Rhopalotria (Allocorynus) calonjei, 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 : 31-32

Rhopalotria (Allocorynus) calonjei Tang and O’Brien, new species

Figures: habitus: 41–44; wing: 99; antennal pockets: 111; male genitalia: 145–146, 183, 223; female genitalia: 250.

DESCRIPTION—Body minute to medium-sized (range 1.9–3.1 mm, mean = 2.5 mm, n = 13), robust, broad-oval; body and elytra orange-brown, head and rostrum darker orange-brown.

Male (holotype). Rostrum: moderately long, 1.1 X longer than pronotum, dark orange-brown; coarsely, rugosely punctate (to denticulate in large males in basal 3/4, moderately more sparsely punctate in apical 1/4, gradually strongly expanded in apical half; moderately but evenly curved in lateral view. Head: with entire dorsum including forehead, rugosely punctate, forehead with short deep median groove, median area between apical margins of eyes ca. 0.50 X as wide as between basal margins of eyes; minimum distance between eyes smaller than length of eye. Antennae: with scape longer than desmomeres 3+4, 1–2 elongate, 3–4 transitional from elongate to rounded, 5–7 rounded, submoniliform; desmomeres 3–7 darker orange-brown, others orange-brown. Prothorax: strongly transverse, 1.36 X wider than long; apex moderately narrow, evenly expanded to middle, there subparallel to slightly rounded base; lateral margins not denticulate; disc with fine, shallow, moderately dense, evenly distributed, not contiguous punctures, becoming coarse and subcontiguous on lateral margins; uniform orange-brown. Scutellum: subquadrate, with moderately large shallow dense punctures. Elytra: <7/10 as wide as long (range 0.64–0.68, n = 5); subparallel behind rounded humeri, to slightly expanding near declivity, there suddenly evenly narrowed to broadly rounded deeply emarginate apices; unevenly coarsely punctate, medially and apically weakly rugosely punctate in a concentric pattern centered 3/4 distance from base to apex; uniformly orange-brown. Legs: very robust, procoxae protruding, with pair of blunt inner apical processes; profemora very strongly asymmetrically swollen, with apical pit-like impression, receiving base of tibia, each margin with very small apical tooth, large pointed subapical tooth on anterior inner surface with length subequal to width of proximal bend of protibiae; protibiae very stout in lateral view, with base strongly obtusely rounded, no tooth on inner surface near base, however with slot receiving subapical tooth of femur, inner surface medially broadly excavate from base to near apex receiving ventral margin of femur, margins of excavation serrate, apex with large anterior mucro and equally small posterior tooth. Length, pronotum and elytron: 2.04 mm.

Female. Same as male except: Rostrum: 1.38 X longer than pronotum, smooth, nearly impunctate, very weakly expanded apically. Prothorax: 1.52 X wider than long, sides more or less evenly rounded from narrow apex to slightly narrowed base. Legs: protibiae normally developed, without basal bend, without basal slot to receive femoral tooth, and without excavation on inner surface or serration on margins. Length, pronotum and elytron: 2.48 mm.

Genitalia and Associated Structures— Male. Length of penis and apodemes together 0.75–0.78 mm (n = 2). Penis: in dorsal view sides subparallel, near gonopore tapering sharply with angle between sides ~ 65˚, to subtruncate apex (Figs. 145–146, 183). Tegmen: distal margin with 13–14 setae (Fig. 223). Female. Sternite VIII: 0.63–0.68 mm long (n = 3), arms ~ as long as apodeme, diverging from apodeme at even angle (37–39˚) between arms for about half of length, then curved inward and becoming subparallel, then converging at slight angle near apex (Fig. 250).

Intraspecific Variation— The rostral length relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.05–1.18 (mean = 1.12, n = 11) and of females = 1.36–1.47 (mean = 1.41, n = 11); the pronotal width relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.34–1.46 (mean = 1.37, n = 11) and of female = 1.46–1.56 (mean = 1.52, n = 11).

Etymological Note— This species is named in honor of Michael Calonje for his work in collecting the type series of this species and many more specimens used herein, in addition to his contributions to Zamia taxonomy.

Remarks— Rhopalotria (A.) calonjei is most closely related to R. (A.) mollis and R. (A.) furfuracea , but can be distinguished from these two by its narrower body, the longer rostrum in males (RL/PL= 1.05–1.18), smaller eyes as measured by dorsal interocular distance relative to head width at eyes (DIO/HW) = 0.37–0.44 and the presence in its major males of denticulations on the rostrum. In these other two species male RL/PL = 0.91–1.01 and DIO/ HW = 0.28–0.38.

Biology— The host is Zamia decumbens , a unique species growing in relatively dry conditions under limestone overhangs in sinkholes in the Maya Mountains (see Calonje et al. 2009).

Range— Belize, Toledo District, Maya Mountains.

Material Examined— Holotype (by designation) male with the following labels: 1) [rectangular; white; printed in black ink] BELIZE, Toledo Distr., 4.8 km N/ San Jose (Hawaii) vill., sinkhole,/ [GPS coord. omitted], 350 m / ex ♂ cone Zamia decumbens ,/ IX-2-2008, M. Calonje, BZ08-204; 2) [rectangular; red; printed in black ink] HOLOTYPE ♂ / Rhopalotria (Allocorynus) / calonjei/ Tang & O’Brien 2015 (CAS). Paratypes: same label data (29) and BZ204 (33); Maya Mts, Columbia River Reser., sinkhole, [GPS coord. omitted], 700m, ex ♂ cone Zamia decumbens , IX-4-2008, M. Calonje, BZ08-225 (9). Paratypes (71) are deposited at CAS, CWOB, EMEC, FSCA, IEXA.