Scopaeus saaberae, Frisch, 2025

Scopaeus saaberae , spec. nov.

(Figs 20, 21, 42–47, 60)

Type specimens: Holotype ♂, Malaysia, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Sungei Buloh , 20.IX.1972, leg. Jaccoud ( MHNG) . Paratypes ( 28 specimens), Indonesia : 1 ♂, Kalimantan Selatan, Pagatan [labeled: Pagate, Borneo], leg. Grabowsky ( MFNB) ; 1 ♀, Kalimantan Selatan, Bunga Djannar ( NHMW) ; 1 ♂, Kalimantan Tengah, Telang Baru [labeled: Telang, Borneo], XI.1881, leg. Grabowsky ( ISNB) ; 1 ♂, 3 ♀, Kalimantan Tengah, Telang Baru [labeled: Telang, Borneo], XI.1881, leg. Grabowsky ( NHMW) ; 1 ♂, Kalimantan Tengah, Telang Baru [labeled: Telang, Borneo], XI.1881, leg. Grabowsky ( MFNB) ; 1 ♂, Kalimantan Tengah, Telang Baru [labeled: India or., Telang ] ( MFNB) ; 1 ♂, 16 ♀, Kalimantan Tengah, Telang Baru [labeled: Telang] ( NHMW) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Kalimantan Tengah, Tameang Lajang ( NHMW) .

I have chosen the single specimen from Sungei Buloh, a district of Kuala Lumpur, as holotype, because it is the only specimen of Scopaeus saaberae that was collected in recent times and provides unambiguous information about the locality. In contrast, the many specimens from Borneo collected in the early 1880s come from unclear localities. Most of these specimens were collected by Wilhelm Grabowsky, a German natural scientist and collector, in “Telang” in November 1881. Blasius (1883) described Grabowsky′s expedition route through south-eastern Borneo in detail in an article on the birds of Borneo. According to this, Grabowsky collected in November 1881 at a place then named Kampong Telang on the Barito River in the district of Duson Timor ( Blasius 1883: 18). I assume that this place is identical with today′s Telang Baru in Barito Timur, Kalimantan Tengah. Today′s names of the Bornean localities Tameang Lajang and Bunga Djannar of S. saaberae I could not identify.

Description: Male: Abdominal sternite VII (Fig. 20) with black, lateral combs of posterior emargination relatively short, occupying only about 0.3 of maximum sternite length, and straight at distal end; corona of black setae surrounding posterior emargination weakly developed, barely perceptible and reduced to few, thin, scattered setae.

Abdominal sternite VIII (Fig. 21) with medially divided field of black macrosetae also barely perceptible, reduced to few, thin setae in about middle of sternite length.

Aedeagus with apical lobes in apical portion narrow, somewhat lengthened distad, each ending in strong, ventrolaterad curved apical tooth ( Figs 42, 43, 45, 46 View FIGURES 42–47 ); subapical teeth acute, pointing lateroproximad, not projecting from ventral margin of apical lobes ( Figs 42, 45 View FIGURES 42–47 ), but slightly projecting laterally ( Figs 43, 46 View FIGURES 42–47 ); membranous lobes projecting ventrally ( Figs 42, 45 View FIGURES 42–47 ); ventroproximal ends of apical lobes in lateral view elongated to triangular, subacute angles ( Figs 42, 45 View FIGURES 42–47 ), in ventral view running close to each other and pointing medioproximad ( Fig. 46 View FIGURES 42–47 ). Ventral lobe barely protruding ventrally, in lateral view without pointed apical end ( Figs 42, 45 View FIGURES 42–47 ), in ventral view in lateral sixths of width deeply, convexly emarginate, in median two-thirds of width dilated laterodistally with obtusely right-angled laterodistal angles and between them concave with short, median emargination ( Fig. 46 View FIGURES 42–47 ). Length of aedeagus: 0.56–0.57 mm.

Female: Bursa with ends curved dorsad with distinct, median angle; bursa in nearly distal half gradually dilated dorsad towards truncate end, in proximal portion narrow and subparallel in lateral view, but strongly, convexly widened laterally, thus clavate in ventral view ( Fig. 60 View FIGURES 54–61 ).

Distribution: Scopaeus saaberae was collected in the Malay Peninsula ( Kuala Lumpur) and in the southeast of Borneo, but is certainly more widely distributed in the Greater Sunda Islands (Fig. 62).

Etymology: With choosing the epithet saaberae (Latinized noun, derived from the surname Saaber, genitive, singular) I warmly dedicate this new species to Friederike Saaber, Fulda.