Euplister velazquezi, Pierotti & Bellò & Alonso-Zarazaga, 2010

Pierotti, Helio, Bellò, Cesare & Alonso-Zarazaga, Miguel A., 2010, 2376, Zootaxa 2376, pp. 1-96 : 43-45

Euplister velazquezi sp. n.

( Figs. 40a–b, 57a, 76)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2D2E9B1A-A710-432A-8605-82B3CA132AB2

Diagnosis. Species of small to medium size (3.6–5.6 mm), similar to E. setabensis , from which it can be distinguished, apart from the characters in the key, also by the longer desmomere 2, which is more than twice as long as wide.

Description. Dorsal vestiture of oblong scales, not or hardly imbricate, pale with golden or slightly greenish sheen, white on legs, rostrum, sides and a narrow median band on pronotum, on base of elytra and some lines on even elytral interstriae, and of narrow setae on pronotum, short and broad on elytra, gathered on elytral declivity in small desquamulate spots. Head with sides converging apicad. Rostrum transverse, clearly wider at base than at pterygia, with sides clearly convergent up to apex, pterygia obsolete, metarostrum devoid of median longitudinal relief; prorostrum with sides very weakly raised, subrectilineal. Frons moderately wide, with a small median fovea. Eyes flat. Antennae with scape incrassate only at apical third, funicle robust with desmomere 1 clearly longer than 2, the latter more than twice as long as wide, 4–7 transverse; all desmomeres with setae thin but widened at apex, even those on basal half of desmomere 1; club robust, first segment widely cup-shaped. Pronotum transverse, wider at base than at anterior margin, rounded at sides, disc with double, dense, deep punctures. Elytra clearly elongate, strial punctures close, interstriae flat, finely and sparsely punctate. Legs moderately robust; tibiae strongly widened apically, hind tibiae with a series of denticles along their inner margin. Spermatheca as in Fig. 57a.

Etymology. The species is named after our dear colleague and friend Antonio Velázquez de Castro.

Distribution. Iberian endemite: eastern Spain (Alicante province) ( Fig. 76).

Material examined. Holotype female: Alicante, Montnegre, m. 350, N 38º29. 253 " W 00º32. 620 ", 10.4.2003 leg. Pierotti ( MMA); paratypes: Alicante: do., 10.4.03 leg. Bellò (13 BEL, 2 OSE); do., leg. Pierotti (12 PIE, 2 VEC); do., 31.IV.2004 leg. Bellò (34 BEL, 2 OSE, 4 PIE); do., leg. Pierotti (2 OSE, 34 PIE); Alicante, Montnegre, m. 350, da N 38º28. 567 " W 00º30. 330 " a N 38º29. 253 " W 00º32. 620 " 1.4.2004 leg. Bellò (6 BEL); do., leg. Pierotti (8 PIE); Alicante, Montnegre, 12.5.2002, leg. Pierotti (1 BEL, 2 PIE) . Additional specimens (males): Alicante, Montnegre, 30.3.1991, leg. A. Velázquez de Castro (1 MMA, 1 PIE) .

Biology. Collected only from Ononis tridentata L.

Notes. The two males of Euplister collected by A. Velázquez de Castro at Alicante, Montnegre, have markedly globose elytra. We tentatively regard them as representing the male of E. velazquezi , but since no additional such specimens have been found and we cannot definitely associate them with the females collected at that locality, we prefer to restrict the type series of this new species to the female specimens. Further research is required to determine whether these males and females represent the same or two different species and whether occasional parthenogenesis may be involved. Both males have the aedeagus parallel-sided at the apex, which is obliquely truncate ( Fig. 40a), and endophallic structures typical of the genus ( Fig. 40b).

Genus Pseudoperitelus gen. n.

Peritelus Germar sensu auctt . (partim).

Type species: Peritelus globulicollis Seidlitz, 1871 .

A genus with a south-western European distribution ( Fig. 68), from Styria to eastern Spain and the islands of Columbrete Grossa, Mallorca and Formentera. Includes only the four species treated below.

Diagnosis. Species of small to medium size (2.3–5.5 mm), distinguished from Peritelus by the rostrum having its narrowest point a little behind the pterygia ( Fig. 1c), the elytra being clothed with semierect to erect setae and the configuration of the endophallic structures ( Figs. 9b–c), and from Euplister by the structure of the hemisternites.

Description. Body outline moderately robust. Dorsal vestiture of round imbricate scales, paler to darker ochraceous, bluish and grey with metallic sheen, sometimes forming rather irregular spots, and of raised to erect scales. Rostrum narrowest a little behind base of pterygia, in dorsal view apically limited by a strong keel in front of front margin of pterygia; epistome raised, not depressed; frontal sulcus obsolete, prorostrum weakly separated from frons, frons hardly wider than metarostrum. Antennae with scape rather narrow. Pronotum clearly wider at base than at apex. Elytra oblong to almost round. Abdomen not longer than wide. Protibiae clearly widened at apex. Spiculum ventrale with lamella transverse.

Etymology. From Greek pseudés (false) and Peritelus (the genus with which it has been confused to date). Gender masculine.

Distribution. South-western Europe ( Fig. 68), from Styria to eastern Spain and islands of Columbrete Grossa, Mallorca and Formentera. Includes only the four species treated below.

Note. The placement of P. senex in the same genus with the P. globulicollis -group (the other species) is somewhat tentative, as the general habitus and the form of the spiculum ventrale and hemisternites relate P. senex more closely to Euplister , from which it is however clearly distinct in the shape of rostrum, spermatheca and endophallic structures.