Strabonus unionis, 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 : 190-191

Strabonus unionis n. sp.

Figs 84, 136, 137

DESCRIPTION. — Dark reddish on elytra and most of underside, darker on prothorax and head, with faint bluish sheen. Pubescence short, abundant, dark for most part, whitish on suture behind scutellum and on declivity, here directed obliquely outwards; lineal scales forming a white line on either side of pronotum.

Head in front shiny, sparsely punctulate, alutaceous further back. Eyes round, separated on frons by less than width of scape. Rostrum 0.9 x length of prothorax, 2.3 x longer than wide at apex; lower edge distinctly curved downwards at apex; postrostrum tectiform, with rather coarse punctation, this largely contained in two sulci; prorostrum as long as wide, nearly smooth. Scape extending to middle of eyes, moderately curved, compressed.

Prothorax 1.18 x wider than long, shiny, rather coarsely punctate, in male finely punctate, transversely strigose, in female, in female finely punctate, not strigose, with a smooth area on midline.

Elytra at shoulders 1.46 x wider than prothorax, 1.50 x longer than combined width, slightly widening towards middle, then rounded off to a broad apex; in lateral view moderately convex beyond basal quarter. Striae more or less complete, stria 10 at base with five coarse puncta continued apicad as a fine engraved line. First two interstriae with no more than 2 rows of fine puncta.

Metepisternum anteriorly shallowly punctate, elsewhere with row of small puncta. Fore femora with an extremely small tooth, other femora with a larger tooth. Tibiae relatively slender, fore tibiae 7.5 x longer than wide at middle.

Male: aedeagus as in Figs 136, 137, 0.115 mm long; body elongate, 4.4 x longer than wide, 2.2 x longer than apodemes.

Female: not dissected.

Length: 2.1-2.4 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype male, 2.1 x 1.0 mm, data as above , NZAC. Paratype with NZAC .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. 1 male, 1 female, Table Unio , 550-1000 m, 16.X.1978, J. C. Watt. 2 specimens .

ETYMOLOGY. — The specific epithet ‘uniónis’ is the genitive case of the Latin noun ‘unio’.

REMARKS. — The distinguishing characters of the species are given in the key.