Penthicus iranensis sp. nov. (Figs 55, 56) Type material. Holotype (♂) and paratypes (3 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀) (ZIN): “Зап. ПерсiЯ Куппа 22.XI.903 Зарудн.” (Cyrillic Old Russian label: Western Persia Kuppa, leg. N.A. Zarudny; now: Iran, Isfahan Prov., Kuhpayeh, 32°42′50″N, 52°26′11″E), “к. А. Семенова” (Cyrillic Old Russian label: collection of A. Semenov-Tian-Schansky); 1 ♀ (ZIN): “Зап. ПерсiЯ Исфахан 23–24 XI.903 Зарудн.” (Cyrillic Old Russian label: Western Persia, Isfahan, leg. N.A. Zarudny), “ Stonavus sp. 3 Schuster det.” 1 ♀ (HMIM): Iran, Fars Prov., Babamonir city, Mahur village env., 700– 900 m., 30°00ʹ58.0104ʺN, 50°58ʹ47.0964ʺE, 5.iv.2024 (leg. A. Dehghani). Description. Male (Figs 55A, B). Body slender, convex, slightly shiny, black, dorsally glabrous. Head widest across genae. Lateral margins of genae straightly converging to epistome in apical half and widely rounded in basal half. Widest area of genae located ahead of eyes. Head coarsely and sparsely punctured by large circular punctures on all surface; puncturation in middle of frons slightly sparser. Eye dorsally slightly longitudinal, 1.3 as long as wide. Head ventrally with dense granulation in basal area to submentum and smooth around mouthparts laterally and eyes. Prothorax. Pronotum moderately transverse (1.7 times as wide as long), widest across middle, 1.65 times as wide as head, slightly converging from widest portion to anterior margin, ratio width of pronotum at base, widest portion and anterior angles: 22.5: 24: 16.5. Anterior margin widely deeply emarginated, almost straight in middle. Lateral edges slightly rounded in basal half and more rounded in apical half. Base slightly bisinuate, almost straight in middle, median portion slightly protruded backwards. Anterior angles right-angled, tip pointed, posterior angles slightly obtuse, tip pointed. Lateral edges coarsely margined, margin of anterior edge shortly interrupted in middle, base entirely margined. Disc of pronotum convex, narrowly flattened along lateral margins, coarsely and sparsely punctured by circular punctures as head (interpuncture spaces near 2–3 times as long as puncture diameter in middle and subequal to puncture diameter on lateral sides); secondary micropuncturation very fine, almost invisible between large punctures. Lateral side of prothoracic hypomera widely flattened; flattened portion with the same width from base to anterior margin and finely punctured. Other surface of hypomera with sparse small granules and smooth longitudinal wrinkles; each granule bears short subrecumbent setae. Prosternum with sparse rasp-like flattened granules and recumbent short setae. Prosternal process slightly convex and slightly protruded beyond procoxae. Pterothorax. Elytra elongate, short, with very slightly rounded lateral margins, widest across middle (1.42 times as long as wide), 1.7 times as wide as head, 1.04 times as wide and 2.5 times as long as pronotum. Basal margin of elytra in epipleural portion not oblique, slightly evenly rounded, humeral angles obtuse, with pointed tip, lateral edge of elytra not emarginated near humeral angles. Striae well expressed, strial punctures coarse, circular, located in depressed furrowa, much larger than interstrial punctures; interstriaeslightly convex. Epipleuron in apical portion 1.8 times as wide as metepisternum. Ventral side of pterothorax sparsely pubescent with moderately recumbent setae. Mesoventrite granulated by separated small granules laterally and transversely rugose in middle; intercoxal process covered with flattened granules; mesepisterna with rasp-like rugosity. Metaventrite with distinct round sparse granules on sides and smooth sparse setose puncturation in middle. Abdomen. Abdominal ventrites 1–4 sparsely and finely granulated on sides and sparsely punctured with moderately coarse and sparse punctures medially; ventrites 1–3 without longitudinal depression in middle; ventrite 5 with simple denser and coarser puncturation, not margined at apex. Genitalia (Figs 56A–C). Inner sternite VIII deeply roundely emarginated, with apically narrowly rounded lateral angulations. Spiculum gastrale with thickened slightly curved rods and elongate oval blades, sparsely and finely punctured near outer margin. Parameres narrow, not truncated at apex, S-shaped; lateral margins widely emarginated at basal half and shortly sinuous near apex. Basal piece 2.2 times as long as parameres. Legs. Legs slender, profemora slightly extending beyond prothoracic margin, mesofemora shortly, and metafemora strongly extending beyond elytral margin. Protibiae comparatively narrow, profemora 1.33 as wide as apical width of protibia. Lateral margin of protibiae simple, not obliquely truncated near apex. Protarsomeres long, combined length of only two proximal tarsomeres subequal to apical width of protibia. Female (Fig. 55C). Body more robust, elytral interstriae flat, legs shorter, profemora invisible dorsally, and mesofemora barely visible, protarsi shorter (width of 3 proximal tarsomeres subequal to apical width of protibiae). Ovipositor (Figs 56E, F). Valvifer wide, subparallel, baculi distinct, shortened, not reaching apical margin; coxite lobes 3 densely covered by long setae; coxite lobes 4 comparatively narrow, with narrowly rounded apex (sometimes asymmetrical, narrowly and widely rounded), gonostyli short and narrow barrel-shaped, widest at middle, with one long and several short setae at apex. Baculi of paraproct strongly thickened, slightly bent after curved portion. Body length (both sexes) 9–11.2 mm, width 4.5–5.5 mm. Etymology. The name is translated from Latin as “from Iran ”. Comparative diagnosis. The new species belongs to the remotus species-group and is most similar to P. zarudnyi sp. nov. and P. captiosus sp. nov. by slender body, pointed obtuse humeral angles, well-expressed large elytral strial punctures and the distinct interstrial puncturation, apically not margined abdominal ventrite 5. The new species differs from P. zarudnyi sp. nov. (CS—a comparative species) by the following characters: the genae widely rounded, widest ahead of anterior margin of eyes (Fig. 55D) (vs angle shaped, widest at midlength of eye in CS (Fig. 69D)), the pronotum narrowly flattened along lateral margins (Figs 55E, F) (vs not flattened in CS (Fig. 69E, F)), lateral sides of the prothoracic hypomera widely flattened (Fig. 55G) (vs narrowly flattened in CS (Fig. 69G)), male elytral interstriae slightly convex (Fig. 55A) (vs flattened in CS (Fig. 69A)), the male inner sternite VIII with deep round emargination (Fig. 56C) (vs triangle emargination in CS (Fig. 70B)), the blades of the spiculum gastrale with rounded outer margin and the widely emarginated apex (Fig. 56B) (vs trisinuated margin and acute apex in CS (Fig. 70C)), the parameres of the aedeagus strongly S-shaped (Fig. 56A) (vs slightly S-shaped in CS (Fig. 70A)),the subparallel margins of valvifer and shortened straight valvifer baculi (Fig. 56E) (vs widened to apex valvifer with long bent baculi curved to apical margin in CS (Fig. 70D)), the short and narrow barrel-shaped gonostyli (Fig. 56F) (vs cylindrical gonostyli in CS (Fig. 70E)). The new species have the same rounded genae as P. captiosus sp. nov. but differs from the latter by the following characters: the pronotum narrowly flattened along lateral margins (Figs 55E, F) (vs not flattened in CS (Fig. 52C, D)), lateral sides of the prothoracic hypomera widely flattened (Fig. 55G) (vs narrowly flattened in CS (Fig. 52E)), male elytral interstriae slightly convex (Fig. 55A) (vs flattened in CS (Fig. 52A)), male abdominal ventrites 1–3 slightly convex to almost flattened (with deep wide longitudinal ellipsoid depression in middle in CS), the male inner sternite VIII with deep round emargination (Fig. 56C) (vs wider and less deep emargination in CS (Fig. 53C)), parameres narrower, with more emarginated lateral margins near apex (Fig. 56A) (wider and slightly emarginated in CS).

Published as part of Nabozhenko, Maxim V. & Mofrad, Farhad Eshraghi, 2025, Progress in the knowledge of the genus Penthicus Faldermann, 1836 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Opatrini) of Iraq, Iran and Pakistan with descriptions of 17 new species, pp. 1-100 in Zootaxa 5573 (1) on pages 70-73, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5573.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14745717