Maleuterpes, Blackburn, 1894

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 : 174-175

Genus MALEUTERPES Blackburn

Maleuterpes Blackburn, 1894: 254 (type species M. spinipes Blackburn ). — Lea 1904: 79. — Emden 1936: 234. — Emden 1944: 582. — May 1994: 484 (larva, pupa).

DESCRIPTION. — Full-winged, densely squamose small species. Head and rostrum jointly tapering apicad in straight line; eyes laterodorsal, coarsely facetted; epistome asymmetric, raised, grooved behind; mandibles trisetsose, with distinct, moderately large scar; scrobes T-shaped, deeply sulcate, directed downwards toward gular angle through the middle of squamose sides of rostrum in front of eyes; scape curved, clavate at apex, extending to anterior margin of prothorax if head in normal resting position; funicle with segment 1much thicker than 2, segment 2 elongate; club elongate-oval. Prothorax wider than long, humped to varying degrees, slightly bisinuous at base. Scutellum protruding above level of elytra. Elytra parallel-sided, or nearly so, rectangular at shoulders, proclinate at base, high above mesonotum; 10-striate; suture between dorsum and declivity with spine or low tubercle in male, with a weak hump on top of declivity in both sexes.

Metasternum longer than a mid-coxal diameter; metepisternum narrow, with complete suture. Fore coxae separated by a width or more of funicle, middle coxae separated by twice as much, obliquely declivous. Fore legs highly modified in male by having a large tooth at apical one-third of femora, and a smaller tooth on basal one-third of tibiae; middle and hind femora and tibiae of male, and all femora and tibiae of female without any teeth; fore and middle tibiae with mucro in both sexes; tarsal segment 3 much wider than 1 and 2; claw segment extending beyond segment 3, with two connate claws. Tergites 3-7 weakly pigmented, medially undivided, 4-7 with pruinose patches.

Male: tergite 8 largely free beyond 7. Sternite 8 consisting of a narrow strip across base, with a broader lobe on either side. Sternite 9 as long as venter, articulated, with symmetrically triangular arms; apodeme robust, with or without lobes at base, weakly upcurved at apex. Tegmen complete, dorsally weakly pigmented, with long, narrow parameral lobes; apodeme well-pigmented. Aedeagus tilted to the right in repose in situ, a little longer than venter, extending with apodemes to posterior part of metathoracic lumen; aedeagal body 6 x or more longer than wide in the middle, over 3 x longer than apodeme; apodemes short, thin. Internal sac short, not exposed between apodemes, with sclerite situated about middle of aedeagal body.

Female: sternite 8 not articulated. Ovipositor moderately long, about one-half length of venter; basal half (proximal hemisternites) entirely unpigmented, apical half (distal hemisternites) distinctly but weakly pigmented, each hemisternite long, narrow, gradually tapering to a long, nearly filiform structure with strong setae, without styli.; vulva recessed to about middle of distal hemisternites; vagina extending cephalad beyond genital pocket by half as much as length of ovipositor; bursa short; spermatheca varying according to species, with or without gland extension, with very small gland; duct at least 2 x longer than ovipositor, fine, pigmented, somewhat convoluted, inserting ventraly at base of bursa

DISTRIBUTION. — Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand (adventive).

HOSTPLANTS. — Unknown for New Caledonian species. Adults of M. spinipes feed on Rutaceae ( Boronia , Citrus , Phebalium ); larvae feed around roots of yet undetermined plant species.

ETYMOLOGY. — ‘Maleutérpes’ derived from the Greek adverb mala for totally, and ‘euterpés’ for delightful.

REMARKS. — The definition of Maleuterpes is based solely on a rather spectacular modification of the fore legs in males, everything else seems to agree with the characters of Ottistira Pascoe (1872) . In the absence of dissectable material of this genus, tradition is here followed. Five species of Maleuterpes from our faunal area are present, all from New Caledonia.

KEY TO SPECIES OF MALEUTERPES

1. Scutellum velvety black. Epistome delimited behind by a deep sulcus .............................................. 2

— Scutellum grey. Epistome delimited behind by a shallow sulcus .......................................................... 4

2 (1). Derm black except for reddish brown rostrum, antennae and part of legs. Prothorax, sides of elytra and underside bare or sparsely squamose. 2.4-3.1mm. New Caledonia............................... watti — Derm reddish brown. Prothorax and elytra and most of underside densely squamose ................. 3

3 (2). Interstrial setae recumbent, minute, not longer than strial setae. Claws robust. Female: fore femora curved on upper and lower edges; elytra jointly ending in an upturned acute point. 2.3-2.8 mm. New Caledonia................................................................................................................................... acutus — interstrial setae semierect, longer than strial setae. Claws fine, inner one mostly shorter. Female: fore femora curved on upper edge, rather straight on lower edge.’elytra jointly rounded at apex. 2.4- 2.8 mm. New Caledonia...................................................................................................................... montanus

4 (1). Scaling dull, variously patterned with dark and pale. Rostrum shallowly but distinctly depressed across base, in lateral view moderately thick, parallel-sided, not tapering apicad, dorsally not or hardly curved. Rostrum between eye and postepistomal sulcus a little longer than an anteroposterior diameter of eye. 1.9-2.3 mm. New Caledonia.............................................................. caledonicus — Scaling somewhat shiny, rather uniformly grey, with only very slight nebulose pattern. Rostrum indistinctly depressed across base, in lateral view thicker, tapering apicad, dorsally distinctly curved. Rostrum between eye and postepistomal sulcus as long as an antero-posterior diameter of eye. 1.8 mm. New Caledonia................................................................................................................................. collinus