New genus and species of Oriental Meligethinae with new observations on the genera Cryptarchopria and Kabakovia ( Coleóptera : Nitidulidae )

A new genus and species, Horakia kubani gen. n., sp. n., of Meligethinae from Thailand are described and compared with the closely related genus Cryptarchopria Jelinek. Cryptarchopria infiima (Grouvelle) is recorded from the islands Ambon and Seram (Maluku, Indonesia), and its association with flowers of the palm Areca catechu L. is established for the first time. Diagnostic char­ acters of the genus Kabakovia Kirejtshuk, 1979 are discussed, and Kabakovia latipes (Grouvelle, 1908) is recorded from Nepal for the first time.

The genus Cryptarchopria was established by Jelínek (1975) to accommodate a peculiar species from Java, which was originally described as Cryptarcha infima Grouvelle, 1895 because of some superficial similarities with members of the subfamily Cryptarchinae.Further two species from Vietnam were added by Kirejtshuk (1979bKirejtshuk ( , 1989)).Recent field observations recorded here suggest that C. infima is associated with the flowers of the betel palm Areca catechu L. (Arecales, Arecaceae).Moreover, a new genus representing a sister group of Cryptarchopria, collected by J. Horák and V. Kubáň in Thailand, is described in the present paper.In addition the systematic position of the Oriental genus Kabakovia Kirejtshuk, 1979 is discussed.DESCRIPTION OF NEW TAXA Genus Horakia gen.n.
Head with temples converging posteriorly.Frons fused with clypeus, extended laterally over insertions of antennae in front of eyes, arcuately emarginate anteriorly, leaving a part oflabrum exposed (Fig. 1).Occipital sulcus absent.Antennal furrows broad, converging posteriorly, at outer sides delimited by moderately bulged genae.Paragenae broad, with outer margins partly concealing antennal furrows, short, continued as a fine impunctate and slightly raised edge behind eyes (Fig. 12).Labrum bilobed, mandibles arcuate with pointed tips and one additional tooth behind them.Terminal segments of both maxillary and labial palpi subcylindrical.Mentum sub pentagonal (Fig. 2).Antennae 11-segmented, long, with four-segmented club (male), antennomeres II and IV much shorter than the neighbouring ones; scape broad, with basal portion of dorsal surface shallowly concave and bearing short vertical peg articulating with extended side of frons, flagellum without erect setae (Fig. 10).
Distances between meso-and metacoxae subequal, twice as broad as distance between procoxae.All femora broadly oval, nearly twice as long as broad, broadly hol lowed on dorsal surface for reception of tibiae.Fore tibia with extremely finely crenulate, apparently smooth, recti linear outer margin, outer subapical angle rounded, dis tinctly finely crenulate (Fig. 4).Meso-and metatibiae flat with simple outer margins, abruptly arcuately dilated inwards at their base, then almost parallel-sided (Figs 5 and 6).Three basal tarsomeres rather narrow, distinctly bilobed.Tarsal claws simple.
Female unknown.Presumably with shorter antennae with 3-segmented club.
Etymology.Dedicated to one of the collectors, Prague cole opterist Jan Horák.Gender: Feminine.
Taxonomic remarks.Most above characters, espe cially the extended sides of frons, elongate male antennae with four-segmented club and peculiar dorsal articulation of scape, prosternal process dilated behind procoxae and emarginate apically, transversely strigose elytra and hypopygium without arcuate impressions, demonstrate a close relationship of the new genus to Cryptarchopria.Horakia differs from the latter genus especially by some plesiomorphies in the development of antennal furrows and clypeus, thus representing a "missing link" between the highly specialized Cryptarchopria and the rest of Meligethinae.Both genera can be considered as sistergroups, representing a distinct monophyletic clade within the Meligethinae.Some characters, such as foursegmented antennal club in male, shape of prosternal process and transversely strigose elytra, are shared also with the monobasic Oriental genus Kabakovia Kirejtshuk, 1979.Possible relationship of Kabakovia to (Horakia + Cryptarchopria) is discussed below and principal diag nostic characters of the three genera are given in Table 1.

Horakia kubani sp. n.
(Figs 1-12) Description.Male.Body small, moderately convex dorsally (Fig. 1).Head and pronotal disc dark brown, elytra and pygidium black-brown, metasternum black, disc of pronotum and pygidium with faint greenish metallic lustre.Sides and large areas at posterior comers of pronotum, narrowly canaliculate sides of elytra, pair of vaguely limited, elongate, anteriorly diverging spots at posterior half of elytral suture and ventral surface brownyellow, dilated sides of frons in front of eyes yellowish translucent, pygidium with narrow yellowish border.Legs yellow, antennae with 2-3 basal segments brown-yellow, becoming gradually darker distad, segments V-XI black brown.Pubescence of head and pronotum rather long, thin, recumbent, yellow, on pronotum whirled with local golden reflections resulting in a nebulose pattern; hairs on elytra dense, short, recumbent, dark brown.Length 2.5-2.6 mm, width 1.5 mm.
Head with eyes as wide as the distance between anterior corners of pronotum.Lateral margins of frons in front of eyes almost straight, converging anteriorly, moderately bulged over insertions of antennae.Anterior margin of clypeus broadly and shallowly arcuately emarginate (Fig. 1).Punctures of frons markedly finer than eye facets, sim ple, separated by 2-3 diameters, becoming closer late rally; spaces between them smooth and shining.
Pronotum widest at basal fourth, almost indistinctly narrowed posteriorly, 1.89-1.91times wider than medial lenght.Anterior margin truncate, extremely narrowly bor dered, anterior angles prominent, acute.Basal margin almost straight, broadly and extremely shallowly emargi nate besides subrectangular posterior angles.P/A index 1.59-1.61.Explanate sides in anterior half as broad as sixth antennomere, gradually narrowed posteriorly.Disc moderately convex, smooth and shining, densely punctulate; punctures smaller than those of frons, separated by 0.5-2 diameters, becoming closer (separated by less than one diameter) laterally, with feeble traces of transverse strigosities.Long thin yellow hairs recumbent, diverging radially from several points, thus giving the surface a nebulose appearance resulting from different light refrac tion.Scutellum semicircular, densely punctulate, with very dense short yellowish hairs.Elytra as wide as pronotum, widest at basal fourth and there 1.07 times wider than long, broadly separately rounded apically.Lateral margins flatly arcuate, nar rowly canaliculate sides by half narower than antennal flagellum.Sutural lines feebly developed along apical third of suture.Humeral angles obtuse, sutural almost rounded, humeral bulges hardly distinct.Surface of elytra transversely strigose with very dense short recumbent silky hairs, as in Cryptarchopria.Pygidium largely exposed, rather flat, rounded apically, densely punctulate, with thin dark recumbent hairs.
Mentum subpentagonal, about 1.8 times wider than long (Fig. 2), with punctures almost equal in size to eye facets and separated by one diameter or less, between them smooth and shining.Postmentum flat in middle, with punctures finer and sparser than those on mentum, between them smooth.Posterior portions of antennal fur rows obliquely wrinkled.Prosternum finely densely punctulate, moderately shining, with oblique wrinkles laterally; punctures nearly equal to those of postmentum, but much denser.Hypomera concave, distinctly reticulate, with very obsolete sparse punctures becoming closer at posterior half of lateral margins.Prosternal process widest behind procoxae, bordered laterally, shallowly emarginate apically, punctate like pronotum (Fig. 3).Mesosternum densely microreticulate, with indistinct punctures; its posterior intercoxal margin subtruncate.Metasternum flat in middle, with fine and moderately impressed mediolongitudinal line in posterior two thirds, flatly convex laterally; punctures nearly as fine as those on prosternum, shallow, somewhat aciculate, in middle separated by 1-2 diameters; spaces between them smooth and shining in middle, microreticulate and dull laterally.Axillary spaces microreticulate, impunctate.Punctures of abdominal sterna nearly equal in size to those of metaster num, but markedly closer.
half width of fore tibia, those of middle and hind tarsi narrower.Tarsal claws simple.
Male genitalia as figured (Figs 7-9).Tegmen with deep V-shaped emargination reaching its midlength, outer por tions of rounded tips of lateral lobes not pigmented.
Female unknown.Judging from analogy with Cryptar chopria, sexual dimorphism may occur in the length of antennae, shape of antennal club and shape of elytral apex.
Etymology.Dedicated to the second collector of the species, Vít Kubáň (Brno).
Bionomics.Both type specimens were swept from flowers of Castanopsis sp.(Fagaceae).Because the flowers of Castanopsis are attractive to beetles generally (J.Horák, pers.comm.), H. kubani may be a casual visitor to these flowers; this view is supported by the lim ited number of specimens collected and the absence of females in the sample.

Cryptarchopria ínfima (Grouvelle, 1895)
Cryptarcha ínfima Grouvelle, 1895: 259. Cryptarchopria infima: Jelínek, 1975: 2. The type species of the genus Cryptarchopria has been known only from Java.The recently collected material from the Moluccas not only extends the range of the spe cies, but also suggests an association with palm flowers, because the rather extensive material from two different islands was collected exclusively from flowers of the betel palm, Areca catechu L. (S.Bílý and J. Horák, pers. comm.).This observation agrees with that made on the related species C. kabakovi, which was collected from flowers as well as decaying fruits of the palm Arenga pinnata (Wurmb) Merr. in Vietnam (Kirejtshuk & Kabakov, 1997).C. infima displays considerable variation in colour pattern, ranging from completely brown-yellow speci mens to those with almost completely black pronotum and elytra; frequently the disc of pronotum and periscutellar area of elytra are more or less infuscate.Body length 2.5-3.1 mm in males, 2.1-3.0 mm in females.

Kabakovia latipes
Comments.Fifteen genera of Meligethinae are recog nized including Horakia gen.n.Problems of generic clas sification of the subfamily and of delimitations of some genera were recently discussed by Audisio (1993).An undoubtely monophyletic clade within the subfamily, characterized by synapomorphic pair of separated arcuate impressions on hypopygium, includes the genera Anthystrix Kirejtshuk, 1981, Cyclogethes Kirejtshuk, 1979, Meligethes Stephens, 1830, Meligethinus Grouvelle, 1906, Metapria Grouvelle, 1909, and Microporum Water house, 1876, and is referred to as the Meligethes-complex below.Among the genera with simple hypopygium, four Afrotropical and Malagassy genera described by Endrody-Younga (1978), namely Cornutopria, Microporellus, Microporodes and Palmopria, probably also represent a monophyletic group, even though the generic classification of this complex should probably be reexam ined and the whole group can be defined so far mostly by symplesiomorphic traits, such as simple puncturation of elytra, antennal club always three-segmented in both sexes, and narrow prosternal process rounded to subtrun cate apically.Remaining genera with simple hypopygium share a four-to five-segmented club in males, but while Pria Stephens, 1830 is characterized by narrower oval body, simple frons, basal articulation of scape, narrow prosternal process rounded apically, and regularly punc tate elytra, a monophyletic clade (Horakia + Cryptar chopria) is well supported by several synapomorphies, such as broadly oval and flatly convex body, frons dilated over insertions of antennae, secondary dorsal articulation of scape, broad prosternal process arcuately emarginate apically, and transversely strigose elytra.Some of those apomorphies, namely the shape of prosternal process as well as transversely strigose elytra, are shared also by the monobasic Oriental genus Kabakovia.The latter genus possesses a pair of bisinuate interconnected impressions on hypopygium, but this structure differs from that of the Meligethes-complex (see above) and may have developed separately.Kabakovia resembles Horakia and Cryptar chopria also by the somewhat prolonged antennae with four-segmented club in males and is sympatric with them.Similar dimorphism in the shape of antennal club occurs within the Meligethes-complex only in the genus Anthystrix Kirejtshuk, 1981 from South Africa.Antennal club of Anthystrix is said to be four-to six-segmented by Kirejt shuk & Easton (1988), but the club of Anthystrix longiclava Kirejtshuk & Easton, 1988, figured in the latter paper (Fig. 1,1), is clearly seven-segmented.However, antennae are never prolonged, prosternal process is nar row, elytra never transversely strigose, and dorsal surface concealed by dense long setae in Anthystrix.Moreover, according to Audisio (pers. comm.), some southern African species with three-segmented male antennal club, described by Kirejtshuk & Easton (1988) as members of Meligethinus, should be also classified as Anthystrix.This would strenghten the notion that the male club with more than three enlarged antennomeres developed independ ently in Anthystrix.Thus it seems that Kabakovia is a sister-group of (Horakia + Cryptarchopria), as suggested by Kirejtshuk (1979a).The last genus, Prioschema Reitter, 1876 from Liberia, has not been seen by modern authors (type material not found), andjudging by some of the characters mentioned in the original description by Reitter (1876), such as bordered basal margin of pronotum, simple tarsi, and each elytron with two longitudinal striae, may not belong to the Meligethinae.