Melanterius tesseymani, Pinzón-Navarro & Jennings & Oberprieler, 2017

Pinzón-Navarro, Sara V., Jennings, Debbie & Oberprieler, Rolf G., 2017, Host associations of Melanterius Erichson (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cleogonini), with a diagnosis and delimitation of the genus and description of five new species, Zootaxa 4298 (1), pp. 1-77 : 36-41

Melanterius tesseymani sp. n.

( Figs. 65–68 )

Description. Size: length 2.8 mm in male, 3.1 mm in female; width 1.4 mm in male, 1.6 mm in female. Colour and vestiture: body black to blackish-brown; head, pronotum and elytra sparsely clothed with minute short silvery-white setae, legs sparsely covered with larger, whitish hair-scales. Head with small, dense, shallow punctures. Eyes large, slightly convex but not protruding, dorsally separated by two-thirds of width of rostrum at base. Rostrum about 1.2x longer than prothorax (slightly longer in female); robust, slightly downcurved, dorsally continuous in outline with head in profile; dorsally with large, confluent punctures in proximal two-thirds in male, one-third in female, distal part glabrous with sparse, much smaller finely setiferous punctures. Antennae inserted in apical third of rostrum in male, just before middle in female; with funicle 1.2x longer than scape, funicle segment 1 slightly longer than 2+3, club 2x longer than wide in middle. Prothorax trapezoidal in outline, at apex 0.6x as wide as at base, length along midline 0.7x of width at base; pronotum densely punctate, punctures moderately sized, oval, shallow, each in posterior wall carrying a small, pale seta curved anteriad but not reaching anterior margin of puncture. Elytra 2.8x longer than pronotum, at base as wide as pronotum but across humeri ca. 1.25x wider; striae deep, with elongate, subconfluent punctures; interstriae broad, slightly convex on disc but subcostate on sides and declivity, surface rugulose, with irregular row of short fine silvery-white setae on either side of midline (costa). Metanepisterna with a single row of large, shallow, subcontiguous punctures (in some females a second, lower row indicated anteriorly and posteriorly), metanepisternal sutures ventrally fringed with fine white sclerolepidia. Mesoventrite with median process shallowly saddle-shaped; surface finely rugulose and setose but apunctate. Metaventrite with disc laterally bluntly carinate between meso- and metacoxae (forming a broad transverse disc indented in middle of broadly V-shaped posterior margin); surface densely covered with large, shallow punctures each with a stout, broad, blunt, pale seta inserted in anterior wall and directed caudad. Abdominal ventrites 1 and 2 laterally each about as long as 3+4; 3 and 4 with only one major but irregular transverse row of sparse, small punctures each carrying a fine pale seta. Legs. Procoxae narrowly separated by a complete septum, meso- and metacoxae separated by slightly less than their width; femora with strong ventral tooth (especially on meso- and metafemora), underside with shallow groove for reception of tibiae; tibiae with small but distinct uncus arising at inner side of apex in both sexes and continuing into large bare flange across tibial apex (forming false corbel), setal comb oblique on pro- and mesotibiae but more transverse on metatibiae. Genitalia. Aedeagus ( Fig. 67 ) with body of penis flat, about 2x longer than broad at apex, broadening towards apex, apex truncate with short blunt tip; temones terete, slightly longer than body of penis; endophallus with V-shaped pair of stout linear sclerites, a finer single sclerite between them and fine asperities in adjacent walls. Spermatheca ( Fig. 68 ) evenly crescentic with attenuate apex of cornu; gland large, with very short, broad, unsclerotised duct inserted on short, slightly bulbous ramus.

Material examined (6 ♂, 13 ♀). Holotype ♂: 2652’ 59.3 S 15031’ 20.3E / QLD: Road Kogan-Dalby / Condamine / 15 Sept 2013 / S. Pinzón-Navarro & D. Jennings // QLD 2 S14 P512 / green pods and flowers / beating Acacia spectabilis / DNA 4047 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 63481 // ♂ // ANIC / Image // HOLOTYPE / Melanterius tesseymani / Pinzón-Navarro , Jennings & Oberprieler 2017 ( ANIC). Paratypes (all labelled “ PARATYPE / Melanterius tesseymani / Pinzón-Navarro , Jennings & Oberprieler 2017, in ANIC): 1 ♀: 2855’276 S 15111 ’ 59.9E / NSW: Bruxner Highway / 19 Sept 2013 / S. Pinzón-Navarro & D. Jennings // NSW S90 P590 same as / 587 / beating Acacia polybotrya / DNA 4209 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 63485 // ANIC / Image // ♀ ; 1 ♀: 2854’ 47.7 S 15110’ 31.6E / NSW: Bruxner Highway / 19 Sept 2013 / S. Pinzón-Navarro & D. Jennings // NSW S89 P589 / beating Acacia polybotrya / DNA 4163 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 64669 // ♀ ; 1 ♀: same data except “ DNA 4167 // ANIC Database No. / 25 064668 ; 1 ♀: 2853’45 S 15108 ’58E / NSW: Bruxner Highway , / Texas / 19 Sept 2013 / S. Pinzón-Navarro & D. Jennings // NSW S87 P587 / beating Acacia polybotrya / DNA 4212 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 64674 // ♀ ; 1 ♀: same data except “ DNA 4213 // ANIC Database No. / 25 064675 ; 1 ♀: same data except “ DNA 4214 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 63486 // ANIC / Image ; 1 ♀: same data except “ DNA 4215 // ANIC Database No. / 25 067303 ; 1 ♀: 2640’15 S 15011 ’14E / QLD: Miles, Leichhardt / Highway / 14 Sept 2013 / S. Pinzón-Navarro & D. Jennings // QLD: 2 S8 same as P504 / Tree 2, beating Acacia / spectabilis / DNA 4017 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 63479 // ANIC / Image // ♀ ; 1 ♂: same data except “ DNA 4019 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 63480 // ANIC / Image // ♂ ; 1 ♀: same data except “ DNA 4020 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 63646 // ANIC / Image // ♀ ; 1 ♂: same data except “ DNA 4024 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 63649 // ♂ ; 1 ♀: same data except “ DNA 4025 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 64663 // ♀ ; 1 ♂: same data except “QLD 2 S8 P505/ beating Acacia ixiophylla / DNA 4031 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 63648 // ♂ ; 1 ♂: 2824’23.8” S 15113 ’ 22.9E / QLD: Cunningham Highway to Warwick / 15 Sept 2013 / S. Pinzón-Navarro & D. Jennings // QLD 2 S32 P531 / beating Acacia semilunata / DNA 4084 // ANIC Database no. / 25 0 63483 // ANIC / Image // ♂ ; 1 ♀: 2710’13 S 15033 ’ 51.8E / QLD: Road to Tara / 15 Sep 2013 / S. Pinzón-Navarro & D. Jennings // QLD2 S25 P524 / beating Acacia ixiophylla / DNA 4065 // ANIC database No. / 25 063482 ; 1 ♀: 2702’43 S 15046 ’14E / QLD: Dalby-Kogan Road / 21 Sept 2013 / S. Pinzón-Navarro & D. Jennings // QLD S108 P609 / beating Acacia spectabilis / DNA 4171 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 63136 // ♀ ; 1 ♀: same data except “ DNA 4173 // ANIC Database No. / 25 063484 ; 1 ♂: same data except “ DNA 4174 // ANIC Database No. / 25 0 64670 // ♂.

Distribution. The species is thus far known from south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales ( Fig. 70 ).

Host-plants. The type series was collected in series from Acacia polybotrya and A. spectabilis and as singletons from A. ixiophylla and A. semilunata ( Table 1), suggesting that the former two may be larval hosts for it ( Table 2).

Remarks. In the M. latipennis group, M. tesseymani differs from species such as M. aratus , M. atronitens , M. elusus , M. legitimus , M. semiporosus and M. solitus in its smaller size, being most similar to M. baridioides , M. interstitialis , M. maestus and M. oleosus . The first of the latter four is distinguishable by a more compact and even shape, finer pronotal punctation and smooth, shallowly punctate interstriae on the elytral disc; M. interstitialis by a longer and thinner rostrum, subcostate interstriae on the elytral disc and more strongly dentate femora; M. maestus by a slightly larger and more elongate shape, more reddish colour and a longer rostrum; and M. oleosus by its pronotal punctures being elongate and sometimes confluent into longitudinal rows, longer legs and thinner femora with a smaller tooth.

Melanterius tesseymani is named for Frank Tesseyman, a volunteer at the ANIC who contributed significantly to the painstaking labelling and databasing of the numerous Melanterius specimens collected during this study.

Figures

FIGURE 70. Known distribution of Melanterius abbreviatus sp. n., M. psittacoides sp. n., M. pungalinae sp. n., and M. tesseymani sp. n. in south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales (single record of M. abbreviatus from Meroo National Park in south-eastern New South Wales not shown).

FIGURES 65 – 68. Melanterius tesseymani sp. n. 65: holotype, male, dorsal habitus (Queensland, Road Kogan-Dalby- Condamine); 66: holotype, male, lateral habitus; 67: male genitalia (Queensland, Cunningham Highway to Warwick); a, aedeagus, lateral view, b, aedeagus, dorsal view, c, sternite IX, dorsal view; 68: spermatheca (Queensland, Miles, Leichhardt Highway).