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

Pierotti, Helio, Bellò, Cesare & Alonso-Zarazaga, Miguel A., 2010, 2376, Zootaxa 2376, pp. 1-96 : 42

Euplister moroderi sp. n.

( Figs. 39a–b, 56b, 75)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2DBF75D4-BD11-4DAF-A383-5D516B78522D

Peritelus hybridus Seidlitz sensu Torres Sala, 1962: 360 .

Diagnosis. Species of medium size (4.2–6.5 mm), distinguished from E. hybridus only by slightly shorter rostrum, not or hardly prominent pterygia, desmomere 2 distinctly shorter than 1, desquamulate areoles of elytra with sparse setae and apical projection of aedeagus wide and rounded.

Description. Body outline robust but elongate. Dorsal vestiture of bronze scales, elongate and not or slightly imbricate on front half of elytra, more rounded and strongly imbricate on posterior half, with reclined setae even on declivity, these more or less condensed on small desquamulate areoles. Rostrum subquadrate, sides converging apicad, epistome slightly depressed, pterygia elongate, hardly prominent; prorostrum slightly wider than metarostrum, both with elevated sides, prorostrum with a median longitudinal keel. Frons a little wider than metarostrum, with shallow median fovea. Eyes normal, moderately convex. Antennae with scape elongate, not incrassate from base to ca. 2/3 of its length, funicle robust, desmomeres 1–3 longer than wide, 1 hardly shorter than 2+3, 2 clearly shorter than 1, ca. as long as 4+5, 6 and 7 transverse, all with fine setae; club robust, first segment widely cup-shaped. Pronotum transverse, wider at base than at apex, rounded at sides, disc with double punctation, dense and rather deep. Elytra suboval, elongate, widest at humeri, these widely rounded, faint; strial punctures close, deep, interstriae almost flat, finely but visibly punctate. Ventrites strongly narrowing apicad. Apex of aedeagus as in Fig. 39a; endophallic structures as in Fig. 39b. Spermatheca as in Fig. 56b.

Etymology. Named after its original collector, the late E. Moróder.

Distribution. Iberian endemite: province of Valencia, recorded only from type locality ( Fig. 75).

Material examined. Holotype male: Alcira (Valencia), Moroder, 2.6.1912 ( MOR); paratypes: Valencia: do., (1 SOL); do., Moroder , 24.6.1911 (7 MOR, 2 HOF); do. Moroder , 9.7.1911 (1 GON, 4 HOF, 2 MOR); do., Moroder , 12.5.1912 (7 MOR); do., Moroder , 2.6.1912 (2 HOF, 5 MOR); do., Moroder , 6.6.1912 (1 GON, 13 MOR); do., Moroder (1 HOF, 1 MOR); Valencia, Alzira , La Murta , 17.5.2003, leg. Bellò (35 BEL, 2 OSE); do., leg. Pierotti (20 PIE); do., N 39° 07. 757 ” W 00° 21. 639 ” 2.VI.2005, leg. Bellò (2 BEL); do., leg. Pierotti (2 PIE); Hispania or., Gandía, 10.5.1979, leg. Kr. Pospisil (2 BEL).

Biology. We have collected the specimens exclusively on Bituminaria bituminosa (L.) C.H. Stirt. ( Fabaceae ).

Notes. Despite the extreme external similarity to E. hybridus and the notable variability of the latter, we consider the specimens from Alcira to represent a distinct species not only because of the peculiar characters of their aedeagal apex and upper margin of the spiculum ventrale, but also because of their geographic isolation and different host plant.