Selaserica peechi Sreedevi & Ahrens, 2025

Selaserica peechi Sreedevi & Ahrens View in CoL , sp. nov.

( Figs. 2K–O View FIGURE 2 )

Type locality. INDIA: Kerala, Thrissur, Peechi , KFRI , 10°31’N; 76°20’E.

Type material examined. Holotype, ♂: “ INDIA: Kerala, Thrissur, Peechi , KFRI, 10°31’ N; 76°20’ E, 22.xi.2008, leg. Yeshwanth, H. M. /SER12/ICAR-NBAIR/S25” ( NBAIR). GoogleMaps

The specimen bears a red printed label: Selaserica peechi sp. nov., HOLOTYPE, Kolla Sreedevi and Dirk Ahrens, Det. 2025.

Description of the holotype, male. Length: 9.8 mm, length of elytra: 6.2 mm, width: 5.6 mm. Body oval, reddish brown, antenna yellow, dorsal surface glabrous and dull with iridescent shine, head shiny.

Head. Labroclypeus trapezoidal, distinctly wider than long, widest at base, lateral margins straight and strongly convergent to moderately rounded anterior angles, lateral border and ocular canthus producing an indistinct blunt angle, margins weakly reflexed, anterior margin shallowly emarginate medially; surface moderately convex medially, shiny, coarsely and sparsely punctate, with a few fine setae anteriorly; frontoclypeal suture distinct and weakly angled medially; smooth area anterior to eye almost triangular, approximately 2.5 times as wide as long; ocular canthus short and wide, densely punctate, with a single short terminal seta. Frons shiny, with fine, sparse punctures, glabrous except for a few setae beside eyes. Eyes large, ratio of diameter/interocular width: 0.85. Antenna with ten antennomeres; club ( ♂) with four antennomeres, 1.5 times as long as remaining antennomeres combined. Mentum elevated and flattened anteriorly.

Pronotum moderately wide, widest at base, lateral margins evenly convex and evenly narrowed to anterior angles, anterior angles moderately produced and sharp, posterior angle broadly rounded, anterior margin distinctly convexly produced medially, anterior marginal line complete, basal marginal line absent; surface densely and finely punctate, punctures with microscopic setae; lateral anterior and lateral borders sparsely setose; hypomeron carinate at ventral base but not produced ventrally, carina with one or two robust setae. Scutellum small, triangular, dull, with fine and sparse punctures.

Elytra oblong, widest at posterior third, striae distinctly impressed, finely and densely punctate, intervals slightly convex, with fine, dense punctures concentrated along striae, punctures with minute setae interspersed with sparse, brown, long setae; epipleural edge fine, ending at convex external apical angle of elytra, epipleura densely setose; apical border membranous, covered with short microtrichomes.

Ventral surface dull, thorax and metacoxa with large and dense punctures, sparsely finely setose; metacoxa glabrous except for numerous short setae laterally; abdominal sternites finely and densely punctate, punctures with moderately long setae, each sternite with a transverse row of coarse punctures each bearing a long seta, penultimate sternite apically with a shiny and smooth but very short chitinous border. Mesosternum between mesocoxae wider than mesofemur. Ratio of length of metepisternum/ metacoxa: 1/1.2. Pygidium moderately convex, dull, finely and densely punctate, with a narrow, smooth midline, with a few long setae beside apical border.

Legs moderately wide; femora shiny, with two longitudinal rows of setae, finely and sparsely punctate. Metafemur almost impunctate, its anterior margin acute, with a closely adjacent and continuously serrated line, anterior longitudinal row of setae complete; posterior ventral margin almost straight, weakly widened in apical half, neither ventrally nor dorsally serrated but smooth, glabrous. Metatibia moderately wide and long, widest behind middle, dorsal and ventral margins subparallel in posterior two thirds, ratio width/length: 1/2.9, longitudinally convex dorsally, with two groups of spines, basal one just before half, apical one at 4/5 of metatibial length, beside dorsal margin basally with a long serrated line which ends shortly before apex but which is interrupted at middle, with some adjacent single punctures each bearing a single spine; lateral face longitudinally convex, very sparsely punctate and glabrous; ventral margin with three fine equidistant spines; medial face smooth, apex shallowly concave interiorly near tarsal articulation. Tarsomeres impunctate dorsally, pro- and mesotarsomeres with very dense, fine setae ventrally producing a brush-like structure; metatarsomeres with a strongly serrated, longitudinal ridge ventrally but a parallel carina is absent, sparsely setose ventrally, first metatarsomere little longer than following two tarsomeres combined and little less than twice as long as dorsal tibial spur. Protibia moderately long, sharply tridentate. All claws symmetrical, feebly curved and long, with normally developed basal tooth.

Aedeagus. Figs. 2K–N View FIGURE 2 . Habitus. Fig. 2O View FIGURE 2 . Female unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Selaserica peechi sp. nov. is similar to Selaserica opacipennis Frey, 1973 but can be distinguished by the distinct shape of the parameres ( Figs. 2K–N View FIGURE 2 ): the right paramere is distinctly shorter (not exceeding the dorsomedian apophysis of phallobase) and being somewhat convexly bent ventrally (lateral view);the left paramere is also shorter and convexly bent at its dorsal margin (lateral view).

Etymology. The new species is named after the type locality Peechi (noun in apposition).

Distribution. Known from the type locality only ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 ).