Baladaeus, Fauvel

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 : 171-172

Genus BALADAEUS Fauvel

Baladaeus Fauvel, 1862: 154 (type species: B. urvillei Fauvel, 1862 [= Pachyrhynchus macgillivrayi Montrouzier, 1861a ]). — Emden 1936: 2ll (in German). — Emden 1944: 559 (same in English). — Marshall 1943: 117 (syn. Lepidosomus ).

Lepidosomus Perroud, 1865: 143 (non Agassiz 1846).

DESCRIPTION. — Adelognathous, full-winged; eyes strongly protruding, nearly hemispherical, coarsely facetted; rostrum tapering, transversely impressed at base, weakly sulcate on midline; epistome bare of scales, with long vibrissae; scrobes exposed, oblique, passing slightly below eyes; scape extending to about middle of eyes, clavate, first two funicular segments nearly of same length; prothorax variable, lacking granules, ocular lobes and vibrissae, somewhat uneven on disc; scutellum small, level with elytral surface; elytra parallel-sided, much wider than prothorax, with rounded or rectangular shoulders, leaning over base of prothorax, with ten fine striae, with uneven interstriae 3 and 5; fore coxae contiguous, medially positioned; femora lacking teeth, fore and middle tibiae mucronate, hind tibiae with a single transverse comb, hence lacking corbel bevel; claws connate; tergites 1-6 membranised, clear except for opaque pruinose patches on 4 to 6.

Male: tergite 7 pigmented on sides and apex; tergite 8 well-exposed beyond 7 but not visible beyond ventrite 5, strongly convex, broadly rounded; sternite 8 with strongly transverse plates, these narrowly separate on midline; sternite 9 as long as aedeagal body, straight, expanded at end, with symmetrical arms, these not fused with each other or apodeme, inner side of arms curved outwards, outer side curved inwards. Tegmen about 0.6 (3/5th) of aedeagal body length, with distinctly pigmented narrow ring, with separate parameral lobes, these 0.5 (1/2) of apodemal length. Aedeagus upright in abdomen, with apodemes extending into metathoracic lumen, in dorsal view converging in straight line from basal quarter to ostium, then attenuating to an apex which as long as a third of pedon, ending in a knob; aedeagus in lateral view bisinuous, with a deep sinus ventrally at base, and a sinus at apex induced by pedon curving strongly down, intermediate area of aedeagus curving gently upwards; base of aedeagus truncate ventrally, broadly emarginate

dorsally, without clear boundaries between tectum and pedon; apodemes short, a little over a third of aedeagal body; internal sac not exposed, with two sclerites in heel to toe position, an anterior, slightly elongate and thicker, on its dorsal surface inserting the ejaculatory duct, the other, following with a little gap between them, narrower, rigid, subcylindrical, together a little more than a third (0.36) of length of pedon; internal walls of sac with abundant, rather fine vestiture to the sides of sclerites, concentrating into two elongated clusters between sclerites and ostium.

Female: tergite 7 broadly rounded at apex, tergite 8 narrowly rounded; sternite 8 as long as venter with inclusion of intercoxal process, blade longer than wide, gently curving to a rather sharp point. Hemisternites as long as venter from coxal cavity to apex, largely membranised, only distal ones somewhat pigmented, proximal hemisternites membranised, about 5 x longer than distal ones, these half as long again as wide, narrowly rounded at apex, topped with styli about a third of these hemisternites; vagina exposed beyond hemisternites by half length of these; bursa very short; spermatheca falciform, slender, nearly twice as long as distal hemisternites, with long stem and a gland extension a little halfway up the stem, with a thin, cylindrical, 0.25 mm long gland; duct emerging at bottom of stem, wellpigmented, rigid, 1.5 x as long as spermatheca. Mature eggs 0.87 mm.

DISTRIBUTION. — New Caledonia, Loyalty, Vanuatu.

HOSTPLANTS. — No information.

ETYMOLOGY. — The name Baladaeus presumably intended to refer to the locality of Balade of NW New Caledonia, where Montrouzier did collect good part of his material.

REMARKS. — Two common, rather similar species are present from the study area. The species are separated as follows:

Head dorsally not or hardly constricted behind eyes. Frons in lateral view, between dorsal constriction of head and basal depression of rostrum, weakly convex, not nodulose. Epistome with 2-4 vibrissae on either side. Pronotum subcylindrical, about same width at apex and base. Elytra with a small glabrous spot right against a sparsely squamose scutellum. Last two tubercles on interstria 3 directed straight caudad. 3.2-5.2 mm. New Caledonia, Loyalty, Île des Pins ..................... macgillivrayi Head dorsally distinctly constricted behind eyes. Frons in lateral view, between constriction of head and basal depression of rostrum, strongly convex, slightly binodulose. Epistome with 5-10 vibrissae on either side. Prothorax distinctly wider at apex than base. Elytra lacking a glabrous spot right against a densely squamose scutellum. Last two tubercles on interstria 3 directed outwards towards a usually raised end of interstria. 5. 2.5-4.6 mm. New Caledonia, Loyalty, Île des Pins, Vanuatu............. insularum