Cyphochilus kukriana Sreedevi, Sahoo & Sabatinelli, 2025

Cyphochilus kukriana Sreedevi, Sahoo & Sabatinelli View in CoL , sp. nov.

( Figs 29–31 View FIGURES 29–31 )

Type material. Holotype ♂ NBAIR: India: Arunachal Pradesh / Monigong , 28°36′N, 93°03′E / 10.vi.2023 / leg. K.M.Ajaykumara // ICAR-NBAIR-CYP1 (P, red label) GoogleMaps . Paratype: 1 ♂ NBAIR: Arunachal Pradesh / Pasighat , 28°04′N, 95°19′E / 11.vi.2023 / leg. K.M.Ajaykumara // ICAR-NBAIR-CYP2 (P, yellow label) GoogleMaps .

Description of the holotype ♂. Body: length 21.7 mm, width across humeri 9.9 mm, greatest body width 12.1 mm, located at the midpoint of the elytra. Integuments dark brown to black; surface uniformly clothed with a mixture of grey and silver-white scales. Legs, antennae, maxillary and labial palpi, labrum, and clypeus testaceous. Head: clypeal width-to-length ratio (CW/L): 2.9. Anterior margin of clypeus subtrapezoidal; lateral margins slightly oblique and divergent posteriorly. Clypeus and frons covered with narrow, oblong, yellowish scales, which are denser along the lateral margins of the frons. Frons large, rendering the eyes relatively small (interocular ratio, F/O: 5.9). A distinct V-shaped median concavity is present on the frons, demarcated by a differential arrangement of scales along its edges, extending from the fronto-clypeal suture to mid-length of the frons. Antennal club distinctly longer than antennomeres 2–7 combined (A2–7/CL: 0.89). Pronotum: transverse (PnW/L: 2.4), convex, widest at the middle. Apical angles acute and protuberant; basal lateral margins curved inward; basal angles broadly obtuse. Surface densely covered with narrow, oblong, grey scales medially and yellowish scales along the lateral margins. Elytra: smooth, lacking elevated striae. Dorsal surface uniformly covered with oval, greyish to silver-white scales. Thoracic sterna: bearing yellowish, long setae and a medium to sparse distribution of small, oval scales. Mesosternal process slender and elongate distinctly produced anteriorly (MstL: 1.65 mm). Abdomen: sternites with sparse, small, oval white scales medially and densely clothed with grey scales laterally. Pygidium uniformly covered with dense, slender, long scales, intermixed grey and yellowish in colour. Legs: foretibiae tridentate apical tooth prominent and longer than the subapical tooth; basal tooth reduced, appearing as a small, angular emargination. The angle between the apical and subapical teeth is narrower than that between the subapical and the basal tooth. All legs sparsely covered with white, lanceolate scales. Aedeagus: parameres strongly asymmetrical, right paramere broad, lacking any processes, left paramere broader, apically curved, and bearing a prominent, sword-like process arising from the basal third. This process curves rightward, arching over the right paramere. In dorsal view, the distal portion of the process is strongly curved, forming a C-shaped structure directed inward ( Fig. 29A–C View FIGURES 29–31 ).

Variability. Body length of the only known paratype is 21.2 mm.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. The species name refers to the distinctive shape of the process on the left paramere, which resembles a kukri—a traditional short sword with a markedly curved blade, historically associated with the Gurkha people.

Differential diagnosis: This species is readily distinguished from all other congeners by the elongate body, mesosternum with long, slender process and the distinctive aedeagal left paramere, which is typically curved with a different shape process looking like sword.

Distribution. India: Arunachal Pradesh.