Megatracheloides blaffarti, Wanat, 2008

Wanat, Marek, 2008, The Apionidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) of New Caledonia. Genus Megatracheloides, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 197, pp. 297-322 : 312-313

Megatracheloides blaffarti n. sp.

Figs 10-13, 28-31, 40, 58, 64, 71, 75, 78, 88, 90, 98, 101

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype ♂, Mt. Panié (E track), 20°33’S, 164°46’E [= 22.55°S, 164.7667°E], 800 m, humid forest, ex Hibbertia sp. cf. comptonii , 25.IX.2004, leg. H. Blaffart ( MNHN). Paratypes: 3 ♀♀, same place and Hibbertia tree, 3.II.2004; 1 ♀, leg. MW ( MW); 2 ♀♀, Roches de Ouaième, 750 m, ex Hibbertia comptonii , 27.X.2005, leg. H. Blaffart ( MW, IRD).

DIAGNOSIS. — The largest Megatracheloides and second largest New Caledonian apionid species, resembling M. chloris in rostral proportions, the structure of male profemoral tooth and especially the terminalia, but well distinct in body length exceeding 7.0 mm, and dull black elytra with gently convex intervals devoid of elongate tubercles. It is distinct from the similarly colored M. millei , besides the evidently larger body size, in the shape of aedeagus and female 5th abdominal ventrite.

DESCRIPTION. — Body length 7.7-8.2 mm. Elytra black, completely mat, the re- TABLE 4. Morphological indices of Megamaining body parts polished, with very slight bluish tinge. tracheloides blaffarti .

Rostrum shiny, entire finely and densely punctured; venter of mesorostrum with

rl/pl ♂: 1.54, ♀: 1.82-1.96 a broad, shagreened fovea confluent with subgenal sulci of prorostrum (Fig. 31); rl/mxrw ♂: 4.05, ♀: 4.81-4.96 septum of scrobes extended beyond mid-eye level as a narrow carina. Head in pro- scl/msrw ♂: 1.15, ♀: 1.26-1.32 file without evident subocular tooth (Fig. 12). Antennal club 3.5-3.6 x longer than msrw/mtrw 1.02-1.22 wide. Pronotal disc polished, with relatively dense microscopic punctures smaller msrw/arw 0.92-0.99 than an ommatidium, without microreticulation. Elytra with intervals gently and msrw/minrw ♂: 1.22, ♀: 1.29-1.36 symmetrically convex, with no trace of tubercles at the level of maximum expansion, msrw/eyl 1.02-1.15

brl/eyl ♂: 2.10, ♀: 1.83-2.24 regularly rounded in dorsal outline and convex (Figs 13, 28). Mesoventrite smooth,

eyl/hl 0.44-0.49 strongly globose, especially in female. Protarsus 2.8 x longer than wide. frw/mtrw 0.83-0.93

Male: antennal scape 5.0 x longer than wide. Profemur distinctly inflated, its hl/hw 1.11-1.17 tooth large and asymmetrically swollen at base. Apex of protibia roundly expanded mpw/hw ♂: 1.88, ♀: 1.75-1.84 inwards (Fig. 30). Abdominal V5 with distinct median fovea in apical part. Process bpw/apw 1.10-1.14 of T7 membrane broad, trapeziform. S8 and S9 as in Fig. 75. Tegmen with its apo- pl/mpw 0.83-0.88 deme slightly curved in distal third; parameroid plate not distinct from that in M. mew/mpw ♂: 1.98, ♀: 2.12-2.19

el/pl ♂: 3.12, ♀: 3.17-3.43 chloris . Aedeagus: pedon 4.6 x longer than broad (Fig. 58), in profile with apex sim- el/mew 1.24-1.37 ilar as in M. chloris (Fig. 64), ventrally notched on 1/3 length from base; endophal- mew/bew 1.56-1.68 lus simply membranous, flagellum as in Fig. 78. bew/mpw ♂: 1.27, ♀: 1.30-1.34

Female: rostrum less curved, slightly shorter and stouter than in M. chloris (Figs 11, pft/msrw: 1.51, ♂ ♀: 1.30-1.36 12), apically as wide as at antennal insertion. Profemur only slightly thicker than ptbl/pl 1.59-1.68 mesofemur. Antennal scape 6.0 x longer than wide. Abdominal V5 apically as in ptbl/ptbmw 7.69-8.97 M. chloris , but with lower marginal ridge and narrower median fovea (Fig. 40). T7 shaped as in Fig. 90. Terminalia (Fig. 98) similar to those in M. chloris ; gonocoxites evenly sclerotised; foretube with microscopic combs of microtrichia; S8 spatulate at both ends; T8 with very narrow marginal sclerotisation not expanded on sides (Fig. 88); spermatheca shaped as in Fig. 101, its duct markedly thickening towards bursa.

The remaining characters and sexual differences as in M. chloris . Morphological indices in Table 4.

VARIATION. — Strongly variable in rostrum and elytra proportions, and the sculpture of integument.

BIOLOGY. — Collected in rainforest, on underside of leaves of arborescent Hibbertia comptonii Baker.

DISTRIBUTION. — Northern Province: Mt. Panié, Roches de Ouaième.

ETYMOLOGY. — Named in honour of late Henri Blaffart, the curator of Mt. Panié Nature Reserve and collector of the holotype, in thanks for his generous help during my research in New Caledonia .