Socotracerus contortipes, Colonnelli, 2014

Colonnelli, Enzo, 2014, Apionidae, Nanophyidae, Brachyceridae and Curculionidae except Scolytinae (Coleoptera) from Socotra Island, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54, pp. 295-422 : 368-370

Socotracerus contortipes sp. nov.

( Figs 82, 84 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J ( NMPC), ‘ Yemen, Socotra Island E // Kesa env., 220-300 m // N 12°39′37″, E 53°26′42″ // 28-29.i.2010, L. Purchart lgt .’. PARATYPE: 1 ♀, same label data as holotype ( NMPC).

Description. Male holotype. Body length 4.9 mm. Piceous, shining, head and pronotum with feeble, elytra with strong brassy lustre, antennae and tarsi ferruginous, apical comb of setae of tibiae and claws honey-red. Dorsal side rather sparsely covered by recumbent thin golden setae. Ventral surface with sparse erect golden setae ( Fig. 82 ).

Head. Rostrum 0.89 times as long as wide, sides feebly converging from base to moderately protruding pterygia. Epifrons slightly depressed, at narrowest point hardly narrower than rostrum between antennal insertion, with barely visible wide dorsal carina, sides with weak keel. Epistome crescent-shaped and separated from epifrons by thin carina. Scrobes short. Head separated from rostrum by transverse weak sulcus, distance between eyes much greater than that between antennal insertion, space between eyes flat and with an elongate pit, vertex convex, finely punctured, temples shorter than greater diameter of eye and slightly widening posteriorly. Eyes large, elliptical and convex. Antennae rather thin; scape weakly curved and moderately clubbed; funicular antennomere I 1.25 times longer and hardly wider than II, its inner margin with spine bearing tuft of long setae, antennomere II curved and apically widened at inner margin and here with some long setae, antennomeres II to VII of about same length, all longer than wide; club fusiform elongate, as long as three preceding antennomeres.

Pronotum 1.14 times broader than long, widest apicad of middle, feebly convex dorsally in lateral view; anterior margin as wide as basal one; sides quite strongly rounded; disc with irregular smooth flattened granules becoming smaller and denser on sides. Scutellum barely visible.

Elytra elongate-oval, 1.61 times longer than wide and 1.61 times as wide as pronotum, moderately convex in basal two thirds, apical declivity perpendicular; striae formed by roundish punctures; intervals slightly wider than striae, finely transversely strigose and almost flat.

Legs similar to those of preceding species, with all tibiae even more strongly curved.

Ventral side. Metaventrite and abdominal ventrite I with large deep common impression, rest of ventrites convex in middle.

Male genitalia. Aedeagus as depicted in Fig. 84 .

Variability. The female is similar to the holotype, but its elytra are broadly oval and strongly convex on disc, and its legs and antennae do not show special features. Body length 5.2 mm. Differential diagnosis. Metallic colour, hairy vestiture and even more bizarre characters of the male distinguish at once S. contortipes sp. nov. from the close S. delumbis sp. nov. ( Figs 79–84 ).

Etymology. The species name, the composite Latin noun contortipes given in apposition, meaning ‘crooked leg’, refers to the bizarre shape of male tibiae of the new species.

Distribution. Endemic to Socotra Island.

Figures

Figs 79–84. 79–81, 83 – Socotracerus delumbis sp.nov. 79 – habitus of the holotype; 80 – head, antenna and right fore legs of the same; 81 – habitus of a female paratype; 83 – aedeagus of a paratype in dorsal view. 82, 84 – Socotracerus contortipes sp. nov., holotype. 82 – habitus; 84 – aedeagus in dorsal view.