Nomen nudum: Attagenus roeri Kalík: Schawaller 1994: 27 (see Remarks).

Holotype (♂): “SWA / Namibia, Nyanga, 14.–22.I.1985, leg. H. Roer”.

Paratypes (not sexed): 39 specimens, same data as holo type.

All specimens of the newly described species are provided with the following labels: “HOLOTYPE” [or “PARATYPE” respectively]”, “Attagenus pseudorobustior sp. n., A. Herrmann & J. Háva det. 2015”.

The holotype is stored in SMNS, paratypes are deposited in SMNS, AHEC and JHAC.

Etymology

The name of the new species refers to its similarity to Attagenus robustior (Pic, 1951).

Description

Holotype (♂): Body longish ovate, slightly arched. Measurements: TL 3.5 mm, EW 2.1 mm. Head slightly broader than long, sparsely and finely punctate, densely covered with long grey, decumbent hairs; frons flattened and shiny; palpi light brown; Ocellus present on front. Eyes large with hardly visible microsetae. Antennae 11-segmented; antennal club consisting of 3 antennomeres, combined shorter than the shaft (Fig. 2); terminal segment nearly as long as the preceding two segments combined; antennal club brown to darkish brown, shaft light brown. Pronotum twice as broad as long, arcuately narrowed anteriorly, finely and sparsely punctate (like head), cuticula shiny, entirely covered by uniform long grey, decumbent hairs; anterior angles rounded, not visible from above; posterior angles acute with rounded edge, middle of the base convexly extended. Scutellum small and triangular. Punctation and pubescence of the elytra similar to that of head and pronotum, but punctation somewhat more rough and dense; cuticle reddish brown with several indistinct black spots and fasciae, hardly visible because of the dense pubescence as shown in Fig. 1. Legs brown with long and coarse yellow brown pubescence; tarsi roughly as long as tibiae, the latter with strong spines on the exterior edge arranged in two irregular lines. Mesosternum, metasternum and all visible abdominal sternites with the same kind of punctation and pubescence as in elytra. Male genitalia as shown in Fig. 3.

Female: Habitually quite similar to male, slightly more elongated. The antennal club somewhat smaller (as usual in this genus), the spots and fasciae much more distinct than in male, the hairs located on the black elytral parts are darkened (Fig. 4).

Variability: Measurements of paratypes: TL 2.9–3.8 mm, EW 1.8–2.3 mm. Dimension, shape and position of spots and fascia on the elytra are slightly variable.

Differential diagnosis

The new species strongly resembles Attagenus robustior (Pic, 1951) (figure of habitus see  http://www.dermestidae.com/Attagenusrobustior.html), but differs in the following characters:

A. robustior: Antennal club black, broad; body narrower, pubescence of pronotum with several spots and patches, legs dark brown to black, male genitalia almost circular in dorsal aspect (Congo, Namibia, Senegal, Tanzania).

A. pseudorobustior n. sp.: Antennal club brown and more narrow; body broader, pubescence of pronotum uniform without any spots or patches, legs brown, male genitalia elongated in dorsal aspect (Namibia).

The new species differs from all other species of the genus occurring in Namibia in shape and arrangement of the elytral spots.

Remarks

Kalík's dermestids are stored in several institutions. Some of them are new to science and already got a name by him and are labelled as types, but they were never published as valid descriptions. This concerns also a couple of beetles labelled as “Attagenus roeri sp. n.” which are deposited in the collection of the SMNS. This species is now described in the present paper. Schawaller (1994) cited the material from SMNS erroneously under the name Attagenus roeri Kalík in his type catalogue of Coleoptera from SMNS.