Neobruchidius lovie Johnson & Romero, 2006

Johnson, C. D. & Romero-Napoles, J., 2006, Neobruchidius lovie, new genus and new species from Latin America (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae), Zootaxa 1123, pp. 57-68 : 63-66

Neobruchidius lovie Johnson & Romero , new species

Length (Pronotum­elytra) 1.5–1.8 mm. Width 1.0– 1.1 mm. Maximum thoracic depth 0.9–1.0 mm.

Male

Integument color. Head and eyes black; antennae light brown to red orange; usually pronotum brown, varying from all black to all red orange; elytron usually all red orange surrounded by narrow stripe of brown, sometimes all red orange (fig. 3); meso­ and metathoracic sterna varying from light brown to usually all black; remainder of undersurfaces, legs and pygidium all red orange.

Vestiture. With recumbent white hairs as follows: eye with medial fringe of white hairs; postocular lobe with short white hairs; postocular patch of sparse white hairs; remainder of head with sparse white hairs; dorsal surfaces with sparse white hairs, sterna with sparse white hairs, sometimes patches of moderately dense to dense white hairs on lateral margins of sterna.

Structure

Head. Slightly elongate, densely punctulate; frons with median, glabrous, finely punctulate line extending from frontoclypeal suture to vertex; vague transverse sulcus between upper limits of eyes; width of eye about 1.6 times wider than width of frons; ocular sinus about 2/5 as long as width of eye; posterior margin of eye protruding from adjacent surfaces; postocular lobe strong, rounded, not angulate; distance from base of antennae to apex of labrum about 1/2 as long as distance from upper limits of eyes to apex of labrum; antennal segments 1 and 3 usually filiform, 2 usually moniliform; 4 to 10 eccentric, 11th subacute apically; 5 to 10 broader than long, 11 longer than broad; antenna reaching to about 0.5 length of elytron.

Prothorax. Disk campanulate (fig. 3), with many punctations, punctations more coarse at base and lateral margins; cervical sulcus shallow, extending from near coxal cavity to about 1/2 distance to pronotal midline; lateral prothoracic carina vague, extending about 1/ 4 distance from base to coxal cavity; vague, short median impressed line on median basal lobe usually obscured by pubescence; prosternum separating procoxae from about 0.7 their length.

Mesothorax and Metathorax. Scutellum small, slightly longer than broad, clothed with dense recumbent white hairs; elytron slightly longer than broad; striae deep, punctate, strial intervals rugulose; striae 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 closer to one another at base than to adjacent striae (fig. 3); without spines at base of elytron; humerus rugulose; undersurfaces punctate; all of hind coxa punctate; hind femur constricted basally and apically, expanded medially to slightly less than width of coxa (fig. 1); inner ventral surface with a vague longitudinal carina, without lateral longitudinal carina; femur armed with an inner subapical acuminate spine about as long as width of tibial base; tibia with ventral, lateral, and dorsomesal glabrous longitudinal carinae, without lateroventral carina; dorsal surface without fossa; tibial corona with 3 to 4 spinules, mucro much shorter than 1/4 as long as 1st tarsomere; without sinus at base of mucro; 1st tarsomere with ventral, lateral and dorsal glabrous longitudinal carinae.

Abdomen. Sterna not flattened medially; 1st sternum about 2/3 as long as abdomen, posterior margin straight; sterna 2 to 4 unmodified, 5th emarginate; pygidium punctulate, convex in lateral view.

Genitalia. Median lobe elongate; in ventral view, ventral valve triangular, lateral margins concave, base about 3/4 as wide as apex of median lobe, arcuate in lateral view; without hinge sclerites; armature of internal sac consisting of many spicules extending almost to apex of internal sac; with about 5 small spines and round, sclerotized gonopore sclerite basally (fig. 4). Lateral lobes expanded apically, apices with many fine hairs medially and about 5 larger hairs; cleft to about 2/3 their length (fig. 5).

Female

Antennal segments 1 and 2 usually moniliform, 3 usually filiform; 4 to 10 slightly eccentric, 11th subacute apically; 5 to 10 slightly broader than long, 11 longer than broad; antenna shorter than male, reaching to humerus; 5th abdominal sternum not emarginate at apex, in a gentle curve.

Host Plants. Unknown.

Type Series

Holotype male, allotype female and 11 paratypes: Panama. Panama: El Valle, 14 ­19, 1963, L. J. Bottimer Collection No. 117i. Panama Canal Zone, 5 mi. NNE Arriajan, 31­ VII­1962, H. & A. Howden. Venezuela. Aragua: 500 m., El Limon, Feb. 21, 1971, H. & A. Howden.

Holotype, allotype, and six paratypes deposited in the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Ottawa. Two paratypes on loan to the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Ottawa, by H. and A. Howden, two deposited in the Jesús Romero Collection, one deposited in the C. D. Johnson Collection, and two deposited in the Texas A&M University Collection.

Etymology. The specific epithet is named after the mother of the first author, Lovie Mae Johnson , and is a noun in apposition to Neobruchidius .

Diagnosis and Discussion

Neobruchidius lovie is closely related to species in the genera Sennius and Acanthoscelides based on the characters given by Bridwell (1946) and later by Johnson and Kingsolver (1973). It differs distinctly from species of Sennius by lacking hinge sclerites in the male genitalia. It differs from most Sennius by having a mucro that is about 1/4 as long as the first tarsomere and from many species of Sennius with its large hind femoral spine, its small size, and its lack of colored markings on the elytra.

Unfortunately the host seeds of N. lovie are unknown. When the host plants of N. lovie are discovered this will give a better basis for comparing the relationships between the two genera. Larvae of all species of Sennius known to us from Central America northward feed in seeds of Cassia (s. l.). Cassia (s. l.) seeds, of course, are fed upon by some species of Acanthoscelides . Johnson has unpublished records of some species of Sennius from northern South America that feed in seeds other than Cassia (s. l.). Therefore, host relationships offer few clues to the phylogeny of this species.