Idastes maculipes (Chevrolat) 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 : 219-220

Idastes maculipes (Chevrolat) n. comb. ( Conopsis )

Fig. 106

Conopsis maculipes Chevrolat, 1877b : CXVIII. — Heller 1916: 344.

DESCRIPTION. — Black or dark brown, antennae reddish brown, tibiae and tarsi usually slightly reddened. Scaling ochrous of different shades from head to basal one-quarter of elytra, followed behind by a narrow whitish band of smaller scales between two transverse rows of tufts of squamiform setae, remainder of elytra brown; shoulders anteriorly ochrous with dense scales, tufts of prothorax white behind; femora with white speckles or rings.

Head densely squamose, with a bare dot anteriorly on either side. Forehead about as wide as rostrum in middle, slightly impressed with median fovea. Rostrum gently curved, in male rather coarsely punctate, with weak median carina, in female more finely punctate, without a median carina; postrostrum in male squamose, in female basal onehalf only squamose. Antennae inserted at apical one-third in male, just before middle in female.

Prothorax widest at base, convex dorsally and laterally, sides convexly converging towards collar, disc with scattered puncta in amongst scales, puncta coarser and denser on sides of collar; base strongly bisinuous, in middle with a conspicuous lobe pressing against scutellum; ornamented with a pair of tufts of squamiform setae at apex, with four tufts across middle, and one tuft or low tubercle halfway down flanks. Scutellum protruding above elytra, bare and shiny on anterior face, elsewhere densely squamose with small raised scales.

Elytra strongly sinuous at base, shoulders prominent, rounded, converging apicad in gentle convex curve, jointly rounded at apex. Striae fine, with small, spaced puncta, intervals between puncta bare, finely sulcate, puncta below snf behind humeral area considerably larger, stria 10 traceable or not as a fine line beyond large basal puncta, not margines with fine carina. Wing with rudimentary A 2 and A 3, A 5 strong, extended to A 4 to close anal cell.

Rostral canal open or slightly cavernous, lateral wall, at base of collar behind ocular lobes, usually with a little tooth in male. Metepisternum concealed in the middle, exposed at either end. Abdomen coarsely punctate, sparsely squamose. Femora in male usually with a small tooth at least on middle femur, in female unarmed; tibiae in male with distinctly smaller uncus, especially on hind ones.

Male: tergite 7 broadly emargianate, with six to eight plectral pegs. Tegmen with lobes fused to a singsle short, broad lobe. Aedeagus slightly longer than abdomen, body tapering apicad from base to apex, beyond ostium gently attenuated to a long apex, in lateral view gently curved, with apex straight and a tuft of long hairs dorsally near tip; apoademes 1.45 x longer than body. Internal sac briefly exposed between apodemes, basal sclerite small, elongateoval, open anteriorly for insertion of ejaculatory duct.

Female: tergite 7 with nine plectral pegs. Tergite 8 attenuated to a nearly truncate, not denticulate apex of one-third the width of base, with about 18 fanned out, rather long blunt setae. Sternite 8 as long as last three ventrites and onehalf of ventrite 2, blade with two long setae at end and a few shorter ones before apex. Hemisternites narrow, with long styli. Bursa bulbous at end, not pigmented; spermatheca with widening stem from base, considerably thinner than at the hooked apex; gland long, 4 x longer than spermatheca and 4 x longer than its own width; duct emerging at base of spermatheca, entering bursa at base, not quite as long as bursa.

Length: 4.3-8.0 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — One specimen in Coll. Fauvel is marked as type and five as syntypes, but the syntype status of the others is highly unlikely. Lectotype male, 7.0 x 3.8 mm, ‘Bourail, Conopsis maculipes Chevr. , type, Coll. A Fauvel’, IRSN. Identified non-type specimens with BPBM, IRSN, NZAC.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. Bourail, Canala, Forêt de Thy , 10 km S of Koh, Mt. Dore , Mt. Koghi , Mt. Rembai, Yahoué. 19 specimens .

HOSTPLANTS. — No information.

ETYMOLOGY. — The epithet ‘macúlipes’ stands for spotted leg.

REMARKS. — Recognisable amongst all others of the genus by the tufts of erect setae on the prothorax.