Orthorhinoides brevirostris, 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 : 207

Orthorhinoides brevirostris n. sp.

Figs 95, 167, 168

DESCRIPTION. — Integument dark brown; scales variable in size, shape and colour, some small, most large, lineal or ovate, white or yellowish brown forming variable subdued pattern; central part of pronotum dark, pubescent, elytra below and behind humeral area darker, with hairs and sparse, small, elongate scales.

Head flat anteriorly, squamose, with or without distinct granules. Rostrum short, thick, about 0.75x length of prothorax, 1.7 to 1.9x longer than wide aat apex, distinctly curved on dorsal surface; prorostrum strongly transverse in both sexes, finely punctate; postrostrum densely and coarsely punctate in both sexes but a little more rugose in male. Prothorax 1.2x to nearly 1.3x wider than long, parallel at basal one-third, gently convex, granulose. Scutellum pubescent.

Elytral granules low. Prosternal process between coxae narrower than antennal club wide. Male abdomen flattened, not impressed, with appressed pubescence. Fore femora not or hardly longer than middle ones, with relatively strong tooth; hind femora not extending to end of abdomen. Fore tibiae short, robust, not touching trochanters when folded, curved, not asperate, without a tooth on lower margin opposite femoral tooth; hind tibiae with strong tooth on lower edge at apical one-third. Fore tarsi in male not fringed, segment 2 about as long as 3.

Male: Tegmen similar to that of O. caledonicus (Fig. 180) but the free parameral lobes contiguous except at apex. Aedeagus as in Figs 167, 168, relatively elongate, 1.325 x 0.312 mm; apodeme 2.025 mm long; internal sac with a basal sclerite about the length of body, a small steering plate, a pair of ostial rods, and no median sclerites.

Length: 5.0- 9.5 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype female, 8.0 x 3.2 mm, Mt. Mou , 3.II.1963 , NZAC. Paratypes in IRSN, NZAC, SRFP

MATERIAL EXAMINED.— New Caledonia. Me Maoya Camp , 1150 on Dracophyllum involucratum, J Munzinger ; Chute de la Madeleim , 21°22’S 165°20’E, 1 female, 11-13.XI.2002, S Wright; Mt Mou, ne, 22°14’S 166°51’E, 240 m, 1 female, 24.XII.2006, in maquis at 1000-1100 m, 1 male, 1 female, 3.II.1963, on Dracophyllum verti- night, M Wanat and R Dobosz; no precise locality, 1 male, Coll. cillatum, G Kuschel; Pic de Pin, Prony, 1 male, 1 female, 3.X.2005, Fauvel., 7 specimens .

ETYMOLOGY. — The species name breviróstris is a Latin noun formed from brevis = short, and rostris = from the adjectivised noun rostrum = face for snout or proboscis.

REMARKS. — The two specimens from Mt Mou have the sides of the pronotum densely squamose with large, imbricate, yellowish brown scales. The small specimen from New Caledonia that lacks a precise locality has the sides of the pronotum loosely squamose with small, sparse white scales .