Anomalodermus incrustatus, 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 : 149-150

Anomalodermus incrustatus n. sp.

Fig. 46

DESCRIPTION. — Black or dark reddish brown; vestiture dense on elevations and most of elytra, consisting for most part of a dense yellowish brown pile of short, erect claviform hairs, and some metallic scales on head, rostrum and parts of pronotum and legs; each elytron with 4-5 higher dark brown nodules; long strong erect setae sparsely on head, rostrum, prothorax, elytra and legs.

Rostrum on sides above scrobes distinctly tapering apicad, bordered with a pile of dense short setae; deeply impressed across base; elevated median part broad, furrow on either side broad, area between antennal insertions convex; epistome flat, with four vibrissae on either side, a median fine carina continued obliquely to the sides; pterygia in dorsal view prominent, area below pterygia with dense vestiture; underside on middle near base appearing tuberculiform owing to a dense pile of erect vestiture. Prothorax ovate, wider than long, truncate at base, rounded on sides, widest before middle, with about ten nodules on either side of midline, nodules topped with a dense pile of short setae and some long ones; base with a low ledge behind elevations; ocular lobes broad, weak, with rather short cilia. Scutellum concealed. Elytra approximately 1.3 x longer than wide; base strongly proclinate, resting on prothoracic basal ledge, strongly trisinuous, one sinus at scutellar area, and one on either side between interstriae 3 and 5, these interstriae only slightly raised at base, and enhanced because of a tuft of forward projecting claviform setae; each elytron on and behind middle with four or five higher nodules topped with a dark brown pile of dense pile of claviform setae and one or two long strong setae; striae and puncta not obvious because of dense pile of erect vestiture. Femora ringed with pale or metallic scales and claviform setae; fore tibiae with a dense pile of short claviform setae on dorsal and lateral faces, other tibiae with such a pile on inner face only.

Length: 3.8-3.9 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype male, 3.9 x 2.5 mm, Rivière Bleue , NZAC. Paratypes with IRSN, NZAC .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. 2 males, Mt. Koghi , 700 m, 9.X.1978, ex samples 78/218 and 78/219 of leaf litter in rainforest, G. Kuschel; 1 male, Rivière Bleue, 10.X.1978, ex sample 78/221 of sifted leaf litter and rotten wood, G. Kuschel. 3 specimens .

REMARKS. — The holotype is reasonably clean but the paratypes remain largely caked with dirt even after hours of having been immersed in solvents and exposed to ultra-sound cleansing. The samples 78/218 and 219 of sifted leaf litter were taken in rainforest on a steep slope and ridge with abundant fruits on the ground. Sample 78/221 came from sifted leaf litter in a grove of mainly Nothofagus codonandra .

A. incrustatus resembles enormously Achorius of the Mandalotus group of genera. I wonder whether the similarity resulted from adaptation to the same ground and leaf litter habitat or of truly close relationship. A female is required to unequivocally resolve the uncertainty.