Baezia vulcania Alonso­Zarazaga and García, 2002

Miguel, Alonso-Zarazaga, A. & García, Rafael, 2002, Baezia vulcania sp. n., an endogeous weevil from La Palma I. (Canary Is.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Molytinae), Zootaxa 33, pp. 1-6 : 1-4

Baezia vulcania Alonso­Zarazaga and García , sp. n. ( Figures 1 – 5 )

Type material: holotype male, Cueva de Los Palmeros, Fuencaliente, La Palma, Islas Canarias, 650 m a.s.l., R. García leg., 27­XI­93, deposited in R. García’s collection (Sta. Cruz de La Palma, La Palma, Canary Is.). Paratypes: 23 specimens with same data as holotype except as follows: 11 (1 female, 15­XII­91; 1 female, 4­III­92; 3 males and 2 females, 27­XI­93; 2 males and 1 female, 20­II­96; 1 female, 6­IX­92) in R. García's private collection; 3 (1 male, 20­II­96, and 2 females, 15­XII­91) deposited in Departamento de Biología Animal (Zoología) of the University of La Laguna; 3 (1 male and 2 females, 6­ IX­92) deposited in the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Santa Cruz de Tenerife; 5 (4 males and one female, 15­XII­91) deposited in coll. Alonso­Zarazaga (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid); 1 (female, 15­XII­91) deposited in the Entomology collections of the Natural History Museum (London, United Kingdom). Other paratypes: 3 exx. Cueva del Ratón (16­XII­2000), P. Oromí leg. (deposited in Departamento de Biología Animal (Zoología) of the University of La Laguna); 3 exx. Cueva del Ratón (16­XII­ 2000), R. García leg. (Coll. R. García). This cave is 200 m a.s.l.

With the general characters of Baezia (but see Discussion). Body colour in general bright reddish­brown, vestiture of short testaceous erect setae all over the body.

Size variable: standard length (pronotal + elytral length) ranges from 1.81 to 2.45 mm in males (mean 2.10) and from 2.25 to 2.60 in females (mean 2.30).

Rostrum robust, similar in both sexes, widest at antennal insertion in both sexes (2.4 times as long as wide at this point), as long as pronotum, in side view the lower margin strongly curved and the upper almost straight, more declivous towards apex, the latter shiny and densely setose. Scrobes deep, upper margin visible for almost their whole length in dorsal view, whole of apical third dorsally exposed. Head and rostrum in the same plane in side view, in dorsal view longitudinally sulcate­costate, on frons the sulci and keels become obsolete, leaving some punctation. Eyes absent.

Antennae with scape uniformly widened towards apex, ca. 5 times as long as wide and 1.5 times as long as funicule, straight and setose. Pedicel conical, 1.6 times as long as wide and a little shorter than next three desmomeres; 2nd desmomere obconical and isodiametric, 3rd to 7th transverse; club oval, 1.65 times as long as wide and as long as last 6 desmomeres.

Pronotum in dorsal view 0.95 times as long as wide, widest at middle, sides slightly convex, apical margin as wide as basal margin; integument very weakly microreticulate, shiny, punctate, setose (setae subclavate, rather blunt at apex); in side view weakly convex.

Scutellum small, triangular.

Elytra in dorsal view elongate, widest at middle, 1.75­1.83 times as long as wide, ca. 2.6 times as long as pronotum, base wider than pronotal base, integument similar to that of pronotum; striae fine, superficial, punctate, interstriae flat, with one row of erect setae. Humeral calli absent.

Underside punctate (punctures small, sparse, distance between punctures 1.5­2.0 times diameter of one puncture) and setose. Procoxae separated by less than half their diameter, mesocoxae separated by ca. coxal diameter. Second ventrite slightly depressed in male, not noticeably so in female. Fifth sternite ca. 2.1 times as wide as long.

Legs moderately elongate, rugose and setose; femora clavate at middle, strongly narrowed at apical third; pro­ and mesofemora ca. 3 times as long as wide, metafemora ca. 4 times as long as wide. Protibiae 4.5­4.8 times as long as wide, with outer margin gently curved, inner margin expanded medially into a tooth, margin between this tooth and uncus densely fringed; meso­ and metatibiae (4.2­4.4 and 4.4­4.7 times as long as wide respectively) straighter on outer margin, inner margin gently expanded at middle into a rounded lobe, apical half of inner margin not densely fringed. Protarsomeres 1.5, 0.65, 0.75 and 2.5 times as long as wide respectively, 3rd clearly bilobed, onychium with two free simple claws. Soles of tarsomeres with long sparse hyaline hairs, denser on 3rd tarsomere than on others.

Male genitalia: Penis (fig. 2) in dorsal view symmetrical, apex rounded and slightly prominent at middle, sides gently rounded; in side view apex deflexed. Internal sac with a single apparent group (in fact they are two paramedian fused groups) of large teeth, some of them protruding through the ostium, mixed with smaller teeth and asperities; basally, one single, almost ring­shaped piece with one longitudinal prominence on each side of the breach. Tegmen (fig. 3) with manubrium about as long as the tegminal plate, curved, parameroid lobes separated by a cleft about as long as half their length.

Female: Extremely similar to male, only clearly separable by extraction of genitalia, since the small external differences are difficult to see.

Female genitalia: Ovipositor (fig. 4) similar to that of B. litoralis , but styli clearly transverse, not subisodiametric. Spiculum ventrale (fig. 5) also very similar, but plate slightly more transverse and terminal apophyses of manubrium longer. Spermatheca weakly sclerotized, similar to that of Oromia hephaestos Alonso­Zarazaga, 1987 .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Baezia vulcania sp. n. Male holotype, dorsal view.

FIGURES 2 ­ 5. Baezia vulcania sp. n. 2: Penis, dorsal and side view. 3: Tegmen, dorsal view. 4. Ovipositor, dorsal view. 5. Spiculum ventrale, ventral view. Scale: 2 ­ 3: 100 m; 4 ­ 5: 47 m.