Idastes grandis, Kuschel, 2008

Kuschel, Guillermo, 2008, Curculionoidea (weevils) of New Caledonia and Vanuatu: Basal families and some Curculionidae, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 197, pp. 99-250 : 218

Idastes grandis n. sp.

Fig. 104

DESCRIPTION. — Integument black, antennae and tarsi dark reddish brown. Vestiture dorsally and ventrally very dense, consisting largely of minute, semierect scales with a velvety look of a dark or yellowish brown on dorsal and ventral surface, and greyish on sides of elytra; dark brown scales near middle of elytra in the shape of a bold letter V, on interstriae 1-3 on declivity, on sides of prothorax and a short stripe on interstria 5 at apical one-third; underside uniformly yellowish brown; here and there some bare, smooth spots, two on head, eight on prothorax, two of latter on midline and three on either side, and several spots on each elytron, one on interstria 3 near base, another at end of 5, and two or three bare dots on the yellowish brown area just behind the V-shaped design.

Head with a smooth median line. Rostrum more gently curvbed than in I. gibbosus , finely, densely punctulate and squamose on basal one-third.

Prothorax conical, indistinctly incurved before apex, with a prescutellar impressison or fovea. Scutellum small, level with elytra around it, with a deep hole on either side; scaling dense, erect, dark.

Elytra distinctly but more gently compressed than in I. gibbosus , with gently convex latteral contour, weakly bisinuous at base, with gently rounded, not angulate shoulders, jointly rounded at apex; interstriae weakly convex, without tubercles. Stria 10 partly margined.

Rostral canal open behind, extending a little beyond hind margin of middle coxae; metepisternum concealed, also head and tail so. Femora with strong tooth; tibiae with a smooth midline only on lower edge. Abdomen of single female, although not removed and macerated, having tergite 8 partly exposed, showing a knife-sharp edge with a smooth rim and no teeth.

Length: 13.5 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype female, 13.5 x 6.5 mm, data as above, NZAC.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. 1 female, Mt. Koghi , 500-700 m, 29.I.1963, G. Kuschel. 1 specimen .

HOSTPLANTS. — None; specimen obtained by beating mixed forest vegetation.

ETYMOLOGY. — Latin ‘grandis’ for large.

REMARKS. — A robust, most distinctive species on all accounts, but especially because of its velvety vestiture.