can be distinguished by having a deep transverse fossa on the base of elytron, much lower and reduced ESC, EC1, EC3, EC5 and SC, and special patterns of carinae on pygidium.
Description. Female.. Body length 3.5 - 3.7 mm between anterior angles of pronotum and apices of elytra. Width 3.2 3.4 mm. Body oval, black. Maxillae, mouth palpi and tarsi fuscous.
Head carinae reduced, forming tubercle-like elevations, with latero-frontal carinae near the antennal pits and the vertico-frontal carina in the middle between them. Punctures large, deep and irregular in form and arrangement, especially on the concave areas of face and vertex, where the punctures 2-4 times as large as those on the vertecies of elevations and separated by 0.5 0.3 times their diameters. Punctuation not so strong on clypeus and even smaller along front margin. Labrum punctured, with setiferous punctures in lateral 0.2, front margin arcuate. Mandibles strongly developed, with large punctures except the apical third. Antenna scape long and thick, with punctured ectal surface.
Pronotum transverse, 0.5 as long as wide. Lateral margin feebly arcuate and convergent anteriorly; sides reflexed except near the mid-point. Front margin slightly emarginate in the middle 0.5 and strongly reflexed in lateral 0.2. Front angles obstuse and rounded. Hind angles well developed. Hind margin extended posteriorly, roundly angulated before scutellum, and triangle-form in outline. Disk 6-costate. PC1 (costa closest to the lateral edge) short, reduced to a elongate tubercle-like elevation, reaching from front 0.6 to hind 0.1 and near hind angle of pronotum. PC2 (costa immediately mesad of PC1) feebly curved, abbreviated in front and behind, about one third of the length the pronotum, reaching from front two fifth to hind one fourth. PC3 (costa closest to the longitudinal midline) interrupted in front one to two fifth, thus, the two PC3 forming two pairs of parallel costae along the midline, with the front pair near front margin and relatively wider from each other; the hind pair reaching from front two fifth to hind one fifth, with a closer distance between them. Punctures deep and round, separated by their diameters, elongated in the middles area. Vertices of elevations with much small and round punctures.
Elytra wider than pronotum. ISC, EC 2 and EC4 interrupted and forming very prominent elongate tubercles; ESC, EC1, EC3, EC5 and SC much lower and reduced, only suggested by feeble elevations of irregular forms. All costae abbreviated just behind front margin and before hind margin. EC4 interrupted and forming three elongate tubercles, with two in front 0.5 and the other one in the middle of hind half. EC 2 represented by two much prominent tubercles; the front one much larger and longer than all other elytral tubercles, reaching just behind front margin. ISC represented by three tubercles, with the front one longer than the other two. At the base of elytron between EC2 and EC4, a large, deep and transverse fossa terminated EC3 just behind front margin. Striae clear bordered, shining, with round and deep punctures. Elytral surface dim except shiny striae, punctured along margins; punctured areas wider in apex than on base.
Propygidium with front margin slightly reflexed. Carina along the longitudinal midline strong, reaching from just behind front margin to hind 0.2. Lateral carinae short, only suggested by round elevations near the middle point of lateral margin. Punctures crateriform and larger in the concave area, but much smaller on vertices of elevations; interstices with minute sculpture. Pygidium with transverse carina running across pygidium in front 0.3, reaching lateral margins; curved forwards in the middle. Longitudinal carina not clear and incomplete, represented by three tubercle-like elevations, with two elongate in the middle area and one small near the middle point of hind margin. Punctuation patterns same as that of propygidium, but punctures slightly smaller and sparser.
Prosternum about as long as wide. Punctures round, deep, not in equal size; the bigger ones smaller than those on metasternum, but larger than those on prosternal lobe. Hind margin broadly and roundly emarginate. Prosternal lobe transverse, moderately and regularly punctured, with straight front and hind margin. Mesosternum transverse, front margin lobed to fit prosternal emargination. Punctures of different size, with the large ones more or less in a row along hind margin. Metasternum separated from mesosternum by clear meso-metasternal stria. Median longitudinal suture distinct, area along it depressed with large and confluent punctures. Punctures irregularly distributed, with large crateriform punctures closely distributed along lateral and hind margins and in the middle area; interstices with minute punctures. Feeble elevation located between meso- and metacoxa, where large crateriform punctures becoming fewer. First abdominal sternum punctured irregularly, with large crateriform punctures behind the inside half of metacoxae and on the lateral 0.2. In the middle toward hind margin, punctures becoming small and sparse. Protibia slender, punctured, with two rows of spicules; the ectal row thicker and more irregular in arrangement than the intal row.
Male body length 3.0 mm between anterior angles of pronotum and apices of elytra. Width 2.8 mm. Similar to the females, but relatively small in body size, Tibiae fuscous, not as black as in females. Metasternum surface strongly depressed.
Specimens examined. Holotype female. CHINA: Yunnan Province, Lijiang County, Mao-niu-ping (27°11¢N, 100°16¢E), 3115m, 3. Aug. 2000, Xiao-dong Yu. Paratypes. 1 _ and 3 __, same locality as holotype, 1 - 3. Aug. 2000, Hong-zhang Zhou and Xiao-dong Yu.
Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the type locality, Lijiang.
Remarks: The beetles were collected from decayed large mushrooms in a forest habitat of coniferous trees.
