Neltumius arizonensis (Schaeffer)

Romero, Jesus & Johnson, Clarence Dan, 2003, Revision of the Genus NELTUMIUS Bridwell (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 57 (2), pp. 219-236 : 222-224

Neltumius arizonensis (Schaeffer)

Bruchus arizonensis Schaeffer, 1904:229 (Pinal Mountains, Arizona); Fall 1910:162; Pic 1913:15; Zacher 1952:471.

Mylabris arizonensis: Leng 1920:305 ; Kunhikannan 1923:21.

Neltumius arizonensis . Bridwell 1946:54; Bradley 1947:36; Kingsolver 1964:105; Terán 1967:307; Johnson 1968:1270; Bottimer 1968:1025; Center and Johnson 1976:196; Pfaffenberger and Johnson 1976:37; de Luca 1977:12; Kingsolver et al. 1977:115; Johnson 1978:438, 1980 a:28; Johnson and Kingsolver 1981:416; Johnson 1983 a:8, 1983 b:9, 1983 c:8; Pfaffenberger 1985:4; Johnson and Kistler 1987:269; Kistler 1995:663; Pfaffenberger and Johnson 1976:31; Ward et al. 1977:6; Borowiec 1987:97; Udayagiri and Wadhi 1989:95; Pfaffenberger and Monge 1991:315; Delobel and Johnson 1998:25.

Description. Male. Integument Color. Antenna, head, thorax, abdomen, and tarsi black; femora and tibiae brown with apices black.

Vestiture. Antenna black with gray pubescence, median carina glossy, nearly covered by gray and pale yellow hairs on frons; pronotum with mixed gray, brown and black, with four spots, two anterior, two posterior; antescutellar area whitish-gray; scutellum covered with white pubescence; elytral pubescence composed of gray, pale yellow, and black hairs in contrasting pattern ( Fig. 3 ); sides and venter with gray and pale yellow hairs in mottled patterns; short tuft of gray hairs in middle of first abdominal sternum. Legs gray with brown spot or band near apex of each femur and in middle of lateral face of each tibia. Pygidial vestiture gray-pale yellow with short, transverse dark bar in middle and paired longitudinal marks near margin of apex.

Head. Antenna with first four segments and the last filiform, segment 5–10 subserrate; frons with very fine median carina extending from interocular fovea nearly to the epistomal suture; vertex finely punctate; labrum slightly sulcate; eyes rounded, dark brown to black; ocular sinus 0.50 to 0.53 width of eye.

Prothorax. Subconical, pleura slightly concave; disk with a gray cruciform indentation separating four dark brown or black gibbosities Figs. 3 , 4 ); gibbosity with vaguely defined paired brown blotches; base lobed at middle; apex rounded.

Mesothorax and Metathorax. Scutellum small, triangular. Elytron evenly convex, slightly depressed in scutellar region; humerus prominent, with a fine, serrate, transverse carina connecting bases of striae 6 and 7, striae deep, narrow, strial punctures distinct, unisetose. Metepisternum microfoveolate with some scattered foveolae, unisetose. Hind coxa microfoveolate and setose, short area near trochanteral insertion with setose foveolae, small elongate lustrous area on anterior portion. Hind femur constricted basally and apically, expanded medially to about width of coxa, with a very shallowly sulcate ventral margin, with one sharp, small, spine on inner margin of sulcus one-fourth from apex of femur ( Fig. 2 ); tibia with lateral and ventral carinae, inner face convex; apex with five spines, the outer lateral and inner ventral subequal, the others smaller; claws lobed at base.

Abdomen. First abdominal sternum three times as long as second; second, third and fourth subequal; fifth slightly longer, deeply and broadly emarginate mesally; all segments, except the first, with a line of strong, black setae. Pygidium ovate, convex.

Size. Length (pronotum-elytra) 2.04 to 3.45 mm. Width 1.11 to 2.16 mm. Maximum thoracic depth 1.14 to 2.25 mm.

Genitalia. Median lobe with ventral valve U-shaped, with setae flanking anterior portion, dorsal valve less sclerotized and U-shaped; armature of internal sac with two anterior masses of spines, a median mass of fine spines and two basal subtriangular sclerites ( Fig. 5 ). Lateral lobes cleft to 0.33 their length ( Fig. 6 ).

Female. Similar to male except the inner face of hind tibia flat, with lateral, dorsal and ventral carinae well developed, first sternum without tuft of hairs; fifth sternum not emarginate, pygidium somewhat gibbous at apex, gray-pale yellow with dark T-shaped mark in apical half connected with vague spots near apex, narrow median line gray-pale yellow.

Size. Length (pronotum-elytra) 3.15 to 3.36 mm. Width 2.04 to 2.13 mm. Maximum thoracic depth 2.07 to 2.10 mm.

Host Plants. Old records. Prosopis chilensis (Molina) Stuntz ( Kingsolver 1964: 106; Ward et al. 1977:5; Udayagiri and Wadhi 1989:95). P. glandulosa Torr. ( Kunhikannan 1923:20; Zacher 1952:471). P. juliflora (Sw.) DC. ( Kingsolver 1964:106;

Figures

Fig. 3. Neltumius arizonensis, male adult, dorsal view.

Fig. 4. Neltumius arizonensis, male adult, lateral view.

Figs. 1–2. Neltumius spp. 1) Antenna; 2) hind femur, medial view.

Figs. 5–6. Neltumius arizonensis, male genitalia. 5) Median lobe, ventral view; 6) lateral lobes, ventral view.