Cryphalus nataliyae Mandelshtam et Petrov, 2022

Mandelshtam, M. Yu. & Petrov, A. V., 2022, A new Cryphalus Erichson, 1836 species (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) from Sakhalin, Russian Entomological Journal 31 (2), pp. 159-162 : 160

Cryphalus nataliyae Mandelshtam et Petrov , sp.n.

Figs 1–9.

MATERIAL. Holotype, ♀ (Zoological Institute, St.Petersburg, ZIN) : RUSSIA: Sakhalin, app. env. of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Rogatka River, start of path to ascend Chekhov peak, 15.VIII.2017, ca. 46°58´31.41´´N, 142°49´25.14´´E, about 300 m asl., under bark of standing Picea jezoensis, M.Yu. Mandelshtam leg. Paratypes: same place and date 1♂, 5♀♀ ( ZIN) , 1♀ (A.P. Petrov private collection, APP) .

TYPE LOCALITY: Russia, Sakhalin, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk .

DESCRIPTION: Female (holotype): body length 2.0 mm, 2.11 times as long as wide, body black, covered with pale scales; antenna and legs yellow ( Figs 1–2).

Head black, shining. Frons simple, flattened, strongly impressed above epistoma, without aciculation, very coarsely and densely punctured, shining; vertex granulate-reticulate with obscure sparse punctures, dull; frontal vestiture hair-like, rather long, sparse, except numerous long yellow setae on epistoma ( Fig. 4). Eyes large, rather coarsely facetted, with minute emargination at place of antennal insertion. Antennal funiculus with four segments, total length short, about half of club length, pedicellus shorter than next three segments combined. Antennal club with three slightly recurved, nearly straight sutures marked by rows of setae and grooves ( Fig.7). Labium and maxillae are figured ( Fig. 8).

Pronotum 0.68 times as long as wide, surface only faintly shining; sides moderately arcuate on basal half, very broadly rounded in front; basal margin and posterior third of lateral margin marked by a fine raised line; anterior margin unarmed; summit at middle, anterior slope coarsely asperate, armed by 20–23 large rounded tubercles, surface punctured by small sparse points; posterior area shining, surface punctured with numerous points; vestiture on anterior part consists of erect hair-like setae, on posterior part with numerous short recumbent hair-like setae. Hypomeron with the simple setae.

Elytra 1.54 times as long as wide, 2.12 times as long as pronotum; sides almost straight and parallel on basal twothirds, rather broadly rounded behind; striae 1 and 2 weakly impressed, other striae indistinguishable, punctures of striae and interstriae similar, small, uniform from the base to apex, interstriae on disc not at all granulate. Declivity convex, moderately steep; striae poorly developed, narrower than interstriae, all interstriae weakly elevated. Discal vestiture consists of scales arranged in four rows on each interstriae and of rows of erect interstrial rather short hairs, apex of each hair not attaining the base of the next hair in the row. Vestiture of the declivity is the same as at the disk.

Abdomen black, vestiture of long yellowish hair-like setae.

Proventriculus cylindrical, with eight sections. Crop spines hair-like, long. Anterior plate distinct, as long as posterior plate, with three rows of tubercles along the suture. Apical teeth distinct organized in two transverse rows. Masticatory brush strongly developed. Closing teeth numerous, longer than masticatory brushes ( Fig. 9).

Male. Only one specimen, strongly damaged, was available for study. Frons as in female, without longitudinal or transverse carina, slightly impressed above epistoma, with obscure shining impunctate area ( Fig.3). Aedeagus typical for genus, long, narrow. Penis apodemes only 1.1 times shorter than penis body. Tegmen seems not to be completely circular, not fused at the ventral side, but these features may be an artifact due to damage to dissected male during collection ( Figs 5–6).

NOTE: Paratypes (females) 1.9–2.1 mm long, 2.0–2.17 times as long as wide, pronotum 0.66–0.73 as long as wide, elytra 1.34–1.53 times as long as wide, 2.05–2.54 times as long as pronotum.

DIAGNOSIS: The new species is morphologically similar to Cryphalus saltuarius Weise, 1891 and Cryphalus sichotensis Kurentsov, 1941 from the continental parts of the Russian Far East, but can be distinguished from both by the more broadly rounded pronotum, which is semicircular and not triangular in profile and by the larger size on average. Males of C. saltuarius possess two frontal tubercles, one located on the median part of epistoma, and the second in the middle of frons. The frons of male C. nataliyae sp.n. has no frontal tubercles. Specimens of C. sichotensis are distinguished by distinct vestiture on the sides of the body, the pronotum laterally without erect hair-like setae, and setae present only on the basal part of the elytral sides, and by a distinctly smaller body size (1.4–1.7 mm). Cryphalus niponensis Inouye et Nobuchi, 1957 breeding on Picea jezoensis in Hokkaido is smaller, only 1.8 mm long, with the pronotum anterior margin armed by 6 small denticles, a more slender body that is 2.27 times as long as wide, and elytra that are 1.6 times as long as wide. It also differs in the structure of male frons which has a narrow longitudinal elevation. Cryphalus jezoensis Inouye et Nobuchi, 1957 breeding in Picea jezoensis in Hokkaido is of same size as the new species but can be easily distinguished from the latter by its deep and very fine lineate-punctate elytra.

BIOLOGY: The species was collected in mountain spruce and fir forest under the bark of the trunk of a small Picea jezoensis . Specimens of Cryphalus piceus Eggers, 1926 were also collected from the same host material.

ETYMOLOGY. The new species is named in honor of Nataliya S. Khabazova, senior collection keeper at the Zoological Institute RAS, St.Petersburg, and wife of M.Yu. Mandelshtam.

Acknowledgements. Our most sincere gratitude is addressed to Dr. Kirill Makarov for help with preparing photographs of the proventriculus of the new species. Dr. Roger Beaver (Chiangmai, Thailand) and Dr. Andrew Johnson (University of Florida, USA) are cordially thanked for comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript and correction of the language. The research was supported by a grant from the Russian Fund for Basic Research (No. 17–04–00360a).

Competing interests. The authors declare no competing interests.