Tychius kerulensis ( Bajtenov, 1981 )

Jiang, Chunyan, Caldara, Roberto & Zhang, Runzhi, 2020, The genus Tychius Germar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Curculioninae) in China, with description of three new species, Zootaxa 4856 (1), pp. 1-62 : 25

21. Tychius kerulensis ( Bajtenov, 1981)

Neotychius kerulensis Bajtenov, 1981: 219 . Caldara, 1990: 182 ( Tychius ).

Material examined. One male labelled “ China, Kansou occ.” in coll. Hoffmann (Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris) by Caldara (1990).

Redescription. Male (from Caldara 1990). Length 2.50 mm. Integument reddish except for dark brown pronotum and abdomen; on dorsum well visible between sparse elongate whitish gray scales. Rostrum stout (Rl/Pl 0.75), in lateral view tapered at apical third. Antennal funicle 7-segmented. Eyes weakly prominent. Pronotum slightly transverse (Pw/Pl 1.17), with slightly curved sides, widest in basal half. Elytra oblong (El/Ew 1.38), with prominent humeri, at base distinctly wider than pronotum (Ew/Pw 1.30), with slightly rounded sides, widest in basal half. Femora, expecially metafemora, with a small tooth. Profemora and protibiae without sexual characters. Claws with robust medial teeth, slightly longer than half of claw. Male genitalia: body of penis with sides slightly divergent from base until near apex, with subacute tip. Female: not examined.

Remarks and comparative notes. This species seems related to T. vossi in its habitus. It differs from this taxon by the stout rostrum, which is more tapered in the apical third in lateral view, the less transverse pronotum and the sparser dorsal vestiture.

Biology. No data are available.

Distribution. Known from specimens from eastern Siberia and Mongolia ( Alonso-Zarazaga et al. 2017) and a single specimen from Northwest China (GAN).