Parallocorynus (Parallocorynus) bicolor ( Voss, 1943 )

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 : 37-38

Parallocorynus (Parallocorynus) bicolor ( Voss, 1943)

Figures: habitus: 49–52; antennal pockets: 113; male genitalia: 149–150, 185, 225; female genitalia: 252.

Allocorynus (Parallocorynus) bicolor Voss, 1943:59

REDESCRIPTION—Body small to large (range 3.0– 6.2 mm, mean = 4.1 mm, n = 26), robust, elongate broad-oval; bicolored, black to brownish orange.

Male. Rostrum: very long, 1.35 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, 0.64 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: with scape 1.91 X longer than eye and 1.28 X longer than desmomeres 1+2, 1–5 elongate with symmetrical shape, 6–7 slightly shorter and moderately transverse; scape and desmomere 1 yellowish brown, 2–3 transitional, 4–7 piceus to black; club piceus to black. Prothorax: strongly transverse, 1.35 X wider than long; slightly wider than width of elytral base; apex moderately narrow, sides roundly expanded to midpoint, there expanded slightly to moderately rounded base; lateral margins not denticulate, and as disc with fine small sparse widely separated punctures; uniform brownish orange. Mesothorax: mesepisternum and mesepimeron black to orange-black. Scutellum: black to orange-black with lateral margins 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 black. 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. Meso- and metafemora brownish orange. Abdomen: black. Length, pronotum and elytron: 4.37 mm.

Female. Same as male except: Rostrum: 1.54 X longer than pronotum; moderately strongly, evenly curved. Antennae: desmomere 1 strongly asymmetrical. Prothorax: 1.31 X wider than long; approximately equal to width of elytral base; apex narrow, rounded from narrowed apex to slightly narrowed base. Mesothorax: mesepisternum brownish orange and mesepimeron black. Abdomen: brownish orange. Length, pronotum and elytron: 4.52 mm.

Genitalia and Associated Structures— Male. Length of penis and apodemes together 1.48–1.76 [larger specimen (Figs. 149–150) atypically straight instead of curved] mm (n = 2). Penis: in dorsal view apex at gonopore noticeably widened, then tapering to rounded point, apex triangular, about as long as wide (Fig. 185). Tegmen: with distal margin with more than 30 setae (Fig. 225). Female. Sternite VIII: (Fig. 252) 1.32–1.40 mm long (n = 3), arms more than half as long as apodeme, diverging from apodeme at slight angle (<20˚) between arms for ~ 2/ 5 of length, then widening to angle of 45–50˚ for ~ 2/5 of length, then forming sharp angulate bend, then converging.

Intraspecific Variation— The rostral length relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.29–1.40 (mean = 1.36, n = 14) and of females = 1.47–1.62 (mean = 1.52, n = 12); the pronotal width relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.20–1.31 (mean = 1.26, n = 14) and of females = 1.23–1.38 (mean = 1.32, n = 12).

Remarks— This species is part of a complex of closely related species that includes P. jonesi and P. salasae . These species may be distinguished by host plant species and molecular analysis of the 16S-rRNA gene ( Tang et al. in prep.). Furthermore, P. bicolor can be distinguished from these other two species by the greater RL/PL of its males.

Biology— This species has been reared from male cones of Dioon caputoi , and both adults and associated larvae have been extracted from within the male sporophylls, with 1– 2 larvae per sporophyll (W. Tang , unpub. obs.). The host is a high altitude species occurring in the Sierra Mixteca at ca. 2000 m elevation; vegetation is transitional between tropical deciduous forest and oak forest and is among the most xeric habitat known for the genus.

Type Locality— Mexico, Puebla, Tehuacán. No populations of Dioon exist today in the Tehuacán valley floor or the city of Tehuacán, a central destination for residents and travelers in the region. Dioon populations, however, are present to the south in mountains at elevations of approximately 1800 m. The collector of the type series is C. A. Purpus, a German plant collector who spent the years 1907– 8 in Mexico around San Luís Tultitlanapa (now San Luís Atolotitlán), a locality south of Tehuacán especially rich with cactus. During this period he collected herbarium specimens of one species of Dioon (currently recognized as D. caputoi ), which were deposited in at least 13 herbaria ( De Luca et al. 1980). A Purpus photograph of a Dioon from this period (see Schneckenburger 2001) is clearly identifiable as D. caputoi . His frequent letters to his benefactors, the Brandegees at Berkeley, California (C. Phillips, pers. comm.) as well as other records of his travels ( Sousa, 1969) strongly suggest that this was the only Dioon he collected during this period. In a letter dated Nov 18, 1907 he mentions that he obtained a dried male cone of this Dioon , just two months prior to the collection date for the type series for Parallocorynus bicolor . It is probable that the type specimens later emerged from pupae inside this male cone. Examination of the type series reveals that they are missing many of their leg segments, possibly as a result of them being plucked as dead, dried specimens clinging onto a male Dioon cone. Primitive roads and transportation available at the time support our contention that it is unlikely he traveled to populations of other Dioon species, which may have contained similarlooking beetles, during this period, located in remote areas to the west or in mountain systems farther to the east and south.

Notes on Type Specimen(s)— Collection locality cited by Voss (1943) as: Mexiko: Puebla Tehuacan (I. 1908, C. A. Purpus leg.).—Mus. Berlin, Coll. auct.; visits to the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität, Berlin (ZMHB) revealed one male and seven female specimens matching Voss’ label information and description of color as yellowish red, sometimes the venter of the body black; rostrum, elytra, scutellum, tibiae and tarsi black; desmomeres of funicle and club brownish and with red femora, which also matches the Parallocorynus found at the habitat of Dioon caputoi . The Parallocorynus found in D. argenteum , D. califanoi and D. purpusii populations further east and south (described here as P. gregoryi ) have meso- and metafemora that are black, which do not match Voss’ key nor his type description; it seems unlikely that Voss would have overlooked such detail in his fairly thorough description of the color pattern of P. bicolor , especially with a species epithet that emphasizes the color scheme of the species. Voss did not designate a holotype from among the Berlin specimens, therefore we designate a lectotype from among the series.

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

Material Examined— Lectotype (by present designation) male, with the following labels: 1) [rectangular; white; printed in black ink] Mexico Puebla / Tehuacan 1.08/ C.A. Purpus S.G.; 2) [rectangular; red; printed in black ink] LECTOTYPE ♂ / Parallocorynus (Parallocorynus) / bicolor / O’Brien & Tang 2015 and paralectotypes (7), ZMHB. MEXICO: Oaxaca: San Jorge Nuchita, ex ♂ cone Dioon sp. aff. caputoi , early Feb, 2000, coll. Tim Gregory (6); Puebla: Santiago, Caltepec, IX-1993, F. Nicolalde, Dioon caputoi (2); 13-X-1993, A. Vovides, C. Iglesias & P. Aguilar, Dioon caputoi cone debris (6); Dioon caputoi male cone, Emerged 9-XI-1993 (13); 10-XII-1993 (10); Coatepec, [GPS coord. omitted], 1842m, ex ♂ cone Dioon caputoi , 6-XI-2012, W. Tang (15); rear Dioon caputoi cone ♂, 8–17-XI-2012, W. Tang (66); 3.7 km S of San Luis Atolotitlán, ex ♂ cone Dioon caputoi , 22-I-2005, J. Donalson (3); [Puebla?]: Sierra Mixteca, VIII [-1908?], Purpus S.V. (2). Nontype specimens (131) are deposited at ANIC, ASUT, BMNH, CAS, CMNC, CWOB, EMEC, FSCA, FMNH, IEXA, UNAM, USNH, ZMHB.