Notorhopalotria taylori, Tang & 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 : 16-17

Notorhopalotria taylori Tang and O’Brien, new species

Figures: habitus: 5–8, 271; antennal pocket: 102; male genitalia: 127–128, 174, 214; female genitalia: 241.

DESCRIPTION—Body minute to medium-sized (range 1.9–3.6 mm, mean = 2.5 mm, n = 56), moderately broad, robust, elongate-oval; unicolored brown.

Male (holotype). Rostrum: moderately long, 0.81 X as long as pronotum, brown; coarsely punctate and denticulate dorsally and laterally from base nearly to apex, forming wavy longitudinal ridges with teeth of various sizes; weakly expanding near apex, weakly curving in lateral view. Head: just behind eyes moderately punctate, forehead between eyes with similar punctures and impunctate in medial half, with deep moderately long narrow median sulcus; forehead strongly narrowing apically, ca. 0.45 X as wide between median basal margin and apical margin of eyes; dorsal surface matte, ventral surface shining. Antennae: scape 1.16 X longer than eye and 1.48 X longer than desmomeres 1+2 together, 1 nearly as broad as scape, 2 narrow and elongate, 3–5 slightly shorter, 6–7 progressively wider and shorter; scape and desmomeres brown; club pale brown with tips of rhopalomeres paler colored. Prothorax: strongly transverse, 1.21 X wider than long; apex moderately weakly narrowed for 0.34 X of length, then subparallel to basal 1/5, there weakly rounded to base; lateral margins not denticulate, lacking punctures; disc impunctate; very shallow punctures along basal margin only; surface texture matte, not shining; mesosternum with surface texture transitioning from matte laterally to shining medially. Scutellum: lateral margins concavely curved, not forming triangle; apically, broadly, subacutely truncate, with well-separated sparse shallow punctures; lacking pubescence; matte, not shining. Elytra: ca. 0.72 X as wide as long; evenly expanding behind rounded humeri to declivity, there suddenly evenly broadly rounded to distinctly emarginate apices; with very shallow punctures, each unevenly separated by 2–5 X own widths; matte brown. Legs: moderately robust, procoxae weakly convex, lacking processes, semi-matte; profemora asymmetrically swollen, with small apical pit-like impression receiving base of tibia, ventral subapical margins with pair of obtuse pointed spines, surface matte; protibiae stout in lateral view, with base nearly straight with obtuse bend, lacking inner tooth, inner surface very weakly medially narrowly excavate from middle to near apex, margins of groove distinctly denticulate, apex with small anterior mucro, and subequal tooth; surface matte; mesocoxae, metacoxae, mesotibiae and metatibiae semi-matte. Abdomen: ventral surface shining. Length, pronotum and elytron: 3.0 mm.

Female. Same as male except: Surface texture: of head, pronotum, scutellum, elytra and legs shining, not matte. Rostrum: 1.40 X longer than pronotum; moderately strongly curved. Prothorax: 1.49 X wider than long; apex narrow, strongly angulately expanding in weakly rounded line to slightly narrowed broad base; with shallow punctures each separated 3–5 X own widths. Elytra: with shallow punctures, same as on prothorax. Length, pronotum and elytron: 2.7 mm.

Genitalia and Associated Structures— Male. Length of penis and apodemes together 0.99–1.24 mm (n = 3). Penis: in dorsal view widest just basal to orifice, from there tapering moderately toward base, apical to orifice tapering strongly toward apex to narrowly rounded point (Figs. 127, 174). Female. Sternite VIII: 0.68–0.78 mm long (n = 4); angle between arms ~ 50–70˚ (n = 5) for half of length, then arms bending inward and becoming subparallel to slightly convergent near apices (Fig. 241).

Intraspecific Variation— This species exhibits a high degree of variation in size, with average body length in males (mean = 2.5 mm, range = 1.9–3.6 mm, n = 38) equal to that in females (mean = 2.5 mm, range = 1.9–2.8 mm, n = 18); however, the greatest size is attained in males. The rostral length relative to the pronotal length of males = 0.81–0.96 (mean = 0.88, n = 38) and of females = 1.37–1.52 (mean = 1.44, n = 18); the pronotal width relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.21–1.47 (mean = 1.36, n = 38) and of females = 1.36–1.54 (mean = 1.47, n = 18). Males are dimorphic, with major males (eg. the holotype) ranging in pronotal length from 0.77–1.39 mm, with the pronotum and elytra possessing a matte texture, while the texture of the underside of the body transitions from matte along lateral surfaces to shiny on medial surfaces with the amount of shining surface increased with decreased size. Minor males have a shorter pronotum (0.57–0.75 mm long), have a body texture that is completely shining without any trace of matte texture on the pronotum and elytra, the rostrum expanded toward the apex more prominently than in major males, with denticulation much reduced; and profemora with a pair of subapical spines reduced to two small denticles. Transitional forms occur occasionally, with intermediate pronotal length (0.77–0.84 mm) and a pronotum that is matte and elytra which are shiny.

Remarks— This species can be distinguished from all other Notorhopalotria , and indeed from all other Allocorynina , by the presence in major males of matte textured elytra.

Etymological Note— This species is named in honor of Prof. Alberto S. Taylor Blake, collector of the type series and many more specimens used herein, who at the age of 67 began a comprehensive study of the ecology, taxonomy and conservation of Panamanian cycads and their cone beetles.

Biology— This species lives and reproduces in the male cones of Zamia pseudoparasitica , the only living cycad that starts its life as an obligate epiphyte. The host lives in trees, generally 7–20 m above ground level in the Altantic lowland rainforest of Panama and occurs at elevations of 50–1000 m ( Stevenson 1993).

Range— Known to occur in Coclé Province, Panama; the host plant also ranges into the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, Colón and Veraguas ( Stevenson 1993) .

Material Examined— Holotype (by designation) male with the following labels: 1) [rectangular; white; printed in black ink] PANAMA, Coclé Prov.,/ El Copé, ex: male cone/ Zamia pseudoparasitica ,/ Alberto Taylor IX-2- 2002; 2) [rectangular; red; printed in black ink] HOLOTYPE ♂ / Notorhopalotria / taylori/ Tang & O’Brien 2015 (CAS), PARATYPES same data (17); same data except IX-22-2004 (284). Paratypes (301) are deposited at ANIC, ASUT, BMNH, CAS, CMNC, CSCA, CWOB, EMEC, FMNH, FSCA, IADIZA, IEXA, INBio, IZCAS, MIUP, NMHN, STRI, UCFC, UNAM, USNM, ZMHB