Parallocorynus (Dysicorynus) andrewsi, O’Brien & Tang, 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 : 46-47

Parallocorynus (Dysicorynus) andrewsi Tang and O’Brien, new species

Figures: habitus: 73 – 76; antennal pockets: 119; male genitalia: 161 – 162, 191, 207 – 208, 231; female genitalia: 258, 264.

DESCRIPTION—Body small to large (range 2.6 – 4.5 mm, mean = 3.9 mm, n = 16), slender to slightly robust, elongate-oval; unicolored, yellowish orange to brown.

Male (holotype). Rostrum: long, 1.12 X longer than pronotum; brown; not denticulate; dorsally and laterally, strongly, rugosely punctate; weakly expanded near apex; weakly rather evenly curved in lateral view. Head: behind eyes with sparse, very fine, shallow punctures; forehead between eyes with moderately dense, moderately coarse, shallow punctures; forehead with distinct, moderately long, narrow, median sulcus; forehead strongly narrowed apically, 0.64 X as wide between median basal margin and apical margin of eyes. Antennae: with scape 1.59 X longer than eye and 1.41 X longer than desmomeres 1+2, 1 – 2 elongate, 3 – 4 intermediate, 5 – 7 shorter and transverse; scape, desmomeres and club all pale brown. Prothorax: strongly transverse, 1.41 X wider than long; apex moderately narrow, rounded to approximately 40˚ angle for 1/3 of length to subparallel sides, at posterior 1/3 rounded to narrowed base; lateral margins moderately distinct, not denticulate, with small, shallow, moderately fine punctures; disc with fine, small, sparse, widely separated punctures; lacking pair of foveae on disc, ca. 1/4 from basal margin and 1/8 from lateral margin; uniform brown. Scutellum: with sides straight; apically broadly rounded; with scarcely visible, small, fine punctures; subglabrous. Elytra: 0.61 X as wide as long; evenly expanded behind rounded humeri to declivity, there suddenly evenly broadly rounded to slightly emarginate apices; with small, fine, dense, well-separated punctures on entire surface, overall rather smooth, shining; uniformly brown. Legs: moderately robust, procoxae weakly convex, lacking processes; profemora moderately, symmetrically swollen, with small apical pit-like impression receiving base of tibia, apical margins lacking tooth or process, surface very finely wrinkled, appearing smooth; 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 to near apex, margins of groove denticulate, apex with small anterior mucro and subequal tooth. Length, pronotum and elytron: 4.47 mm.

Female. Same as male except: Rostrum: 1.39 X longer than pronotum; smooth, nearly impunctate. Length, pronotum and elytron: 4.48 mm.

Genitalia and Associated Structures— Male. Length of penis and apodemes together 1.13 – 1.53 mm (n = 5) (Figs. 161 – 162). Penis: in dorsal view apex at gonopore bulging slightly, or not, then becoming subparallel apicad for distance about equal to width, then tapering to form triangle with blunt point, length measured from gonopore to apex about twice as long as wide (see Fig. 191). Tegmen: with distal margin with fewer than 20 setae (Figs. 207 – 208, 231). Female. Sternite VIII: (Fig. 258) 0.94 – 0.97 mm long (n = 3), arms ~ half as long as apodeme, diverging from apodeme at more or less constant angle (~ 70 – 75˚) between arms for 2/3 of length, then forming sharp angulate bend, then converging.

Intraspecific Variation— The rostral length relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.01 – 1.20 (mean = 1.08, n = 12) for Jalisco and Sinaloa populations on Dioon tomasellii and 1.02 – 1.20 (mean = 1.10, n = 12) for the Guerrero population on D. stevensonii . The pronotal width relative to the pronotal length in males = 1.26 – 1.44 (mean = 1.34, n = 12) in the populations on D. tomasellii and = 1.27 – 1.45 (mean = 1.35, n = 12) for the Guerrero population on D. stevensonii , indicating morphological similarity in different parts of the geographic range and host species. Molecular analysis of the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene of specimens from the two host species indicates that they have identical sequences ( Tang et al. in press). Female RL/PL= 1.37–1.48 (mean = 1.44, n = 9) and PW/PL = 1.27– 1.44 (mean = 1.36, n = 9).

Etymological Note— This species is named in honor of Fred G. Andrews, who collected a significant part of the type series and whose specimens of this species were the first made available to us.

Remarks— This species is closely related to P. sonorensis and the two may be separated by the presence of fovea on the pronotum in P. sonorensis . Molecular analysis of the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene of specimens from the two species indicates genetic differences ( Tang et al. in press).

Biology— This species lives and reproduces on the male cones of Dioon stevensonii and D. tomasellii .

Range— Known from western Mexico from the states of Guerrero, Jalisco and Sinaloa , and likely present in other states where populations of its host exist: Nayarit and Michoacán.

Material Examined— Holotype (by designation) male with the following labels: 1) [rectangular; white; printed in black ink] Mexico: Jalisco / 21.7 mi. S Puerto/ Vallarta VII-9-1982 / Fred G. Andrews; 2) [rectangular; white; printed in black ink] Reared from/ cone of/ cycad [ Dioon tomasellii ]; 3) [rectangular; red; printed in black ink] HOLOTYPE ♂ / Parallocorynus (Dysicorynus) / andrewsi/ Tang & O’Brien 2015 (CSCA). Paratypes: same label data, (89); MEXICO: Guerrero, Achotla, oak forest, [GPS coord. omitted], ex: Dioon tomaselii [ D. stevensonii ] male cone, coll. J. Chemnick, 18May2004, TW2004-18, elev. 1380 m (20); Zirandaro, 2-V-2001, A. Vovides, Dioon tomasellii [ D. stevensonii ], AV#1405 (8); Sinaloa: Panuco, emerged VII-2004, A. Vovides & J. Gonzalez, Dioon tomasellii, AV #1485 (6). Paratypes (123) are deposited at ASUT, BMNH, CAS, CSCA, CWOB, FSCA, IEXA, MNHN, UNAM.