Orthochaetes estrelanus, Christoph Germann & Carlo Braunert, 2016

Christoph Germann & Carlo Braunert, 2016, Orthochaetes estrelanus sp. n., a new species from northern Portugal and new records of other Styphlini (Coleoptera, Curculionidae)., Arquivos Entomolóxicos 16, pp. 181-188 : 182-186

Orthochaetes estrelanus sp. n. ( Figs. 1-3)

Holotype: 1Ƌ, " 223_14.2 PORTUGAL, Beira Baixa, Serra da Estrela, E Penhas da Saude, Vale das Cortes , 1290m, N40°19’42” / W7°21’ 41 ”, 22.4.2014, leg. C. Germann ". Red label: Holotype Orthochaetes estrelanus sp. n. des. C. Germann & C. Braunert 2016 ( MNCN).

Paratypes: 1♀, same data as Holotype (cCG). – 2ƋƋ, 1♀ "22.04.[20]14 P-Beira Baixa Serra da Estrela 3 km NW Covilha Vale das C ortes Macchie/Garrigue 40°17’3”N 7°32’14” W 1290 mNN 2014- 0 2 223-14-2 C Braunert leg SIFTING (cCB)". – 1Ƌ "25.04.14 P-Beira Baixa Serra da Gardunha 2 km NW Alpedrinha Granitfelsen Macchie/ Garrigue Birkenhain/Streu 40°06’10”N 7°29’13” W 1025 mNN 2014-9 223-14-9 C Braunert leg SIFTING (cCB)". – 1♀ "223_14.4 PORTUGAL, Beira Baixa, Sierra da Estrel a, Torre unterh., 1840m, N40°19’20”/W7°36’05”, 22.4.2014, leg. C. Germann" (NMSO). All with red labels: Paratype Orthochaetes estrelanus sp. n. des. C. Germann & C. Braunert 2016.

Size: 2.2 – 2.7 mm. Holotype: 2.3 mm.

Habitus: Figs. 1 a-b.

Colour: Auburn, with antennae, tarsi, apex of rostrum and part of the elytra darker: darkened part on the elytra reaching from first third to apex, leaving a spot at last third reaching the third elytral interval on each side.

Head, rostrum and antennae: Head globular. Rostrum long, 4-5 times longer than its maximum width, longer in females. In males, the strongest constriction just before frons, from there suddenly broadened to maximum width. In females, the narrowest part of rostrum is just before middle.

Rostrum in lateral view regularly curved: in dorsal view weakly narrowing towards the insertion of the antennae (or before in females), then slightly widening towards apex. Rostral dorsum with surface striolate. Eyes round-oval, weakly bulged and placed below the level of dorsum of rostrum.

Antennae inserted at apical fourth of rostrum, scrobes lateral, well marked, directing above upper margin of the eyes. Antennal scape clubbed, 2.5 times as long as breadth of rostral dorsum at antennal insertion. Antennal funiculus consisting of 6 segments with the following measurements (length/width): 1st: 2.9: 2nd: 2.6: 3rd: 1.7: 4th and 5th globular: 6th transverse (0.5): club short oval almost 3 times as wide as the last funicular segment. Integument: Frons and rostrum with robust, clubbed, strongly bowed, bright brownish bristles. White hairs sparse on antennal scape and funiculus, and denser on club.

Pronotum: Transverse (length/width: 0.8), widest at middle, constricted towards fore and hind margins, irregularly and coarsely punctuate. Vestiture similar as that of rostrum, consisting of robust, clubbed, strongly bowed, bright brownish bristles. Scutellum not visible.

Elytra: Oval (length/width in males: 1.6: in females: 1.5), widest just before the middle, from there rounded towards the apex. Base constricted, humeral angles rounded, being the insect apterous. In lateral view weakly rounded on disc, regularly rounded on declivity. The 10 striae are coarsely and regularly punctuate. Intervals as wide as striae, just weakly bulged, intervals three and six somewhat more strongly elevated just at their base. All intervals set with short, clubbed, adjacent, bright brownish bristles. Odd intervals additionally with longer, clubbed, raised bristles (1.5 to 2 times as long as adjacent bristles), bristles denser at base of third interval.

Legs: Femora edentate, robust. Tibiae stout, all with small mucro at inner apical angle. Three visible strong tarsal segments: first 1/3 longer than second: second transverse, third bilobed, 1.5 longer than second. Claw segment gracile and elongate, twice as long as third segment, claws free and simple. Vestiture consisting of clubbed, strongly bowed bright brownish, scale-like bristles. These adjacent on femora, semi-raised towards apex of tibia.

Male genitalia: Figs. 2 a, b. Penis broad oval in dorsal/ventral view, laterally strongly bowed: tip tongue-like prolonged. Median lobus with two parallel linear sclerites inside, of about half the length of the median lobus: a weakly sclerotised, helmet-like structure in the internal sac. Apodeme 1/3 longer than medianlobus.

Female genitalia: Figs. 2 b-e. Spiculum with slender apodeme and plate separated into two separate pincer-like branches each with a triangular plate at apex ( Fig. 2 c). As already stated in the case of the closely related genera Styphlidius Penecke, 1936 and Orthochaetes Germar, 1824 by Germann (2015), and for Styphlus Schönherr, 1826 by Germann & Winkelmann (2016), gonocoxite very simple, with one sclerotised pair of segments, without styli, apex lateral with a tiny roundish area, which is less sclerotised, without any visible sensillum ( Fig. 2 d). Spermatheca with irregularly Cshaped cornu, short and straight nodulus and a tiny globular ramus ( Fig. 2 e).

Sexual dimorphism: Rostrum of females is 1/5 longer than those of males, and the rostral width is minimal just before its middle. Elytra of males are slender, those of females are broader (length/width: 1.6 in males: 1.5 in females).

Etymology: The name “ estrelanus ” derives from the mountain chain "Serra da Estrela" in northern Portugal, where it was collected.

Ecology: Orthochaetes estrelanus sp. n. was sifted from leaf litter, plant debris, mosses, and cushion plants together with the weevils Orthochaetes extensus , O. rectirostris , and Dichotrachelus alonsoi Meregalli, 1987 ( Fig. 3 ). O. estrelanus sp. n. was also collected in Serra da Gardunha, nearby the main massif of Serra da Estrela.

Diagnosis and discussion: At present, the key to species of Orthochaetes by González (1967), with well illustrated male genitalia, can be used for determination of the species of the genus. Based on the similarly weakly convex elytral intervals, and the shorter oval elytra with pointed apex O. estrelanus is morphologically close to a group consisting of O. alpicola , O. cerdanicus , O. hirticulus , and O. nevadensis . Because of its rostrum the narrowest at base (in males) and the transverse pronotum, O. estrelanus is most similar to O. hirticulus and O. nevadensis . However, O. estrelanus sp. n. differs from O. hirticulus by the shorter setae on legs and pronotum, and the different shape of the penis. From O. nevadensis ( Fig. 4) by the more elongate elytra (shorter oval in O. nevadensis ), the more lifted and longer setae on elytra (about 1/3 shorter and semierect to bowed in O. nevadensis ), the more rounded-oval, in lateral view less bowed penis (broader and more strongly bowed in O. nevadensis ), the longer sclerites in the median lobus, and the shorter apodeme, which is about 1.5 longer than the median lobus (nearly 2.5 times as long as median lobus in O. nevadensis ).

The close relationship between O. estrelanus sp. n. and O. nevadensis is surprising, as both (very low dispersibility) species are very likely restricted to small and widely separated areas, one in northern Portugal, the other in southern Spain. However, disjunction of populations even within the same species is already known (see González 1967) in the case of Styphlus jonicus (Reitter, 1899) (populations in southern France – although these should be re-examined carefully regarding their conspecificity – southwestern Greece, and Crete) and S. penicillus Schönherr, 1826 (Mallorca, southern France, Aegean Islands and Cyprus).

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Figures

Fig. 3. - Habitat of Orthochaetes estrelanus sp. n. Type locality at Vale das Cortes, 22.4. 2014. (Photo by Christoph Germann).