Hemicolpus costaricensis Hespenheide, 2018

Hespenheide, Henry A., 2018, Hemicolpus Heller, 1895 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Conoderinae): A Reconsideration and Description of New Species from Mexico and Central America, The Coleopterists Bulletin 72 (1), pp. 119-125 : 124

Hemicolpus costaricensis Hespenheide , new species

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Description. Holotype female:Body size 5.20 mm long, 3.65 mm wide. Very robust, rhomboid-oval, black, except antennae and tarsi reddish brown, moderately densely covered with complex pattern of scales; in dorsal view, pronotum with dark brown scales on central portion of disc, scales tan on lateral portions of disc and sides; elytra with scales tan and recumbent beside scutellum and on interval 1 along suture, except for dark scales at distal 5/6; scales pale tan or white and semi-erect in very narrow transverse band on intervals 2, 3, 5, 7, and 9 anterior to middle; scales black and semi-erect anterior and posterior to pale scales on intervals 3 and 5 and conspicuously on prominence on interval 5, a few pale scales intermixed with darker scales elsewhere on elytra; small scales tan around eyes and at base of rostrum, inconspicuous or glabrous on rest of rostrum; ventrally and on legs scales pale brown or tan and more or less dense and uniform except sparser and darker on metepisterna and on margins of ventrite 1 and at middle of ventrites 3–5. Head: Width 1.05 mm, narrowly convex in dorsal view, rostrum weakly carinate above antennal insertions, finely punctate, laterally compressed, very weakly arcuate, 1.45 mm long, antennae inserted at basal eighth. Pronotum: Length 1.75 mm, width at base 2.50 mm, lateral margins nearly straight from base to apex; in lateral view, convex at base and declivous anteriorly, rounded in cross section, weakly carinate along midline, coarsely punctate. Scutellum minute. Elytra: Width 0.5X wider than pronotum, humeri prominent, intervals 3, 5 raised at base, interval 5 raised at base and with strong prominence/callosity at apical 4/5; elytral intervals 1–3 broader than striae, otherwise subequal. Venter: Mesosternum flat, unmodified, anterior margin of metasternum carinate, excavate beneath for apex of rostrum. In lateral view, abdominal ventrite 1 weakly ascending, transverse or slightly depressed along midline, ventrite 2 rounded and ascending in lateral view. Legs: Relatively short, unarmed; femora compressed laterally.

Specimens Examined. Holotype: Costa Rica: Cartago, CATIE, 3 km SE Turrialba , 600m, 9/ 10.06.1988, Brown, Powell bl. ( EMEC) ; Paratype: Costa Rica: Guan [acaste], 3 km SE R. Naranjo, 1– 5.06.1992, F.D. Parker ( CWOB) .

Biology. Unknown, but there are a number of species of Randia known from Costa Rica.

Etymology. The species is named for the country of its occurrence.

Discussion. This species is superficially similar to H. randiae but has a simpler pattern of scales, which are longer and narrower than the short, broad scales of H. randiae , and which form only a weak transverse fascia on the elytra and a simpler arrangement on the abdominal ventrites. The two species also differ in the form of the pronotum (carinate in H. costaricensis , ecarinate in H randiae ), anterior margin of the metasternum (carinate and strongly excavate in H. costaricensis , simply declivous in H randiae ), and the metafemora (narrower and uniformly, sparsely covered in scales in H. costaricensis , broader and with apical third densely covered with pale scales in H. randiae ).