Anthrenus (Anthrenus) kushangaza Holloway and Herrmann, 2024

Anthrenus (Anthrenus) kushangaza Holloway and Herrmann , new species

( Fig. 1–3 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 )

Holotype male. Fayoum , Lake Karun, Egypt (29.458, 30.676), 2-23.ix.1945, R. L. Coe leg. Deposited in NHMUK GoogleMaps . Paratypes. 32 specimens deposited in NHMUK, same data as holotype.

Description, external characteristics. Holotype ( Fig. 1A View Figure 1 ). BL = 1.7 mm, BW = 1.17 mm. Overall appearance very pale. Head with single dark amber coloured ocellus centrally below level of top of eyes. Eyes with lower inner margins notched. Integument of head, thorax, and base of elytra dark reddish brown, becoming much paler red towards elytral apices. Head and thorax entirely coated in pale scales, mostly white some tinted yellow, especially anterior to the scutellum, with a few pale brown scales on the disc of the thorax. Elytra similarly covered in pale scales with smaller numbers of pale brown scales; pale brown scales forming a sub-basal spot and two loose transelytral bands, one median and the other sub-median. There is colour variation with many individuals displaying more brown scales than the holotype (paratype male, Fig. 1B View Figure 1 ).

Ventrites ( Fig. 1C View Figure 1 ) dark brown, covered in white scales. Ventrite 1 with two angled postcoxal lines crossing ventrite either side of midline.

Antenna with 11 antennomeres, AL = 128 µm, AW = 81 µm, entirely red ( Fig. 2A View Figure 2 ). Antennal club formed from last three antennomeres, densely hirsute. Legs red. Femur with outer surface densely coated in white scales. Description, internal characteristics. Aedeagus ( Fig. 2B View Figure 2 ) long and narrow. Parameres (PL = 322 µm) rod-shaped, nearly equal width for their entire lengths. Parameres diverge from the base, curve round towards posterior, before progressing to the posterior tips as two parallel rods. Rounded tips of parameres flat (like a rod of putty pinched flat at the tip) and curved in towards each other but do not meet. Flattened tips paler than the rest of the aedeagus which is a uniform pale yellowish brown. Parameres are almost completely glabrous apart from a few very small setae on the flattened tips. Parameres with inner margins parallel to the margins of the median lobe.

Median lobe (ML = 361 µm) broad with margins diverging slightly from base to maximum width about midway, before smoothly converging to a blunt, rounded tip. Posterior tip of median lobe not extending as far as tips of parameres. Median lobe with two long, curved stirrups at anterior end.

Sternite IX, ( Fig. 2C View Figure 2 ) SL = 342 µm. Two long, curved, narrow horns at anterior end. Bases of horns converge to form a neck at the base of short, yellow-ochre posterior lobe that terminates in a white, rounded tip. Tip of posterior lobe with ~25–30 short recumbent setae emerging from margin; few setae (<10) emerging from disc.

Female. Bursa copulatrix devoid of sclerites. The only features of note from the female terminalia are sternite VIII ( Fig. 3A View Figure 3 ) and tergite VIII ( Fig. 3B View Figure 3 ).

Morphometrics. Mean BL = 1.84±0.14 (standard deviation) mm, mean BW/BL = 0.68±0.01, n = 30 in both cases. The data indicate that 95% BLs of A. kushangaza would lie within 1.54–2.13 mm. The smallest individual found in the sample studied was 1.60 mm, the largest 2.20 mm. 95% BW/BL expected to lie between 0.65–0.71 (actual range 0.65–0.71).

Distribution. Anthrenus kushangaza was collected in northeastern Egypt ( Fig. 5 View Figure 5 ).

Etymology. Anthrenus kushangaza is named after the Swahili word “kushangaza ”, meaning surprising or marvellous, reflecting our surprise on inspecting the specimens labelled A. aegyptiacus in NHMUK and discovering an undescribed species.