Anisandrus bolavenensis, Sittichaya & Smith, 2024

Sittichaya, Wisut & Smith, Sarah M., 2024, Anisandrus bolavenensis sp. nov. (Col.: Curculionidae, Scolytinae, Xyleborini), a new ambrosia beetle from Laos, Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. e 130023-e 130023 : e130023-

Anisandrus bolavenensis sp. nov.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordNumber: 1; recordedBy: Sittichaya & Smith; individualCount: 1; sex: female; lifeStage: Adult; disposition: NHMW; occurrenceID: 7AE477B9-F5C5-50BB-8418-2D42EE1EA5F7; Location: country: Laos PDR; stateProvince: Champasak; county: Paksxong; locality: Bolaven plateau ; verbatimLocality: Paksong; verbatimElevation: 1150 m; verbatimCoordinates: 15 ° 04 ' 26.4 " N 106 ° 12 ' 03.3 " E; Identification: identifiedBy: Sittichaya, W & Smith SM; Event: samplingProtocol: hand collecting (W. Sittichaya); eventDate: 14. viii. 2023; Record Level: type: Holotype

Description

Female. (Fig. 1 ) 2.4 mm long; 1.71 × as long as wide. Body less elongate, stout. Head, anterior slope of pronotum and ventrite dark brown, pronotal disc reddish-brown, elytra black and appendages brown. Body densely covered with different long brownish setae. Head: epistoma complete, transverse, with a row of short, hair-like setae, setae moderately dense. Frons feebly impressed from epistoma to upper margin of eyes, impressed areas sub-rectangular, deepest at epistoma, the depth decreasing upwardly to upper margin of the eyes, surface of impressed areas feebly convex, alutaceous, strongly shiny, rather sparsely punctured, puncture small and shallow, some larger punctures near lateral margin of the eyes, each puncture with very long brownish, fine, hair-like setae; a weak, impunctate median ridge extends to upper level of eyes. The area from mandible bases to lateral margin of eyes weakly convex, punctate; punctures broad and shallow. Eyes feebly emarginate just above antennal insertion, upper part slightly smaller than lower part. Submentum triangular, small, slightly impressed. Antennal scape long and thickened, 1.12 × as long as club. Pedicel as wide as scape, shorter than funicle. Funicle 4 - segmented, segment 1 as long as pedicel. Club longer than wide, obliquely truncate, type 1; segment 1 corneous, encircling anterior face, anterior margin concave, sharp carinate; segment 2 corneous on anterior face, corneous part concave, narrow; sutures absent on posterior face. Pronotum: 0.94 × as long as wide. In dorsal view, type 0, feebly conical anteriorly, sides convex; anterior margin with a row of seven small, slightly protruding serrations, equal in size to those on anterior slope. In lateral view, type 3, short and tall; disc as long as anterior slope, summit at mid-point. Anterior slope with moderately densely spaced, large coarse asperities, becoming lower and more strongly transverse towards summit; setose, setae moderately long, semi-recumbent, pointing backwards, decreasing in length to summit. Disc alutaceous, shiny, with moderately dense, fine granulate punctures, each puncture either with a short, fine, semi-recumbent, brownish hair-like seta or with long semi-erect brownish hair-like seta, the longer setae 2–3 × as long as the short setae, setae pointing anteriorly, some longer setae present at margins. Lateral margins obliquely costate. Base slightly concave, posterior angles angularly rounded. Mycangial tuft present along basal margin, tuft moderately setose, approximately the width of scutellum. Elytra: 1.28 × as long as wide, 1.78 × as long as pronotum. Scutellum broad, large, linguiform, flush with elytra, flat, shiny. Elytral base transverse, edge oblique, humeral angles rounded, parallel-sided in basal 2 / 3, then broadly rounded to apex. Disc strongly shiny, broadly convex, striae flat, with small, shallow, oblique margin, setose punctures separated by <0.5 × diameter of a puncture, setae 2–2.5 × as long as diameter of punctures, fine, recumbent, hair-like; interstriae flat, 2 × as wide as striae, granulated punctures confused, setose; setae long, 2 × as long as strial setae, erect hair-like, increasing their length and thickness posteriorly; granules in interstrial punctures minute, but distinct. Declivity occupying approximately half of elytral length, densely setose, summit broadly rounded to declivity, declivital face flattened from interstriae 1–3, feebly convex near lateral margins from interstriae 4–6; striae distinctly impressed; strial punctures shallow, 2 × larger than those of disc, striae 1–3 curved laterally, striae with fine recumbent, hair-like setae, setae 2–2.5 × as long as diameter of punctures, pointing inwardly to declivital medial suture; interstriae uniseriate granulated; granule minute, setose, setae very long, 3–5 × width of an interstria, erect, hair-like. Posterolateral margin rounded, unarmed by granules, costate only close to apex. Legs: procoxae contiguous. Protibiae obliquely triangular, broadest at apical 1 / 3; posterior face inflated, minutely granulate; apical 1 / 3 of outer margin with six small, socketed denticles, their length as long as basal width. Meso- and metatibiae flattened; outer margins evenly rounded with nine and eight long and slender, acute, socketed denticles, respectively.

Male. Unknown.

Similar species

Anisandrus auco Smith, Beaver & Cognato, 2020 , A. cryphaloides Smith, Beaver & Cognato, 2020 , A. tanaosi Sittichaya, Smith & Beaver, 2023 .

Diagnosis

2.4 mm long (n = 1); 1.71 × as long as wide. Small and stout species. Pronotal anterior margin slightly angularly projecting, median pair of asperities on anterior margin not prominent; elytral disc broadly convex, strongly shiny, without a saddle-like impression, declivity appears more obliquely sloped as compared to many other Anisandrus species, declivital summit unarmed, declivity flat from interstriae 1–3, declivity unarmed, densely covered with interstrial setae, setae very long, 3–4 × as long as interstrial width; striae distinctly impressed; strial punctures shallow, 2 × larger than those of disc, striae with fine recumbent, hair-like setae, setae 2–2.5 × as long as diameter of punctures, setae pointing inward to declivital medial suture.

This species is similar to A. auco , A. cryphaloides and A. tanaosi . It can be distinguished from A. auco by the following characters ( A. bolavenensis given first): declivital face flattened from interstriae 1–3, feebly convex near lateral margins from interstriae 4–6 and posterolateral margin near the apex costate vs. declivital face convex and posterolateral margin rounded along its length.

It is distinguished from A. cryphaloides by the following characters ( A. bolavenensis given first): pronotum from dorsal view feebly conical anteriorly, declivital summit unarmed and declivital face flattened vs. pronotum from dorsal view strongly protruding, declivital summit armed with a pair of small incurved spines on interstriae 2 and declivital face convex.

It is also distinguished from A. tanaosi by the following characters ( A. bolavenensis given first): declivital summit unarmed vs. declivital summit armed with a pair of spinulose granules on interstriae 2.

Etymology

Bolavenensis, in reference to the collection locality of the holotype, Bolaven Plateau, Lao People's Democratic Republic. Noun in apposition.

Distribution

Laos (Champasak Province).

Biology

The holotype was collected from a newly fallen (leaves still green) small branch of Symplocos sp. ( Symplocaceae ).

Figures

Figure 1. Anisandrus bolavenensis sp. nov. holotype female A dorsal view; B lateral view; C postero-lateral view; D pronotum; E frons; F antenna; G pro- and mesotibiae.