Rhopalotria (Allocorynus) furfuracea 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 : 30-31

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

Figures: habitus: 37–40, 273; maxillary palp: 269; antennal pockets: 110; male genitalia: 143–144, 182, 203–204, 222; female genitalia: 249.

(Adult male and female, larva, pupa and egg illustrated in Norstog & Fawcett 1989, Norstog et al. 1992, Norstog & Nicholls 1997)

DESCRIPTION—Body minute to medium-sized (range 1.9–3.4 mm, mean = 2.7 mm, n = 20), robust, broad-oval; body and elytra orange-brown, head slightly darker orange-brown.

Male (holotype). Rostrum: moderately long, as long as pronotum, dark orange-brown; coarsely, rugosely punctate 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: entire dorsum including forehead, rugosely punctate, width of forehead between apical margins of eyes 0.67 X width between median basal margins of eyes; lacking transverse postocular groove; minimum distance between eyes subequal to length of eye. Antennae: 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, 1.50 X wider than long; apex moderately narrow, evenly expanded to middle, there slightly rounded to 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: 0.79 X as wide as long; subparallel behind rounded humeri, to slightly expanded near declivity, there suddenly evenly narrowed to broadly rounded deeply emarginate apices; unevenly coarsely punctured, humeral area with discrete punctures, medially and apically weakly rugosely punctured in 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 profemur, inner surface medially broadly excavate from base to near apex receiving ventral margin of profemur, margins of excavation serrate, apex with small anterior mucro and equally small posterior tooth. Length, pronotum and elytron: 2.80 mm.

Female. Same as male except: Rostrum: 1.31 X longer than pronotum, very weakly expanded apically. Prothorax: sides more or less evenly rounded from narrow apex to slightly narrowed base. Length, pronotum and elytron: 2.80 mm.

Genitalia and Associated Structures— Male. Length of penis and apodemes together 0.82–0.90 mm (n = 6). Penis: in dorsal view basal half slightly bulging, moderately tapering toward apex, near gonopore tapering increasing sharply with angle between sides ~ 60˚, to subtruncate apex (see Figs. 141–142, 181). Tegmen: apical visor relatively long, ~ half own width; distal margin with 8 setae. Female. Sternite VIII: 0.78–0.83 mm long (n = 3), arms ~ as long as apodeme, diverging from apodeme at about even angle (~ 40˚) between arms for ~ half of length, then bending inward and becoming subparallel, then converging at slight angle near apex (Fig. 249).

Intraspecific Variation— The rostral length relative to the pronotal length of males = 0.91–0.99 (mean = 0.95, n = 13) and of females = 1.30–1.43 (mean = 1.35, n = 17); the pronotal width relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.40–1.52 (mean = 1.45, n = 13) and of females = 1.42–1.63 (mean = 1.51, n = 17).

Etymological Note— This species epithet refers to the association of this beetle with one of its host plants, Zamia furfuracea , which has been spread widely in tropical and subtropical regions of the world for use in landscaping. Rhopalotria furfuracea has been introduced in Florida along with this host plant and has become established there and possibly other regions where Z. furfuracea is used as a landscape ornamental.

Remarks— Rhopalotria furfuracea is closely related to R.mollis and together they form a cryptic species complex that is most readily separated by the shape of female sternite VIII and by their dorsal interocular distance relative to head width at the eyes (see Remarks under R. mollis ). Molecular analysis of the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene indicates that specimens from recently established populations in Florida have identical sequences to R. furfuracea from Tabasco and Veracruz states, on the eastern side of Mexico ( Tang et al. in press). These in turn have a significant genetic difference from R. mollis collected from Zamia paucijuga from the western side of Mexico in Oaxaca. Currently we treat all specimens from eastern Mexico found in association with, or in the vicinity of, Z. furfuracea , Z. loddigesii , Z. spartea and Z. splendens as R. furfuracea .

Biology— Develops and reproduces in the male cones of various species of Zamia in eastern Mexico, including Z. furfuracea , Z. loddigesii , Z. spartea and Z. splendens . Exclusion experiments by Norstog et al. (1986) demonstrated that R. furfuracea is a pollinator of Zamia furfuracea and Norstog & Fawcett (1989) described this beetle’s life cycle in detail.

Range— Mexico, in the Atlantic slope of the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Veracruz, and naturalized in the U.S.A. in the southern half of Florida, where it inhabits cultivated plants of Zamia furfuracea .

Material Examined— Holotype (by designation) male with the following labels: 1) [rectangular; white; printed in black ink] Ver., Mun.Catemaco, Montepío, 2-8-1980, A.Vovides; 2) on male strobili Zamia furfuracea ; 3) [rectangular; red; printed in black ink] HOLOTYPE ♂ / Rhopalotria (Allocorynus) / furfuracea /O’Brien & Tang 2015 (CAS). Paratypes: same label data (9). MEXICO: Chiapas: 8km. NW.Ocozocaulta, in dry canyon, 860 m., 24-V-1996, R.Jones, ex: Zamia loddigesii Miq. (22); Mpio. Ocozocaulta, 28km. NW. Ocozocaulta, 1-V-1996, Ballinas Zabaleta, ex Zamia splendens Schutzman, Col. 091 (15); Oaxaca: Chimalapas, [GPS coord. omitted], 270m, ♂ cone Zamia spartea , 21-XII-2013, W. Tang , emerge 2014 (5); Tabasco: Mpio. Huimanguillo, "El Encinar", Km. 32 de la carretera de Francisco Rueda a Huimanguillo, terrenos de Gregorio Corrall, ca. 17o46' N y 93o50' W. Encinar relictual, suelos arenosos, altitude ca. 50 m, Zamia loddigesii ♂ cone, S.D. Koch, N. Koch, & O. Koch no. 006, May 28, 2000 (1); Jaguaroundi P., [GPS coord. omitted], 3m, cone ♂ Zamia loddigesii , 19-XII-2013, W. Tang , emerge 2014 (18); Veracruz: nr. Jalapa, 1980, A. Vovides (3); Fortin de las Flores, 8-VII-1992, coll. M.C. Thomas (6); Roca Partida San Andres, Tuxtla, 2 m, coastal dune vegetation, ex: ♂ cone Zamia furfuracea , 28-vii-1991, A.P.Vovides (7). U.S.A.: Florida: Lee Co., Sanibel Is., J.N.(Ding) Darling Nat. Wildlife Ref., Bailey’s Tract, UV, 5-VIII-1998, N26o25.3 ”, W82o04’54”, A.K.Rasmussen, B.Hanley (1); [Miami-] Dade Co., Coconut Grove, Miami, 3475 Main Highway, B.L. Trap, 24–25 July 96, J. Brambila (2); Coral Gables, Fairchild Trop. Gardens Res. Center, July 8 1987 Wm. Tang , ex strobili of male Zamia furfuracea (615); reared ex strobili Zamia furfuracea , 21–22 July 1987 (9); 3 Aug. 1987 ex male cones Zamia furfuracea (500); 3 Aug. 1987, ex pupal cell in scale ♂ cone Zamia furfuracea (32); 13 Aug. 1987, ex pupal cell in scale ♂ cone Zamia furfuracea (39); Girl Scout Cp., Mahacee,9950 Old CutlerRd.,UVtrap, 10–16-VI-1998, J & N Gleason (2); Homestead, 26000 S. W. 197 Ave., 7-VIII-96, R.M. Baranowski, Blacklight Trap (38); Mont.Bot.Center, 11901 Old Cutler, blacklight-cycad bed, 9-VIII-00 T.Dobbs (5); Miami Springs, library, ex: ♂ cone Zamia furfuracea , VII-2007,W. Tang (115); 1-VII-2007,W. Tang (266); 14-VII-2012,W. Tang (61); Monroe Cnty., Old Hwy. on Ocean, Mile Marker 88, 23–24-VIII-96, BLT, H. Glenn (1); Palm Beach Co., Delray Beach, Country Lake, August 9, 1991, Vince Golia, Mercury Vapor Light (2); Lake Worth, ex ♂ cone Zamia standleyi , May 2014, D. Holton (2); Michigan: Grand Rapids, VIII-9-1995, Federick Meijer, on cycad Zamia furfuracea (2). Paratypes (1778) are deposited at ANIC, ASUT, BMNH, CAS, CMNC, CSCA, CWOB, EMEC, FMNH, FSCA, IADIZA, IEXA, INBio, IZCAS, MIUP, MNHN, STRI, UCFC, UNAM, USNM, ZMHB.