Rhinoscapha meridiana Heller, 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 : 127-128

Rhinoscapha meridiana Heller n. stat.

Fig. 13

Rhinoscapha meridiana Heller, 1916: 260 (listed for Loyalty Is. as R. cristovalensis Montrouzier ).

Rhinoscapha cristovalensis Montrouzier sensu Heller, 1916: 260 (in error).

DESCRIPTION. — Scaling dull or shiny, green or grey, usually with some pink, coppery or bluish scales, underside usually grey instead of green.

Rostrum deeply sulcate, with a shiny, bare line in bottom of median furrow; epistome flat, gently merging with remainder of rostrum, not separated from sides of rostrum by a furrow, smooth, with vibrissae anteriorly on sides. Pronotum multifoveate owing to an irregular, coarse netting of smooth, wide and shiny interspaces and enclosed squamose foveae. Scutellum usually longer than wide. Elytra not transversely depressed at base but occasionally somewhat depressed next to humeral callus; striae fine, rather somewhat conspicuous because of nearly bare bottoms to form sharp, black kines; junctions of striae as follows: 3 with 8, 4 with 5, and 6 with 7; interstsriae flat, in males sometimes with larger setiferous puncta or transverse rugae. Metasternum posteriorly, in front of intercoxal process of ventrite 1, with a bare V-shaped design, outer edge of arms diverging approximately by a 90° angle, arms long, widening apicad, truncate or blunt at end. Wings moderately atrophied, narrow, about as long as elytra, unsuitable for flight.

Male: tergites 1-6 partly depigmented but less so on sides, tergite 7 well-pigmented on siudes and apical; half, weakly bisinuous or medially subemarginate; pruinose patches present on 4-7 but somewhat reduced, those on 7 with few larger puncta on latero-apical area; tergite 8 strongly convex, two thirds or one half exposed beyond 7, densely punctate and pilose on exposed party, bare and smooth on concealed area. Sternite 8 with moderately transverse, apically sparsely pilose plates; sternite 9 with symmetrical blade, with arms curving outwards; apodeme articulated with blade, rather uniformly thick and weakly curved up. Tegmen, including parameral lobes, as long as aedeagal body; parameral lobes long, narrow, as far apart as twice the width of lones. Aedeagus upright, a little longer than venter, projecting into thoracic lumen, symmetrical; aedeagal body solid, deeply pigmented, 1.5 to 1.8 x as long as apodemes, parallel-sided as far as ostium, the attenuated to a sharply pointed tip, apex about 1.5 x as long as broad at base, shallowly sulcate dorsally; aedeagus in lateral view with downward increasing curvature; internal sac exposed, extending to about end of apodemes, with base re-inforced with a dorsal, weakly pigmented sclerite resembling a bold Greek letter omega, with a broad emargination at base, and a deep fovea between sides into which ejaculatory duct inserts, other sclerite ventral, darkly pigmented, U-shaped; ejaculatory duct fine, soft, not pigmented.

Female: not dissected.

Length: 17-25 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Four syntypes present, but the author missed attaching identification labels, thus the specimens remained unrecognised as of the type series. Lectotype male, 18.2 x 7.9 mm, I. Maré: Pénélo, Loyalty Insel, Drs F. Sarasin & J. Roux, SMT.D. Paralectotypes, also from Maré I. (1 male, 2 females) with SMT. D. Other identified specimens with BPBM, NZAC, SMT.D, SRFP .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Loyalty Is.: Ouvéa, Lifou, Maré.

Vanuatu: island not specified. 42 specimens.

HOSTPLANTS. — No data.

ETYMOLOGY.— The epithet meridiánus is Latin, in its derived meaning standing for southern.

REMARKS. — An early specimen in Coll. Fauvel is labeled from Nouméa, a locality best dismissed for the time being. Evidence is strong that the species does not occur on the main island of New Caledonia. Four specimens from ‘Neu Hebriden’ were sent from Coll. Kirsch and C. Felsche, Dresden. They are dorsally and ventrally of a shiny green, including the legs and scape, have a rostrum that is distinctly more abruptly expanded at apex, and the metasternal lines are short, with area between the arms also bare, thus reduced to a small triangle. The specimens are very much alike and definitely distinguishable from the Loyalty Is. populations. They probably derived from the same source, their origin here surmised as from a southern Vanuatu island, because it is the area that more frequently shares species and affinity with the Loyalty Islands fauna.