Neopachylopus penatii, Zhang & Lackner, 2025

Neopachylopus penatii sp. nov.

Figs 20 View Figures 20, 21 , 21 View Figures 20, 21 , 37 View Figure 37

Material examined.

• Holotype, female, side-mounted on triangular mounting card, ultimate right protarsomere and left metatarsomere broken off, with the following labels: “ female sign ” (printed); followed by: “ ALGERIE / Sidi Bel Abbés / collection le moult ” (printed); followed by: “ Muséum Paris / 1933 / Coll. Desbordes ” (light-turquoise label printed); followed by: “ Muséum national / Histoire nat. Paris / coll. générale ” (blue label, printed, black-framed); followed by: “ Neopachylopus / sp. nov. / det. Fabio Penati, 2022 ” (printed; black-framed label); followed by red, printed holotype label: “ Neopachylopus / penatii spec. nov. / Det. T. Lackner et Y. / Zhang 2025 ” ( MNHN).

Description.

Body (Figs 20 View Figures 20, 21 , 21 View Figures 20, 21 ) APW: 0.94 mm; PPW: 1.98 mm; EW: 2.11 mm; EL: 1.59 mm; PEL: 2.58 mm: oval, convex, pronotum dark brown, elytra lighter, castaneous; body appendages light brown, antennal club somewhat darker. Head: frontal disk slightly convex, glabrous; frontal stria almost straight, carinate, supraorbital and occipital striae fine, complete. Eyes flattened, almost invisible from above. Clypeus flattened, with several irregular, faint rugae; labrum typical for Hypocaccini , with two erect setae arising from each labral pit. Mandibles light brown, smooth, pointed apically, sub-apical tooth on left mandible large, perpendicular. Rest of visible mouthparts typical for the subfamily. Antennal club rather small, globular, without visible sensory structures; antennal scape with several long, thick yellow setae. Pronotum: pronotal hypomeron glabrous; marginal pronotal stria complete, carinate laterally, slightly weakened behind head. Pronotal disk weakly convergent anteriorly, apical angles blunt; disk glabrous, with several irregular punctures in ante-scutellar area. Elytra: elytral epipleuron glabrous, marginal epipleural stria fine, complete; marginal elytral stria fine, complete, continuous with complete apical elytral stria that is continuous with complete sutural elytral stria. Elytral humeri inconspicuous, humeral elytral stria very thin, present on basal elytral fifth; outer subhumeral stria present as a short median fragment. Dorsal elytral striae I – IV in punctures, of sub-equal length, reaching approximately to elytral third to half apically; stria IV basally connected with sutural elytral stria. Elytral disk on apical half (approximately) with dense, large punctures separated by 0.5–1.5 times their diameter; elytral intervals and flanks impunctate; punctures stopping short of elytral apex, leaving a narrow impunctate band. Propygidium: partly covered by elytra, with dense, deep punctures separated by less than their diameter; interspaces with microsculpture; pygidium triangular, medially convex, with sparser and finer punctures than those of propygidium. Prosternum: very compressed, knife-like, carinal prosternal striae between procoxae very approximate, thence running parallel, diverging and again convergent apically. Lateral prosternal striae short, carinate, attaining carinal prosternal striae at their mid-length; prosternal foveae tiny, rather deep; prosternal process concave. Mesoventrite: subquadrate, mesoventral disk with irregular punctures of unequal sizes; marginal mesoventral stria complete. Meso-metaventral suture with distinct punctate stria. Metaventrite: broad, short, slightly concave medially, intercoxal disk glabrous, near apical margin with a band of irregular punctures of various sizes. Lateral disk of metaventrite with large ocelloid shallow setigerous punctures, interspaces with alutaceous microsculpture. Lateral metaventral stria short, carinate, straight. Metepisternum with very dense, large setigerous punctures. First visible abdominal ventrite completely striate laterally; with irregular punctures of various sizes on basal fourth; rest of disk almost glabrous; along apical edge a row of tiny punctures appears. Legs: protibial apex with two prominent, rounded denticles, followed by a distant short tooth topped by similar denticle, followed by a dense row of six regular, elongate denticles diminishing in size in proximal direction. Protarsal spur short, inconspicuous, anterior protibial margin with three short, thin denticles; protibial groove deep, straight; protarsus thin, ultimate protarsomere shorter than two preceding together; claws short, thin, bent. Mesotibia thickened, outer margin with several rows of dense, thick set denticles on outer margin, growing in distal direction; mesotibial spur long, stout; mesotarsus thickened, each mesotarsomere with long, thick seta; mesotarsal claws thin, bent, shorter than half of ultimate mesotarsomere. Metatibia triangularly dilated and thickened, otherwise like mesotibia; metafemora thickened. Male unknown.

Distribution.

Known only from Sidi Bel Abbès, near Oran, north-western Algeria (Fig. 37 View Figure 37 ). Possibly distributed also into Morocco.

Etymology.

Named after our colleague Fabio Penati (Morbegno, Italy), who first recognised this unique taxon.

Etymology.

Unknown.

Remarks.

The glabrous frontal disk, knife-like prosternal process and peculiar shape of protibia (protibial apex with two prominent rounded denticles, followed by a distant short tooth topped by similar denticle) clearly separate this taxon from members of genus Hypocaccus , which it superficially resembles most. The smooth, impunctate pronotum would suggest affinity to the subgenus Baeckmanniolus Reichardt, 1926 of the aforementioned genus. Yet by the above-mentioned characters, N. penatii sp. nov. cannot be classified within it. Hesitant to erect a new genus, we decided to include it in the heterogeneous Neopachylopus , pending further studies (see also Discussion).