Macrotomoderus hirsutus Telnov, 2024, sp. nov.

Macrotomoderus hirsutus sp. nov. Figs 3, 4 Type material designated. Holotype • ♂ NME: “ CHINA: Hubei: Dabashan; 13 km NW Muyuping 1900 m leg. Stary 16. 7. 2002 ” [printed]. Measurements. Holotype, total body length 3.8 mm; head including exposed part of cranial ‘ neck’ 0.9 mm long, across eyes 0.9 mm wide, pronotum 1.1 mm long, maximum width 0.9 mm, minimum width 0.35 mm, elytra 2.3 mm long, 1.7 mm combined wide. Description. Holotype, male. Head and pronotum brown, elytra pale brown. Mouthparts, antennae, palps, and legs pale brownish – testaceous. Head ovoid, moderately glossy dorsally and ventrally, with moderate, nearly circular compound eyes which are slightly protruding beyond lateral outline of head. Head rounded in broad arc posterior to eyes. Head dorsal punctures minute but rather deep, denser on occiput and vertex. Intervening spaces 2–4 × as wide as punctures. Head dorsal setae yellowish, inconspicuous on most of head dorsum but long and dense, forming a subconical bristle (in dorsal view) at head base and therefore concealing median part of anterior pronotal margin. Apical portions of these long head – base setae are curled and in part tangled (Fig. 3 B, C). Antenna exceeds slightly beyond base of elytra when directed posteriad. Antennomere 3 subequal in length to antennomere 2, antennomeres 6–10 transverse, of which 8–10 strongly so. Terminal antennomere asymmetrically triangular with rounded apex, ~ 1.6 × as long as penultimate antennomere. Terminal maxillary palpomere securiform. Pronotum stout, moderately glossy dorsally and laterally, approximately as wide as head across compound eyes, with broad, medially strongly notched (in dorsal view) postmedian lateral constriction. Anterior lobe much wider than posterior, its front margin broadly rounded, dorsally without modifications and anterior rim. Anterior lobe nearly flat in lateral view (Fig. 3 B). Lateral constriction does not continue onto disc in lateral view (Fig. 3 B). Lateral pronotal fovea wide at lower (lateroventral) extent of laterally strongly declivous pronotal disc, not widens upwards towards pronotal disc in lateral view, lateral edges of fovea carinate, moderately separated and densely setose (all in lateral view), in dorsal view denticle-like. In lateral view anterior and posterior edge of pronotal fovea completely covered with bristle of short golden setae. Cavity in lateral wall of pronotum moderate. In dorsal view, lateral pronotal fovea wide, anterior and posterior denticle clearly visible, dense brush-like setose (Fig. 3 A, C). Pronotal punctures on disc similar to those on head dorsum, intervening spaces 3–7 × as wide as punctures; lateral constriction dorsally with irregularly shaped and variably dense and deep, generally moderately to strongly elongated punctures; median ones particularly large and elongate, groove-like. Dorsal pronotal setae moderately dense, but much denser on lateral sides of pronotum, especially in constriction area where setation effectively conceals shape of lateral pronotal denticles. Several longer erect tactile setae on lateral sides of anterior lobe. Scutellar shield minute, apically rounded, glabrous, and glossy. Elytra moderately glossy, dorsally elongate elliptical, slightly convex in lateral view, widened laterally around midlength, lateral margins broadly rounded, humerus obsolete (apterous species). Elytral punctures stronger and larger than those on dorsal forebody, more or less regularly circular, smaller than dorsal punctures on lateral pronotal constriction. Punctures becoming more flat and somewhat sparser on apical third of elytra. Intervening spaces ~ 3–5 × 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, slightly bisinuate (Fig. 4 A). Aedeagus as in Fig. 4 B – G, elongate, narrows apically, apex somewhat subspatulate, widened and rounded. Endophallic armature of numerous large peculiarly spike / nail-shaped spines (Fig. 4 B – F). Sexual dimorphism. Female is unknown. Differential diagnosis. This species is readily recognized due to the presence of the dense clump of setae on male head base in the combination with the peculiar, spike / nail-like endophallic armature of the aedeagus. The shape of the aedeagus somewhat resembles that of M. dali Telnov, 2022 (Yunnan, China), M. muli Telnov, 2022 (Sichuan, China), and M. wudu Telnov, 2022 (Gansu, China), but all three have entirely different endophallic armatures. The head base with more or less dense setation is present in M. conus Telnov, 2018, M. gracilis Telnov, 2018, M. microscopicus Telnov, 2018, M. monstrificabilis Telnov, 2018, M. perforatus Telnov, 2018, and M. schuelkei Telnov, 2018 (all from Yunnan, China), but other morphological features and the endophallic armature are quite different. Ecology. Collected at 1900 m a. s. l. Distribution. Known from Daba Mountains in western part of Hubei Province, central China. Etymology. From Latin hirsutus – shaggy, hairy, bristly, referring to the bristle of setae on the head base of this species.