Skip to main content

Hidden orange mark fungus beetle (Micrencaustes occulta), Micrencaustes divisa and Micrencaustes navicularis

Hidden orange mark fungus beetle (Micrencaustes occulta), Micrencaustes divisa and Micrencaustes navicularis

NEWS - Hidden orange mark fungus beetle (Micrencaustes occulta Yang & Li, sp. nov.) was collected from Yunnan as a new species, specimens of Micrencaustes divisa Arrow 1925 and Micrencaustes navicularis Arrow 1921 collected from Hainan and Guangdong recorded for the first time from China.

Micrencaustes Crotch 1876 (Coleoptera, Cucujoidea, Erotylidae, Erotylinae, Encaustini) includes 44 species known worldwide, 11 species have been reported in China. In recent years, species of the genus Micrencaustes in China have been continuously discovered, mainly distributed in southern China.

M. occulta has a body length: 13.2 mm; width: 6.2 mm, elongate-oval, convex in lateral view, general color black, moderately lustrous. Pronotum with three distinctive teardrop-shaped orange marks. Each elytron with two orange marks, the first mark reaching the basal edge and with a wave at posterior edge; the second mark at basal three fourths, transverse and curved, with a wave at anterior edge.

Head coarsely punctured on vertex. Clypeus finely punctured, anterior edge straight. Clipofrontal sulcus incomplete. Eyes large, coarsely faceted; interocular distance about 0.47 times width of head.

Antennae long, almost extending to posterior edge of pronotum, covered with golden setae; antennome 1 swollen, barrel-shaped; antennomere 2 spherical; antennomere 3 long, slightly swollen at apex, 1.6 times as long as antennomere 4; antennomere 9-11 transverse and compact, forming the antennal club, antennomere 9 expanded apically; antennomeres 10 crescent-shaped, 2.0 times as wide as long; antennomere 11 nearly fan-shaped; relative lengths of antennomeres 2-11: 1.5: 3.6: 2.1: 2.2: 2.3: 2.2: 2.2: 2.8: 2.0: 2.2.

Maxillary terminal palpomere transverse, strongly expanded, nearly triangular, 2.8 times as wide as long. Labial terminal palpomere dolabriform. Mentum small, nearly pentagonal, with middle area triangularly depressed; submentum nearly trapezoidal, with a few coarse punctures in the middle and two extremely coarse punctures at the base.

Pronotum 2.2 times as wide as long, nearly trapezoidal, dorsally convex, with extremely sparse punctures. Anterior edge curved opposite the head; lateral edge curved, with expressed border and slightly narrowing apically; basal edge weakly sinuate, with a few coarse punctures on each side of base.

Anterior angles blunt and slightly protruded, posterior angles almost rectangular. Scutellar shield sparsely punctured, nearly heart-shaped, 1.6 times as wide as long. Each elytron with seven distinct striae, intervals sparsely punctured.

Prosternum finely and sparsely punctured, covered with fine and short setae, anterior edge narrow, posterior edge emarginated. Prosternal process nearly long bell-shaped, prosternal process distinctly and abruptly expanded apically, apical edge of prosternal process emarginated, only slightly extending beyond anterior edge of mesoventrite.

Mesoventrite sparsely punctured, with a triangular depression in middle of posterior edge. Metaventrite finely and sparsely punctured and two elongated transverse depressions at posterior edge. Abdomen sparsely punctured, covered with short setae.

Legs with tibiae gradually widening to apices, tibiae and tarsus covered with golden setae. Male genitalia with median lobe slightly curved, median strut straight, apex slightly wide, 2.3 times as long as median lobe.

The species is named for three indistinct teardrop-shaped orange markings on the pronotum, visible when strong light is shone on the pronotum. The specimen was recorded in Yingjiang, Yunnan Province, China.

M. occulta is similar to M. lunulata (Macleay, 1825) in shape and color. The two species are distinguished by the absence of postmesocoxal stripes, each elytron with seven distinct striae, pronotum with a few coarse punctures on each side of its base, body somewhat shiny (vs. M. lunulata has postmesocoxal stripes, each elytron with eight distinct striae, pronotum with evenly distributed fine punctures, body shiny).

Original research

Yang Y, Zhang X, Liu J, Li J (2024). A new species and two newly-recorded species of the genus Micrencaustes (Coleoptera, Erotylidae) from China. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e134304, DOI:10.3897/BDJ.12.e134304

Dlium theDlium
Labels:

Popular Posts

Bugang (Clerodendrum calamitosum)

Bugang ( Clerodendrum calamitosum ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is an erect shrub, growing up to 1 meter tall, with cylindrical, green stems and white hairs. The leaves are opposite. The leaf blade is oval, wavy, with a central main vein with numerous pinnate minor veins, and serrated margins. The leaves are up to 9 cm long and 7 cm wide. The petiole is up to 2 cm long. The flowers are star-shaped, white, up to 3 cm in diameter and up to 6 cm in total length. The fruit is round, dark green, turning black when ripe. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Subfamily: Ajugoideae Genus: Clerodendrum L. in Sp. Pl.: 637 (1753) Species: Clerodendrum calamitosum L. in Mant. Pl. 1: 90 (1767) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Clerodendrum fastigiatum (W.Hunter ex Ridl.) H.J.Lam in Verben. Malay. Archip.: 317 (1919) Volkameria alternifolia Burm.f. in Fl. Indica: 137 (1768) Volkameria fastigiata W.Hunter...
Read more

Plumeria rubra and Plumeria obtusa, the differences

SPECIES HEAD TO HEAD - The genus frangipani trees ( Plumeria Tourn. ex L.) has only 18 officially recorded species and two very similar species, frangipani ( Plumeria rubra L.) and white frangipani ( Plumeria obtusa L.). Both have the same habitus, flowers and fruits and are difficult to distinguish. The leaves of both species have slightly different shapes. Therefore, the leaves are very important to distinguish the two species, especially the shape of the tip. P. rubra has simple, lanceolate leaves with acute tips. P. obtusa has simple, elliptic leaves with rounded tips. By Aryo Bandoro Founder of Dlium.com . You can follow him on X: @Abandoro . Read more: Plumeria rubra Plumeria obtusa
Read more

Durian (Durio zibethinus)

Durian ( Durio zibethinus ) is a species of tropical plant in Malvaceae, an annual tree, everlasting green but there are certain times to grow new leaves after the fruiting period is over, popularly called "king of fruit" and considered a controversial fruit where many people like, but some others are even fed up with the scent. D. zibethinus grows to 25-50 m, reddish brown bark and irregular peeling, leafy and stretched canopy. The leaves are oval shaped to lanceolate, 10-15x3-4.5 cm, sitting alternately, stemmed, taper or blunt base and taper-pointed sloping, bright green upper side, the lower side covered with silver or golden scales. Flowers and fruit Flowers appear directly on the trunk or old branches at the proximal, clustered in panicles containing 3-10 florets or flat-shaped florets. Rounded flower buds, 2 cm in diameter and long stem. Tubular petals, 3 cm long, additional petals split into 2-3 round lobes. Crown shaped spatula with a length of 2 times the ...
Read more