Tapinomorphus latipennis Borovec & Nakládal, 2020

Borovec, Roman & Nakládal, Oto, 2020, Four new Tapinomorphus Hartmann species from Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae: Sciaphilini), Zootaxa 4838 (1), pp. 128-136 : 132-133

Tapinomorphus latipennis Borovec & Nakládal , sp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3D888157-9681-4DFD-9342-2554E1458B65

( Figs 3 , 13–18 )

Type locality. Zimbabwe, Manicaland, Vumba Mt. Bunga forest .

Type material. Holotype: ♂, ‘ Zimbabwe; Manicaland, Vumba Mt. Bunga forest , 19.07 S – 32.47 E, 29.11.2006; E-Y: 3739, sifting and under bark, leg. Gussmann; Müller’ ( TMSA) . Paratypes: 3 ♂♂ 5 ♀♀, the same data as holotype ( TMSA) ; 5 ♂♂, ‘I. R.S.A. C.-MUS. R.A. C., S. Rhodesia [ Zimbabwe]: Chipinga , 1200 à 1300 m. VII.1960, N. Leleup [lgt.], Humus dans résidu forêt ombrophile’ ( RMCA) .

Description. Body length 2.27–2.63 mm, holotype 2.34 mm. Body brownish to dark brownish, antennae, short apical part of tibiae and tarsi paler, reddish brown to yellowish brown ( Fig. 3 ). Elytra irregularly densely covered by short oval appressed scales, 4–5 scales across width of one interval, scales not completely covering integument, creating very slender transverse stripe from denser scales at middle and also at anterior and posterior third. Each interval with one inconspicuous regular row of semiappressed oval setae only weakly bigger than appressed ones, hardly visible in lateral view, distance between setae separated by about three times length of one seta.

Rostrum ( Figs 13, 14 ) 1.28–1.33 × as wide as long, widest at base and regularly tapered anteriad with almost straight sides, at base 1.16–1.24 × as wide as at apex; laterally weakly convex, somewhat curved down before antennal insertion, well separated from head by transverse sulcus. Epifrons very wide and moderately short, flat, as wide at base as space between inner edge of eyes, regularly tapered apicad with slightly concave sides, posteriorly separated from head by straight, slender, well edged sulcus. Frons glabrous, short and wide, longitudinally weakly depressed, posteriorly clearly separated from epifrons by straight line, without carina. Epistome not developed. Scrobe dorsally visible along the entire length as very slender furrow, slightly curved; laterally furrow-shaped, glabrous, slightly curved and directed below eye, not touching it, not reaching lower part of rostrum. Eyes small, convex, somewhat protruding from outline of head; laterally subcircular, very near to dorsal border of head. Vertex wide, weakly convex.

Antennae slender, scape 1.3 × as long as funicle, at apex weakly narrower than club, slightly exceeding anterior border of pronotum, very slender in basal half, at midlength weakly curved, in apical half evenly enlarged apicad, at apex narrower than club. Funicle 7-segmented, segment 1 1.8–2.1 × as long as wide and 1.7–2.0 × as long as segment 2, which is 1.6–1.7 × as long as wide; segments 3–5 isodiametric to 1.1 × as wide as long; segment 6 1.1 × as wide as long; segment 7 1.2 × as wide as long; club 1.9 × as long as wide.

Pronotum ( Fig. 3 ) very wide and short, 1.76–1.93 × as wide as long, 0.50–0.54 × as wide as elytra, widest behind midlength, with distinctly rounded sides, anteriorly conspicuously more tapered than posteriorly. Disc regularly convex, under scales vestiture shiny, smooth, coarsely punctate; punctures only slightly smaller than those on elytral disc, space between them very narrow, much less than diameter of the punctures. Base V-shaped.

Elytra ( Fig. 3 ) rounded, flat, as wide as long, lens-shaped, 1.04 × as long as wide to 1.06 × as wide as long. Disc, inner seven intervals regularly weakly convex, without any hump or elevated interval, intervals 7 and 8 create longitudinal blunt but distinct edge, outer interstriae thus placed ventrally. Striae coarsely punctate with punctures large, subsquare and very dense; intervals very slender, narrower than half diameter of puncture. Interval 8 with small subhumeral bump, visible in dorso-lateral view. Base V-shaped.

Femora unarmed. Protibiae at their short apex slightly curved inside, apex rounded with fringe of moderately long but fine yellowish setae. Metatibiae in males with conspicuous brownish pointed spine between midlength and apical third, curved apically and with two very small dark brownish teeth between spine and base; females with spine much smaller, only somewhat bigger than teeth. Tarsi with segment 2 1.6–1.7 × as wide as long; segment 3 1.3–1.4 × as wide as long and 1.5–1.6 × as wide as segment 2; onychium 1.2–1.3 × as long as segment 3. Claws fused in basal half.

Abdominal ventrites short and wide, glabrous, 1.18–1.24× as wide as long, ventrite 1 behind metacoxa equal in length to ventrite 2, metaventral process obtuse, distinctly wider than transverse diameter of metacoxa.

Penis ( Fig. 15 ) ventrally widest at midlength with weakly but regularly rounded sides, triangular with two small teeth at base; laterally regularly curved and equally wide, tip lengthened.

Sternite VIII in females ( Fig. 17 ) with plate umbrella-shaped, but weakly subtriangular, with well-developed anterior margin and posterior margin membranous; apodeme about five times as long as plate, terminated just inside of plate, near the apex. Gonocoxites ( Fig. 18 ) with hemisternites evenly tapered apicad, subtriangular, with long and slender apical styli with tuft of setae. Spermatheca ( Fig. 16 ) with irregularly curved cornu; corpus rounded; ramus rounded, about isodiametric; collum tube-shaped, slender, about equally long but much slenderer than ramus.

Etymology. The Latin name, meaning “with wide elytra”, refers to the obvious wide and flat body including elytra.

Biology. Type material was collected by sifting of litter in forest or collected under bark.

Differential diagnosis. Tapinomorphus latipennis Borovec & Nakládal , sp. nov. is easy to separate from all other Tapinomorphus species by rostrum with very wide, densely squamose epifrons, at base as wide as distance between anterior borders of eyes, moderately short frons posteriorly contrastly separated from epifrons, female sternite VIII with plate umbrella-shaped, not pointed apically without longitudinal sclerites and also unusually flat and wide, lens-shaped elytra.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Dorsal habitus. 1. Tapinomorphus angolanus sp. nov.; 2. T. kudrnai sp. nov.; 3. T. latipennis sp. nov.; 4. T. verunkae sp. nov.

FIGURES 5–21. Structural details. 5–8. Tapinomorphus angolanus sp. nov. 5. head with rostrum, dorsal view; 6. head with rostrum, lateral view; 7. abdominal ventrites; 8. penis dorsal and lateral view. 9–12. T. kudrnai sp. nov. 9. head with rostrum, dorsal view; 10. head with rostrum, lateral view; 11. female sternite VIII; 12. spermatheca. 13–18. T. latipennis sp. nov. 13. head with rostrum, dorsal view; 14. head with rostrum, lateral view; 15. penis dorsal and lateral view; 16. Spermatheca; 17. female sternite VIII; 18. gonocoxites. 19–21. T. verunkae sp. nov. 19. head with rostrum, dorsal view; 20. head with rostrum, lateral view; 21. spermatheca.