Azotoctla curvirostra, Cardona-Duque, Juliana & Franz, Nico M., 2012

Cardona-Duque, Juliana & Franz, Nico M., 2012, Description and phylogeny of a new Neotropical genus of Acalyptini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Curculioninae) associated with the staminodes of Cyclanthaceae, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166 (3), pp. 559-623 : 591-594

AZOTOCTLA CURVIROSTRA CARDONA- DUQUE & FRANZ SP. NOV. ( FIGS 20 , 21 )

Diagnosis: Reddish to dark reddish brown; antennal club oval; male sternum 9 semicircular, T-shaped; aedeagus without paired lateral, longitudinally orientated plates; aedeagal margin conical, simple, slightly elongate. Azotoctla curvirostra most closely resembles A. femorata in light of the shared sexually dimorphic rostrum, which is slender and strongly curved in females. However, males of the former species have a dorsally arcuate and ventrally subrectate rostrum, as occurs in most of the Azotoctla species , whereas those of A. femorata have a subrectate rostrum. Other traits distinguishing A. curvirostra from the other species include the oval antennal club, the similarly wide proto metafemora, and the conical apex of the aedeagus; A. femorata has an elongate and pointed antennal club, the metafemora are distinctly stout, and the apex of the aedeagus is rounded.

Description: Male ( Fig. 20A ): small, length 1.9– 2.0 mm, width 0.8–1.0 mm, oval l/w = 2.0–2.3 (N = 2). Colour reddish to dark reddish brown; vestiture long, golden, most conspicuous on pronotum, elytra, metaventrite, abdominal sternites, femora, tibiae, and tarsi. Rostrum long, 0.5 mm; r/p = 1.1–1.3, reddish brown, apex dorsally slightly flattened; in dorsal view distinctly widened at apex, punctulate between antennal insertion and eyes; antennal insertion near apical third, scrobe arcuate, basally deep. Antennal scape distinctly shorter than funicle + club; club oval, slightly longer than III- VII of funicle, I, II, and III similar in length. Head reddish brown; ventrally glabrous, dorsally pilose. Eyes distant from pronotal margin by nearly half their diameter. Pronotum l/w = 0.6–0.7, light reddish brown, in dorsal view subcircular, anterior margin 0.6¥ width of posterior margin, lateral margins rounded, greatest width at midregion, vestiture medium; posterior margin slightly bisinuate; in lateral view subquadrate. Mesepimeron ventrally slightly projected; metanepisternum posteriorly slightly narrowed. Prosternum subglabrous (few setae laterad); procoxal cavities inserted on posterior two thirds (anterior region slightly longer than posterior region); prosternal process rounded; metaventrite pilose, even, posterolateral depression not preceded by a ridge; metacoxal cavities separated by distance similar to 1.5¥ mesocoxal diameter. Ventral vestiture long. Prothoracic legs light reddish brown; procoxa slightly pilose; profemur f/p = 1.2–1.4; protibia t/f = 0.8. Meso- and metatibiae anteroventrally pubescent along apical quarter. Scutellum triangular, reddish brown. Elytra semicircular l/w = 1.5, anterior margins sinuate; lateral margins subparallel throughout anterior two thirds, thereafter nearly straight and converging; in lateral view dorsally flattened throughout anterior two thirds, thereafter slightly convex; striae narrower than intervals; strial punctures small, dark brown, subcircular; intervals light reddish brown, vestiture short. Abdomen nearly 2.5¥ length of lateral margin of metaventrite, vestiture similar to that of metaventrite; sternites 1 and 2 centrally nearly flat; 1 and 2 similar in length; 2 slightly longer than 3 + 4. Tergites 1–4 incomplete; tergites 5–7 complete; tergites 4–6 posteriorly with paired strigate-sculptured regions. Tergite 8 wider than long, posterior margin straight, simple (as opposed to plicate), laterally rounded. Distal angle of sternum 8 with three to four large setae. Sternum 9 ( Fig. 20B ) with basal portion of basal plate semicircular, T-shaped; apodeme one times width of aedeagal apodemes. Tegminal plate reduced, basal piece Y-shaped; tegminal apodeme deflexed, nearly one third of length of aedeagus. Aedeagus ( Fig. 20C ) medium, l/w = 3.4–3.9 (N = 2), simple (as opposed to with paired lateral, longitudinally orientated variously shaped plates); basal margin narrowly rounded, apex conical, simple, slightly elongate (thus appearing to be projected); tectum mesally partly sclerotized with two convergent subtriangular, elongate sclerites (base and apex opened), membranous tissue papillate, dense; endophallus simple (as opposed to with sclerites); in lateral view slender, ventral margin deflexed; aedeagal apodemes in lateral view slightly sinuate at apex.

Female ( Fig. 21A ): length 1.9–2.1 mm, width 0.9– 1.0 mm, l/w = 2.1–2.2 (N = 2). Rostrum longer than in male, 0.6–0.7 mm; r/p = 1.7, slender, distinctly arcuate throughout, in cross-section circular, dorsolaterally rounded; antennal insertion at middle; scrobe arcuate, weakly projected to apex. Head dark reddish brown. Eyes distant from anterior margin of pronotum by nearly one third of their diameter. Pronotum reddish brown, l/w = 0.7, anterior margin 0.7¥ width of posterior margin, greatest width near anterior third; in lateral view conical. Mesoventrite slightly pilose, mesoventral process acutely rounded, pilose. Prothoracic legs, f/p = 1.3–1.4; t/f = 0.8. Scutellum short, triangular. Elytral strial punctures larger than in male, l/w = 1.6. Abdominal sternites 1 and 2 fused with suture evident laterad; sternite 5 similar in length to 3 + 4. Tergites 1–4 incomplete; posterior part of tergites 4–6 and lateroanterior part of tergite 7 with paired strigate-sculptured regions. Tergite 8 semilunar; posterior margin simple, scarcely setose; anterior margin emarginate; lateral margins simple, sinuate. Sternum 8 ( Fig. 21B ) with lamina angulate, mesally emarginate; furcal arms margin sinuate, outer corner angulate, inner corners with three to six setae; apodeme very slender. Coxites nearly as long as apodeme of sternite 8, styli apically with three to four long setae. Spermatheca ( Fig. 21C ) with corpus tubular; apex of cornu broadly rounded, rugulose; ramus and collum separated; ramus and collum not protruded; collum rugulose.

Variation: No significant variation is apparent amongst the examined specimens.

Type material: Holotype male (dissected) ‘ PERU, Loreto, Indiana, Río Amazonas, 2°30′0″ S; 73°3′0″ W, 8.V.1999, Luis D. Gómez, on flowers Carludovica subpalmata ’ (CMNC) . Paratypes, same label information as holotype male ( CMNC: five males, 11 females; four dissected) .

Etymology: Named in reference to the strongly curved rostrum of females, based on the Latin words curvus, which means ‘bent’, and rostrum, which means ‘snout’ ( Brown, 1956).

Natural history: Azotoctla curvirostra is known from the Indiana district of the Maynas Province in Loreto, in the Peruvian Amazon ( Fig. 37 ). The examined specimens were collected on flowers of an unidentified species of Carludovica Ruiz & Pavón , most probably to be C. palmata (as the invalid name used on the collecting label implies).

Figures

Figure 20. Azotoctla curvirostra, male. A, habitus, lateral view; B, sternum 9; C, aedeagus, dorsal and lateral view.

Figure 21. Azotoctla curvirostra, female. A, habitus, lateral view; B, sternum 8; C, spermatheca.

Figure 37. Azotoctla species distributions, III: Azotoctla anerunca, Azotoctla curvirostra, Azotoctla femorata, Azotoctla gottsbergeri, and Azotoctla melolauta.