A cladistic analysis reveals an eastern Tibetan occurrence of Taiwanoserica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

The systematic position of some newly discovered Serica species from the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (Sichuan, China) is explored through a phylogenetic analysis based on 117 morphological characters using the parsimony criterion. The resulting consensus tree of this analysis reveals that three of these taxa belong to the lineage of Taiwanoserica as supposed initially due to their general external appearance. Based on the occurrence of related taxa and on the topology of Taiwanoserica taxa as well, it must be assumed that Taiwanoserica originated also in the eastern Tibetan mountains. Four new species are described: Serica (sensu lato) silviae n. sp., Serica (Taiwanoserica) wenchuanensis n. sp., Serica (Taiwanoserica) sigipinensis n. sp., Serica (Taiwanoserica) chengtuensis n. sp.