Cyrtetes spiritus, Kuschel, 2008

Kuschel, Guillermo, 2008, Curculionoidea (weevils) of New Caledonia and Vanuatu: Basal families and some Curculionidae, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 197, pp. 99-250 : 169-170

Cyrtetes spiritus n. sp.

Fig. 67

DESCRIPTION. — Black, scales appearing rather smooth at 50 x, most not contiguous leaving derm in part exposed, a few overlapping scales paler and with faint metallic sheen. Setae appressed on prothorax, slightly raised on elytra.

Forehead obliquely rugose. Transverse sulcus at base of rostrum not angulate in middle, evenly curved, laterally descending right in front of eyes. Prothorax as long as wide, strongly convex across and lengthwise. Elytra 1.6 x wider than prothorax, 1.3 x longer than combined width, strongly convex across basal one-quarter, nearly flat before declivity from suture to interstria 4; apex in lateral view not curved downwards. Underside broadly shiny, finely coriaceous from metasternum to anterior half of ventrite 2 but with a few major puncta on the shiny area, these more or less transversely lined up; suture between ventrites 1 and 2 absent on the bare median area.

Length: 5.7 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype female, 5.7 x 2.8 mm, data as above, BPBM.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Vanuatu. Espíritu Santo : 1 female, 15 km NE of Luganville, 100 m, 12.IV.1964, R. Straatman .

ETYMOLOGY. — The epithet ‘spiritus’ is the genitive case of the latinised Spanish word espíritu.

Genus TRIGONOPS Guérin-Méneville

Trigonops Guérin-Méneville, 1841: 128 (type species T. rugosus Guérin-Meneville ). — Marshall 1956: 12, 74.

DESCRIPTION. — Trigonops is distinguished from the other genera of New Caledonia and Vanuatu by the following combined characters: Eyes strongly convex. Rostrum with steep, squamose apical declivity, deep transverse sulcus at base, and no tooth or tubercle above insertion of antennae. First two segments of funicle subequal in length. Elytra with ten striae, sparsely, finely granulate. Fore coxae antemedian. Mesosternal process strongly transverse, distinctly wider than a coaxa. Posterior upper corner of mesepimeron against head of metepisternum protruding as a distinct knob. Hind tibiae lacking mucro in male and a fringe of long hairs in both sexes. Claws free.

Male: largely as in Celeuthetes , but basal one-third or one-quarter of aedeagal apodeme unpigmented, soft, threatlike except right against aedeagal body.

Female: for most part as in Celeuthetes .

DISTRIBUTION. — Vanuatu, Solomon.

ETYMOLOGY. — The generic name ‘trigónops’ is a Greek noun meaning triangle-like, from ‘trigónos’ = triangle, and ‘ops’ = face, appearance.

REMARKS. — The genus Trigonops used to contain a large number of species but Marshall (1956) had it considerably restricted. Even so, its ambit remains somewhat unsettled, and its separation from Lophothetes Marshall (1956) uncertain. Two species are present from Vanua Lava, Vanuatu, but one of them was received too late for inclusion in this paper.