Macrotomoderus blinsteini Telnov, 2024, sp. nov.

Macrotomoderus blinsteini sp. nov. Figs 1, 2 Type material designated. Holotype • ♂ NME: “ CHINA: Shaanxi / Sichuan Daba Shan, pass 20 km SSE Zhenping ~ 1750 m leg. Schülke 12. 7. 2001 ” [printed]. Paratype • 1 ♀ DTC: “ CHINA: Shaanxi: Dabashan; 20 km SSE Zhenping 1700 m leg. Stary 26. 6. 2002 ” [printed]. Measurements. Holotype, total body length 3.9 mm; head including exposed part of cranial ‘ neck’ 0.8 mm long, across eyes 0.8 mm wide, pronotum 1 mm long, maximum width 0.8 mm, minimum width 0.3 mm, elytra 2.1 mm long, combined width 1.4 mm. Paratype ♀ 4 mm long. Description. Holotype, male. Dorsum and venter uniformly brown, head comparatively slightly darker. Mouthparts, antennae, palps, and legs brownish testaceous. Head transversely ovoid, glossy dorsally and ventrally, with rather small, distinctly ovoid compound eyes which are not protruding beyond lateral or dorsal outline of head. Head rounded in broad arc posterior to eyes. Head dorsal punctures minute and inconspicuous but rather deep. Intervening spaces 4–6 × as wide as diameter of punctures. Head dorsal setae inconspicuous, moderately dense, whitish to yellowish. Antenna reach base of pronotum when directed posteriad. Antennomere 3 subequal in length to antennomere 2, antennomeres 6 and 7 approximately as long as wide, 8–10 transverse, of which 9–10 strongly so. Terminal antennomere strongly asymmetrically triangular with rounded apex, ~ 1.5–1.6 × as long as penultimate antennomere. Terminal maxillary palpomere securiform. Pronotum stout, moderately glossy dorsally and laterally, narrower than head across compound eyes, with broad, medially distinctly notched (in dorsal view) postmedian lateral constriction. Front margin of anterior lobe very broadly rounded, dorsally without modifications and anterior rim. Anterior lobe barely convex in lateral view (Fig. 1 B). Lateral constriction barely continues onto pronotal disc in lateral view (Fig. 1 B). Lateral pronotal fovea moderately broad at lower (lateroventral) extent of laterally strongly declivous pronotal disc, somewhat widens upwards towards pronotal disc in lateral view, lateral edges of fovea carinate, narrowly separated (all in lateral view), denticle-like in dorsal view. In lateral view anterior and posterior edge of pronotal fovea covered with bristle of short golden setae except at their lower extent. Cavity in lateral wall of pronotum between lateral denticles moderate, deep. In dorsal view, lateral pronotal fovea moderately wide, anterior and posterior denticle poorly visible, glabrous. Pronotal punctures on disc similar to those on head dorsum; lateral constriction dorsally with dense, large, irregularly circular punctures with corrugate backgrounds separated by much less than puncture diameters. Dorsal pronotal setae similar to those on head dorsum, denser on lateral sides of pronotum. Few longer erect tactile setae on lateral sides of anterior lobe. Scutellar shield minute, apically rounded, glabrous, and glossy. Elytra moderately glossy, dorsally elliptical, slightly convex in lateral view, strongly widened laterally around midlength, lateral margins broadly rounded, humerus obsolete (apterous species). Elytral punctures much stronger and larger than those on dorsal forebody, more or less regularly circular, smaller, and less coarse than dorsal punctures on pronotal constriction. Punctures flatter but not much sparser on apical third of elytra. Intervening spaces ~ 1.5–2 × as wide as diameter of punctures. Elytral setae long and sparse, suberect, yellowish. Male tergite and sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin. Sternite IX rod-like, strongly sinuous (Fig. 2 A). Aedeagus as in Fig. 2 B – H, thick and bulbous in basal portion, narrowing towards subtruncate apex. Endophallic armature of numerous minute, peculiarly tack-shaped spines in apical part and, in basal portion, with large, pebble-like sclerites arranged in a kind of garland and intermixed with dense spines filling intervening spaces between sclerites (Fig. 2 B – E). Sexual dimorphism. Female tergite and sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin, pronotum comparatively slenderer and elytra somewhat stronger constricted towards apex than in male. Differential diagnosis. This species falls in a group of species from continental China including, for example, M. hartmanni Telnov, 2022 and M. korolevi Telnov, 2022 (both from Yunnan) with the lateral constriction area of the pronotum densely and roughly but ordinary punctate and sparsely to moderately densely setose dorsally, lacking the longitudinal carinae, sulci or elongate pores. The aedeagus is differently shaped in M. blinsteini sp. nov., the endophallic armature is smaller, thinner and peculiarly tack-shaped, and the elytral punctures are comparatively coarser and deeper. Ecology. Collected at ~ 1700–1750 m a. s. l. Distribution. Known from the Daba Mountains in southern Shaanxi Province along boundary with Sichuan, central China. Etymology. Patronymic. This species named for Semen Blinstein (Dortmund, Germany; previously Odessa, Ukraine) – a well-known coleopterist who possesses a valuable beetle collection from southern Ukraine and is the author of some Anthicidae species from the region.