Ita marina, Meregalli & Borovec, 2011

Meregalli, Massimo & Borovec, Roman, 2011, Radiation in the halophytic coenoses of the Peri-Tethys: taxonomy and biogeography of the genus Ita (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Journal of Natural History 45 (21 - 22), pp. 1331-1401 : 1380-1382

Ita marina sp. nov.

(Figure 17)

Ita marina Faust , in litteris

Type locality

“ Syria ”.

Material examined

Holotype ♂: UNKNOWN COUNTRY, “ Syria, Sedillow / Ita marina m. Faust / coll. Faust, Ankauf 1900 / Staatl. Museum für Tierkunde Dresden” ( MTD).

Diagnosis

A species of Ita of small size, characterized by the dark body, with dark ferruginous femora, the short and curved rostrum, the slender scales, uniformly distributed but not completely covering integument, the short tarsi, the aedeagus with strongly expanded sclerotized margins, touching at mid-length of the median lobe, where the membranous part is almost completely absent.

Description of the holotype. Base of rostrum, head, pronotum, elytra and underside black; coxae and apex of rostrum dark ferruginous; femora, tarsi and antennal club ferruginous; tibiae and antennal funicle light ferruginous, scape yellow (Figures 17A, B). Scales narrow, four to five times as long as wide, regularly dispersed over whole surface on head, pronotum, elytra, underside and femora, not densely placed, integument clearly visible amidst the scales (Figures 17J, K). Rostrum robust and curved, sides concave from base to antennal insertion, strongly and sublinearly widened from antennal insertion to apex; dorsum sparsely punctured in basal part, smooth, nearly unpunctured at apex; sides more densely sculptured (Figures 17C, D). Scrobes short, scarcely extended basad, margins not keeled, barely distinct. Scape distinctly longer than rostrum width at antennal insertion, thickened in apical half, slightly curved; segment 1 of funicle much more robust than remaining segments, twice as long as wide, conical; segments 2–7 subquadrate; club elliptical (Figure 17I). Pronotum with scarcely broadened sides, maximum width at mid-length (Figure 17H). Elytra feebly and linearly broadened from base to posterior half, sublinearly convergent at apex. Tarsi short, segment 1 slightly broadened from base to apex, twice as long as wide, robust; segment 2 cylindrical, very slightly longer than wide; segment 3 with lobes elongated, narrow, divergent, as long as segment 2; onychium twice as long as segment Figure 17. Ita marina , holotype ♂: (A, B) body; (C, D) rostrum; (E) fore tarsus; (F, G) aedeagus; (H) pronotum; (I) antenna; (J) scales of dorsum and (K) side of elytra. Scale bar: (A, B) 1 mm; (C–I) 250 µm.

3 (Figure 17E). Aedeagus scarcely curved, median lobe with very broadly sclerotized sides, touching in the centre, membranous part absent at middle of median lobe, sides very feebly curved and convergent forwards, apical lamella triangular, upward-curved (Figures 17F, G).

Etymology

This name had been chosen for the species by Faust (i.l.), who wrote it in an autograph label attached to the pin. However, the author never formally described or cited it.

Natural history

Unknown.

Distribution

In the nineteenth century, during the Ottoman era, Syria extended more to the south, including territories of the present day Lebanon, Israel, and part of Jordan. It is impossible to know where the type specimen was found, but, considering the name which was assigned to it by Faust (i.l.), it was probably in a coastal area .

Remarks

Ita friedmani sp. nov., from the Negev desert, is the closest geographically; it differs in its larger size, the rostrum broader at its base and scarcely widened apicad, and the denser elytral vestiture, with scales forming weakly raised rows along the striae; the aedeagus of I. friedmani sp. nov. is different, it being long and slender, with narrowly sclerotized sides. I. korotyaevi sp. nov. also has an aedeagus with narrowly sclerotized sides, but its elytral vestiture is denser, composed of shorter scales and its rostrum is more slender. The western Mediterranean species usually have shorter scales, with much denser vestiture and, except I. chobauti , an aedeagus with more or less expanded membranous part in the centre; also I. hispanica sp. nov., which has similarly slender scales, has an aedeagus with narrowly sclerotized margins.