Styphlus (s. str.) eteocretus, Christoph Germann & Herbert Winkelmann, 2016

Christoph Germann & Herbert Winkelmann, 2016, Styphlus (s. str.) eteocretus sp. n. from Greece (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 152, pp. 53-58 : 54-57

Styphlus (s. str.) eteocretus sp. n.

( Figs 1–6 )

Description

Size: ♂♂, 2.3–2.5mm; ♀♀, 2.3–2.8mm. Habitus: Fig. 1 . Colour:dark brown, antennae and legs, especially tibiae and tarsi auburn, apex of rostrum darkened. Head, rostrum and antennae: head globular, rostrum strongly constricted just before frons. Rostrum 4 × longer than wide, surface striolate-punctate, in lateral view strongly curved, somewhat flattened from insertion to tip, in dorsal view weakly converging from insertion of antennae to the tip. Eyes below level of rostral dorsum, oval, weakly bulging. Antennae inserted at last fourth of rostrum, scrobes lateral, well pronounced, directed towards the eyes, upper margin weakly bisinuate. Antennal scape clubbed, 2× as long as breadth of rostral dorsum at antennal insertion. Antennal funiculus consisting of 7segments with following measurements (length/width): 1: 2.6; 2: 1.5; 3and 4: globular,as long as wide; 5to 6transverse; 5: 0.6; 6and 7: 0.5 (7 widest). Club twice as wide as last segment, oval. Vestiture: frons and rostrum with oval, strong, curved, scale-like bristles with apearl-like lustre. White hairs sparse on antennal scape and funiculus, denser on club.

Pronotum: longer than wide (length/width: 1.04–1.08), widest in the middle, constricted towards fore and hind margins, irregularly and coarsely punctate. Vestiture consisting of oval, strong, curved, scale-like bristles with apearl-like lustre, denser along the middle and on both sides. Scutellum not visible.

Elytra:oval to elongate egg-shaped (length/width: 1.4–1.6), diverging from base to shortly behind the middle, from there rounded to apex. Base constricted, humeral angles acute, apterous. In lateral view regularly rounded at declivity.Striae coarsely and deeply,regularly punctate, stria 10 more strongly,coarsely punctate towards apex. Intervals narrow,uneven ones (3, 5and 7) more strongly elevated, interval 3most strongly elevated just at base. Intervals set with oval, strongly curved, scale-like bristles with apearl-like lustre. Bristles denser at base of third interval and at acute humeral angle.

Legs:femora edentate, strong; tibiae strong, all with spine at inner angle of apex. Three visible strong tarsal segments; first one third longer than second; third bilobed, about equal to first. Claw segment gracile and elongate, claws simple. Vestiture consisting of oval, strong, curved scale-like bristles with apearl-like lustre.

♂ genitalia: Figs 2–4 . Penis almost rectangular in dorsal/ventral view,tip laterally flattened with opening just before apex and three tiny sclerites inside the median lobus, no sclerites in the internal sac.

♀ genitalia: Figs 5–7 . Spermatheca with long, C-shaped cornu, and very short nodulus and ramus ( Fig. 5 ). Gonocoxite very simple –as in the closely related genera Styphlidius Penecke, 1936 , and Orthochaetes Germar,1824 , ( Germann, 2015) –with one sclerotized pair of segments, without styli, apex lateral with atiny tuft of 2–3 sensillae ( Fig. 6 ). Spiculum ventrale with short apodeme and plate separated into two separate branches each with afin-shaped plate at apex ( Fig. 7 ).

Sexual dimorphism:The upper side of the tip of the rostrum is dull in males, and glossy in females. The elytra of males are slender,those of females are somewhat swollen towards the apex.

Etymology: The new specific name ‘ eteocretus ’ derives from Greek and means ‘true cretan’, as it is very likely the only endemic Styphlus -species on the island. Ecology: Styphlus eteocretus sp. n. was sieved from leaf litter,plant debris, mosses and cushion plants in different habitats and altitudes in Chania province, Crete ( Fig. 8 ). The occurrence of all three Styphlus -species ( eteocretus sp. n., oros ( Reitter, 1899) , and jonicus (Reitter,1899)) in one single sample of sieved litter is remarkable (see Winkelmann, Bahr & Bayer, 2012). As no details regarding these species’ biology are known, this find may simply be based on similar requirements of humidity at that locality.However,small feeding holes on leaves of Picris spp. ( Asteraceae ) sometimes indicate the presence of Styphlus jonicus in Greece, and Styphlus penicillus Schoenher,1826 , was collected at night by beating aspecies of Reichardia (also Asteraceae ; see Germann et al., 2015) on Samos Island. All Styphlus -species can be found in early spring; often as freshly emerged, immature individuals.

Material examined

Holotype, ♂, [collection number:] 166_12.13 GREECE, Crete Island, Chania, W-Asfendos, Nähe Radar Station [close to the radar station] , N35º15′13″ / E24º11′20″, 1228m, 12.4.2012, leg. C. Germann (deposited in NMBE) . Red label: Holotype Styphlus (s.str.) eteocretus sp. n. des. C. Germann &H. Winkelmann, 2015 (NMBE).

Paratypes, 3♂♂, 2♀♀ same data as holotype (deposited in cCG and NMBE) . 2♂♂, 1♀, 7ex. [partly freshly emerged, immature specimens] GREECE, Crete: Chania: Georgioupoli , 17.– 30.4.2011, leg. H. Winkelmann (FO1) (cFB and cHW) . 2♂♂ [collection number:] 166_12.1 GREECE, Crete Island, Chania, Askifou-Plateau, Petres , N35º16′58″ / E24º10′37″, 780m, lockere Quercus , Acer , Rhamnus , Phlomis Buschformation [loosely standing trees and bushes], 6.4.2012, leg. C. Germann (cCG) . 3♂♂, 1♀ [collection number:] 166_12.6 GREECE, Crete Island, Chania, W-Asfendos, unterh. Radar Station [under the radar station], N35º15′05″ /24º11′17″, 1100m, GS Moos, Polsterpflanzen [mosses, cushion plants], 9.4.2012, leg. C. Germann (cCG and NMBE) . 1♂ [collection number:] 166_12.11 GREECE, Crete Island, Chania, E-Chora Sfakion, Schlucht [gorge], N35º12′22″ / E24º07′36″, 140m, 10.4.2012, leg. C. Germann (cCG). All with additional red labels: Paratype Styphlus (s.str.) eteocretus sp. n. des. C. Germann & H. Winkelmann, 2015.

DISCUSSION (INCLUDING DIAGNOSIS)

Before the discovery of Styphlus eteocretus sp. n. on Crete, the subgenus Styphlus s. str. Schoenherr, 1826, (type species: Styphlus penicillus Schoenherr, 1826 ) included seven species: jonicus ( Reitter, 1899) , (France (Provence, Gard), southwestern Greece and Crete), lederi Chevrolat, 1881, (Caucasus Mountains), penicillus Schoenherr,1826 , (Spain (Mallorca), France, Greece (Samos), Cyprus), syriacus Stierlin, 1881, (Israel, Lebanon), transjonicus Osella & Zuppa, 1994 , (southeastern Italy,Sicily), ursus (Desbrochers des Loges, 1892) (Greece (Attica, Peloponnese), Kazakhstan (Alay Mountains), Turkmenistan (Kopet Dagh)), and vidanoi Osella &Zuppa, 1994 , (Italy (Sicily)).

Reitter (1899) investigated species related to the genus Orthochaetes . He provided a key to the related genera and a key to the species, discriminating Orthochaetes s. str. and Styphlus .Today the combination of the illustrated key by González (1967) and the additional key by Osella &Zuppa (1994) for the Italian species can be used for the determination of species belonging to Styphlus .

Styphlus eteocretus sp. n. belongs to the subgenus Styphlus s. str.,as characterized in the introduction, and is morphologically most similar to S. vidanoi from Sicily (Monti Nebrodi, Ficuzza) based on the vestiture of the body: recumbent bristles without long erect bristles (as e.g. present in jonicus , penicillus and transjonicus ). Styphlus eteocretus sp. n. differs from S. vidanoi in the much broader,scale-like bristles (in S. vidanoi the vestiture consists of small and inconspicuous narrow bristles), and in the shape of the penis, which is rectangular in S. eteocretus sp. n., and rounded in S. vidanoi .

The occurrence of closely related species across the Adriatic Sea is no surprise and acommonly observed and discussed theme known as the ‘transadriatic problem’ ( Gridelli, 1950). In Styphlini the species-pairs Styphlus jonicus – S. transjonicus , and Styphlidius italicus Osella, 1981 , – S. corcyreus (Reitter, 1884) show a comparable distribution (see Osella, 1981; Osella &Zuppa, 1994).

In Greece, S. eteocretus sp. n. is the fourth species of the genus Styphlus .Recently Germann et al.(2015) recorded S. penicillus from Samos Island ( Greece), where only records from Cyprus were known before. On Crete, S. oros and S. jonicus were recorded by Winkelmann, Bahr &Bayer (2012).

Figures

Fig. 1. — Styphlus eteocretus sp. n., holotype, ♂: habitus (dorsal and lateral views).

Figs 2 – 7. — Styphlus eteocretus sp. n., genital organs, ♂: 2, penis (dorsal view); 3, penis (lateral view); 4, median lobus (ventral view); ♀: 5, spermatheca; 6, ovipositor; 7, spiculum ventrale.

Fig. 8. — View from the type locality of Styphlus eteocretus sp. n. near Asfendos, Crete.