Parallocorynus (Parallocorynus) jonesi O’Brien, 2015

O’Brien, Charles W. & Tang, William, 2015, Revision of the New World cycad weevils of the subtribe Allocorynina, with description of two new genera and three new subgenera (Coleoptera: Belidae: Oxycoryninae), Zootaxa 3970 (1), pp. 1-87 : 39-40

Parallocorynus (Parallocorynus) jonesi O’Brien and Tang new species

Figures: habitus: 53–56; antennal pockets: 114; male genitalia: 151–152, 186, 226; female genitalia: 253.

DESCRIPTION—Body small to large (range 3.0– 5.4 mm, mean = 4.2 mm, n = 55), robust, elongate broad-oval; bicolored, black or dark brown to brownish orange.

Male (holotype). Rostrum: very long, 1.23 X longer than pronotum; piceus to black; strongly coarsely denticulate dorsally, from base nearly to apex; weakly expanded near apex; very weakly somewhat evenly curved in lateral view. Head: behind eyes and vertex with moderately dense, moderately fine, shallow punctures; forehead coarsely, rugosely punctate, with distinct, long, moderately broad, deep, median sulcus; forehead strongly narrowed apically, 0.67 X as wide between median basal margin and apical margin of eyes; eyes small, bulging with edge produced by narrowing of eye at junction with head. Antennae: scape 1.47 X longer than eye and 1.38 X longer than desmomeres 1+2, 1–5 elongate with symmetrical shape, 6–7 slightly shorter and moderately transverse; scape and desmomeres 1–2 pale yellowish, 3–7 piceus to black; club piceus to black. Prothorax: strongly transverse, 1.29 X wider than long; wider than width of elytral base; apex moderately narrow, sides strongly roundly expanded to basal 1/4, there strongly rounded to base; lateral margins not denticulate, and as on disc with fine, small, sparse, widely separated punctures; uniform brownish orange. Mesothorax: with mesepisternum and mesepimeron black. Scutellum: brownish orange with sides straight and subparallel, apically broadly rounded; with densely rugose, small punctures and scarcely evident, short, fine, recumbent, pale colored setae. Elytra: 0.68 X as wide as long; subparallel behind rounded humeri to expanded declivity, there suddenly evenly broadly rounded to slightly emarginate apices; with small, fine, dense, well-separated punctures on entire surface; overall smooth, shining, not shagreened; uniformly dark brown. Legs: moderately robust, procoxae moderately convex, lacking processes; profemora moderately symmetrically swollen, with small apical pit-like impression receiving base of tibia, apical margins with weak obtuse process, dorsally moderately punctured, appearing shagreened; protibiae moderately stout in lateral view, with base angulately rounded with obtuse bend, lacking inner tooth, inner surface very weakly medially narrowly excavate from middle and broadened to near apex, only inner margin of groove denticulate, apex with small anterior mucro and subequal tooth. Length, pronotum and elytron: 4.00 mm.

Female. Same as male except: Rostrum: 1.54 X longer than pronotum; moderately strongly, evenly curved. Antennae: desmomere 1 strongly asymmetrical. Prothorax: 1.39 X wider than long; slightly wider than width of elytral base; apex narrow, strongly rounded from narrowed apex to slightly narrowed base. Length, pronotum and elytron: 4.00 mm.

Genitalia and Associated Structures— Male. Length of penis and apodemes together 1.2 (strongly curved specimen)– 1.57 mm (n = 6). Penis: in dorsal view apex at gonopore noticeably widening, then tapering immediately, apex triangular, about as long as wide (Figs. 151–152, 186). Tegmen: distal margin with more than 20 setae (Fig. 226). Female. Sternite VIII: (Fig. 253) 1.14–1.33 mm long (n = 7), arms more than half as long as apodeme, diverging from apodeme at angle between arms of 15–30˚ for 1/3 of length, then angle increasing gradually for another 1/3 of length up to 50˚, then arms forming sharp angulate bend, then converging.

Intraspecific Variation— The rostral length relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.09–1.29 (mean = 1.20, n = 28) and of females = 1.36–1.59 (mean = 1.47, n = 26); the pronotal width relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.20–1.36 (mean = 1.28, n = 28) and of females = 1.28–1.51 (mean = 1.43, n = 27).

Etymological Note— This species is named in honor of the weevil specialist Robert Wallace Jones, who collected part of the type series of this species and others used in this study.

Remarks— This species is part of a complex of closely related species that includes P. bicolor and P. salasae . These species may be distinguished by host plant species. Furthermore, P. jonesi may be distinguished morphologically from P. bicolor by the greater RL/PL of the males of P. bicolor (range = 1.29–1.40, mean = 1.36) and from P. salasae by the lower PW/PL of the females of P.salasae (range = 1.25–1.40, mean = 1.33).

Biology— This species has been found to inhabit male cones of Dioon merolae .

Range— Known to occur in Mexico, in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca .

Material Examined— Holotype (by designation) male with the following labels: 1) [rectangular; white; printed in black ink] MEXICO: Chiapas / Mpio.Jiquipilas/ 2.5 km SE Andres/ de Quintana Roo / 20-X-94, R. Jones; 2) ex: Dioon merolae / Deluca,/ (dentro microsporfilos); 3) [rectangular; red; printed in black ink] HOLOTYPE ♂ / Parallocorynus (Parallocorynus) / jonesi/ O’Brien & Tang 2015 (CAS). Paratypes: same label data, (6). MEXICO:

Chiapas: SE. slope Cerro Baul, N. of Rizo de Oro, [prob. ex Dioon merolae ], 14.XI.1983, D. E. Breedlove, CAS (14); Mpio Arriago [Municipio Arriaga], Reserva de la Sepultura e. 875m, ex. Dioon merolae ♂ cone, veg: selva baja caudicifolia, 17Mar1995, coll. M.A. Perez Farrera #165 (11); Arriaga, [GPS coord. omitted], 1052m, cone ♂ Dioon merolae , 12-XI-2013, W. Tang (1); emerge XI-2014 (30); [Municipio Jiquipilas], El Campanario, 25km N Ejido Andres Quintana Roo, ex ♂ cone of Dioon merolae, XI.1992 , M.A. Perez Farrera (19); [Municipio] Jiquipilas, Andres Quintana Roo, 1-XI-1992, M.A. Perez Farrera, Dioon merolae (8); [Municipio Jiquipilas], San Andres Quintana Roo, 550m, deciduous tropical thorn forest on weathered granitic soil, ex ♂ cone of Dioon merolae , 01.xi.1992, A.P. Vovides (17); El Campanario, 2k from Andres Quintana Roo, ex ♂ cone of Dioon merolae , XI-2011, M.A. Perez Farrera (42); Municipio Jiquipilas, Central Valley, 1-XI-1999, M.A.Perez Farrera, Dioon merolae (4); Oaxaca: San Juan Acaltepec, ex ♂ cone Dioon merolae , 23-VI-2010, F.Maldonado-Ruiz (3); Buenos Aires, [GPS coord. omitted], 1120m, Dioon merolae ♂ cone, 11-XI-2012, W. Tang (46); Loma Colorado,10k SE San JerónimoTaviche, ex ♂ cone Dioon sp. , 6-VI-2005, J.Donalson (3); Ocotlán, San Jeronimo Taviche, reared ♂ cone Dioon sp. aff. merolae , 30-VIII-2005, F. Maldonado (509); VII– VIII-2005, F. Maldonado (415). Paratypes (1129) are deposited at ANIC, ASUT, BMNH, CAS, CMNC, CSCA, CWOB, EMEC, FMNH, FSCA, IADIZA, IEXA, IZCAS, MIUP, MNHN, STRI, UCFC, UNAM, USNM, ZMHB.