Haptomerus maculosus Borovec & Nakládal, 2019

Borovec, Roman & Nakládal, Oto, 2019, Haptomerus maculosus, a new species of the tribe Myorhinini from Zambia (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), Zootaxa 4563 (2), pp. 387-395 : 388-391

Haptomerus maculosus Borovec & Nakládal , sp. n.

( Figures 1–10 )

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:7063051A-4961-4093-A48B-35BCE654D370

Description. Body length males 2.84–3.25 mm, females 3.74–4.03 mm, holotype 2.97 mm.

Body blackish, tibiae and tarsi brownish, antennae also brownish in partly teneral holotype. Elytra with appressed brownish and whitish scales, the latter with green and partly also pearly sheen. Brownish scales long, oval, hardly visible on blackish integument, not completely covering it, 4–5 across interstrial width. Whitish scales forming three conspicuous transverse stripes: basal stripe across interstriae 3–8, middle stripe across on 2–8 and posterior stripe across 2–7 (in male only across 5–7), female also with longitudinal stripe on interstriae 8 and 9 before apex of elytra. Whitish scales short, oval, wider than brownish ones, 5–6 across interstrial width, completely covering integument. Pronotum with two slender longitudinal stripes of appressed, whitish scales with greenish sheen, on disc with long, oval, brownish, appressed scales, both types directed mesad. Head behind eyes and also rostrum in basal half dorsally with sparse, long, oval, whitish scales with greenish lustre. Femora and tibiae sparsely covered by long, oval, appressed, whitish scales with greenish lustre.

Rostrum in male 2.08–2.17 × longer than wide at base, in female 2.57–2.62 ×; in dorsal view widest at base, evenly tapering anteriad with almost straight sides, only in apical part with indistinctly concave sides, at base 1.33– 1.40 × wider than at apex, before antennal insertions glabrous, finely, sparsely, indistinctly punctate. Rostrum in lateral view regularly curved, subparallel-sided, in basal half weakly thicker than in apical half, tapering shortly just before antennal insertions. Epifrons well edged along its whole length, laterally carinate, longitudinally grooved, very narrow, in basal half about as wide as quarter of rostral width, between antennal insertions about as wide as scapes at apex and weakly narrower than clubs, before antennal insertions weakly broadening anteriad. Antennal scrobes dorsal, situated just before middle of rostrum, forming deep, long, oval fossae; laterally evanescent posteriad and continued anteriad, ventral border continued to ventral border of eyes, dorsal border coalescent with dorsal border of rostrum. Basal half of head very short, hemispherical; eyes placed on anterior, narrow part of head, dorsally flat, not protruding from outline of rostrum, very close together, space between them extremely narrow, narrower than scapes at base; laterally eyes protruding from dorsal outline of rostrum and head.

Antennae very slender and long. Scapes exceeding anterior border of eye, 1.1–1.2 × longer than funicle, straight, very slender, widened only at itself apex, at apex 0.6 × as wide as club; funicles with segment 1 3.6–4.5 × longer than wide and 1.8–1.9 × longer than segment 2, which is 2.2–2.6 × longer than wide; segments 3–6 1.5–1.7 × longer than wide; segment 7 1.3–1.5 × longer than wide; clubs long oval, 1.8–1.9 × longer than wide.

Pronotum 1.37–1.45 × wider than long, widest at midlength, sides distinctly rounded, anteriorly conspicuously narrower than posteriorly; base straight; disc regularly vaulted, integument shiny, regularly coarsely punctate, intervals between punctures shorter than their diameter; anterior borders laterally straight.

Scutellum very small, almost invisible.

Elytra long oval, in male 1.21–1.24 × longer than wide, in female 1.29 ×, with humeral calli absent, apically pointed, with regularly rounded sides, widest before midlength; laterally distinctly vaulted. Striae distinctly punctate, moderately wide; interstriae almost flat, wider than striae.

Abdominal ventrites short and wide, subtriangular, evenly tapered apicad; ventrite 1 in the middle 3–4 × longer than ventrite 2, behind metacoxae slightly longer than ventrite 2; ventrite 2 short, only slightly longer than ventrite 3 or 4. Suture 1 straight, fine; sutures 2 and 3 straight, deep and wide. Ventrites sparsely covered with long, oval, appressed scales. Metaventral process obtuse, slightly shorter than transverse diameter of metacoxa.

Legs moderately robust. Femora adentate. Protibiae 7.3–7.5 ×, metatibiae 7.0 × longer than width at middle, equal in both sexes; protibiae with inner side distinctly sinuate and lateral side straight, inner side in apical half with 6 brownish denticles of different sizes, at apex rounded, enlarged inside, fringed with fine yellowish setae; metatibiae with inner side armed with 4–6 brownish denticles, smaller than those on protibiae, apical surface large, glabrous, corbels absent. Tarsi with segment 1 long, conical, 1.7–1.8 × longer than wide, distinctly thinner than segment 3; segment 2 isodiametric; segment 3 1.5–1.6 × wider than long and 1.7–1.8 × wider than segment 2; onychium as long as segment 3; claws of unequal length, connate at base, more robust in female than in male.

Penis in dorsal view almost subparallel-sided, roundly tapering in apical third, apical portion short, obtuse, with short shallow concavity; in lateral view thickest at base, weakly evenly narrowing apicad, curved, short apical part weakly curved ventrally. Tegmen with manubrium about 1.5 × longer than diameter of ring; parameres short, weakly sclerotised, joined at base. Sternite IX apically curved and tapered.

Female genitalia. Sternite VIII with slender, umbrella-shaped plate, distinctly longer than wide; apodeme about twice as long as plate, widest in middle, terminated near top of plate. Gonocoxites short and wide, weakly sclerotised, subtrapezoidal, at apex obtuse with short, slender, setose styli. Spermatheca with long, slender and curved cornu and slender corpus; ramus rounded, slightly wider than long; nodulus small, bump-shaped, curved anteriad.

Material examined. Holotype: ♂, ‘ N. W. Rhodesia [Zambia], Namwala, 18.III.1913, H. C. Dollman [lgt.]’ ( BMNH) . Paratypes: 12 ♂♂, ♀♀, the same data as holotype ( BMNH) ; 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, 5 spec., ‘ ZAMBIA, 15 km E Serenje, Centr. pr., 13°12′82″ N, 30°21′29″ E, 19.-22.xii.2009, 1400 m, leg. F. Kantner’ ( RBSC, MWWP).

Etymology. The species is named for its conspicuous elytra spots formed by the transverse setal stripes; the name is a Latin adjective.

Bionomy. Unknown.

Differential diagnosis. This is an unusual species in the genus Haptomerus , easily distinguishable from all others by its blackish elytra with three contrasting and conspicuous whitish transverse stripes. All other known Haptomerus species have the elytral vestiture unicolorous or with longitudinal stripes. The second unique feature of H. maculosus is its rostrum, which in dorsal view evenly tapers apicad, being distinctly thicker at the base than at the apex. The only species with a similar rostrum is H. angolanus , from which H. maculosus can be distinguished as stated below in the key:

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dorsal habitus of Haptomerus maculosus sp. n.

FIGURES 2–10. Structural details of Haptomerus maculosus sp. n. 2. head with rostrum in male, dorsal view. Scale = 1.00 mm; 3. head with rostrum in female, dorsal view. Scale = 1.00 mm; 4. head with rostrum in male, lateral view. Scale = 1.00 mm; 5. head with rostrum in female, lateral view. Scale = 1.00 mm; 6. penis, dorsal and lateral view. Scale = 0.25 mm; 7. tegmen, dorsal view. Scale = 0.25 mm; 8. Sternite VIII of female, dorsal view. Scale = 0.50 mm; 9. ovipositor, dorsal view. Scale = 0.50 mm; 10. spermatheca. Scale = 0.25 mm.