Laparocerus acutipennis, Machado, Antonio, 2007

Machado, Antonio, 2007, New species of Laparocerus Schönherr, 1834 from La Gomera, Canary Islands (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae), Zootaxa 1643, pp. 1-38 : 5-6

Laparocerus acutipennis n. sp.

( Figs. 1 B, 9C–E, 15E, 18B)

Dimensions, holotype (ɗ). Length: total (without rostrum) 5.00 mm, head 1.05 mm, rostrum 0.50 mm, scape 1.18 mm, funicle 1.54 mm, segments (1st/ 2nd/ 3rd/ 4th) 0.23 /0.28 /0.20 / 0.18 mm, club 0.40 mm, eyes 0.26 pronotum 0.85 mm, elytra 3.70 mm, tibiae (pro- /meso- /meta-) 1.23 /1.20 / 1.47 mm. Width: head (with eyes) 0.96 mm, head (between eyes) 0.60 mm, rostrum (with pterygia) 0.66 mm, rostrum (minimum dorsal /ventral) 0.38 / 0.64 mm, rostrum (base) 0.64 mm, scape 0.14 mm, club 0,11 mm, pronotum (anterior /maximum /posterior) 0.90 /1.33/ 1.10 mm, elytra (maximum) 2.10 mm. Height: abdomen 1.60 mm.

Male. Length: 4.5–4.9 mm, elongate-acuminate. Integument piceous, brilliant, beset with loose cinereous linear decumbent scales arranged in mosaic pattern and long protruding setae on elytra; antennae and legs light brown. Antenna normal; scape moderately sinuate, longer than pronotum, smoothly capitate at apex (30% of length); funicle longer than scape, first segment slightly smaller than second; club fusiform, thin, slightly longer than the three previous segments combined. Head transversely and markedly depressed at frons, median fovea small, pushed forwards and obscurely extended apicad; rostrum strongly trapezoidal, canaliculate towards antennae; prorostrum well delimited, smooth and shiny; pterygia large and open (base of antennae visible); surface of metarostrum with punctures and scales. Eyes almost hemispherical, strongly protruding (convexity 45%). Pronotum fairly small (0.23 × length of elytra), transverse (L/W ratio 0.65), sides moderately and evenly curved, widest about middle; integument regularly covered with large deep punctures separated by approximately one diameter; interstices with small but deep micropunctures; sparsely beset with linear and curved scales. Scutellum small, acute, without or with few scales. Elytra subconvex, elongate, strongly acuminate (sides straight and convergent in apical third); widest well after middle; base not much wider than base of pronotum; shoulders absent. Striae marked by large punctures similar in diameter to those of pronotum but not as deep; intervals more or less subconvex, often alutaceous. Long arcuate setae (longer in apical third, e.g. 2/3 of onychium) protruding from vestiture of loose decumbent cinereous scales (often with coppery or greenish tint), alternating with patches of thinner brownish scales (3rd interval usually dark in posterior half, in spike-like pattern). Legs normal, without combs; protibia shortly incurved at top, outer angle blunt, internally with strong mucro, inner side feebly notched; mesotibia with mucro; metatibia 20% longer, with very obtuse mucro. Ve n t e r with sparse covering of thin greyish linear scales, integument brilliant; intermesocoxal carina small and short, almost granular; apical ventrite shortly truncated. Abdominal convexity 76%. Aedeagus (fig. 9C) weakly curved; apex a broad missilehead-shaped plate protruding from ventral side, dorsally flat and almost without dorsal heel (fig. 9D); internal sac short, with reduced field of soft and short spines (fig. 9E).

Female. As in male but on average larger (length 5.00–6.00 mm), more robust; elytra more inflated, widest usually at middle, slightly shorter (elytra/pronotum L ratio 4.2. instead of 4.4), shoulders slightly marked, punctures in striae smaller. Tibiae not mucronate, not curved at apex; last ventrite apically rounded. Sternite VIII as in fig. 15E, spermatheca as in fig. 18B.

Etymology. The specific name, a Latin adjective, refers to the acuminate elytra of the species.

Remarks. The apically prominently acuminate elytra, with conspicuous erect setae over their entire dorsal surface, are characteristic of this species and serve to distinguish it from L. benchijigua and L. orone , which are closely related and of similar appearance (especially regarding the head and pronotum). Laparocerus benchijigua also has extended and acuminate elytra, but with smaller and more curved, protruding setae restricted to the apical half in the female and to around the apex in the male, while L. orone has no trace of such setae on the elytra, the apices of which are pointed but not acuminate. A small series of specimens from Juan Tomé has the elytra notably less acuminate (elytra /pronotum ratio 3.6 in ɗɗ, 4.0 in ΨΨ), more similar to those of L. orone , but the typical vestiture of protruding setae and more slender decumbent scales, together with the broad, missilehead-shaped aedeagus, assigns it undoubtedly to L. acutipennis .

Material examined. Holotype: La Gomera: Bco. de Almagro, 1000 m (UTM = 28R 0 27880 310910), 31-3-2001, leg. A. Machado, 1ɗ ( TFMC, reg. CO-15504). Paratypes: same locality and collector, 18-4-2000, 6 exx.; 31-3-2001, 39 exx.; 6-12-2002, 52 exx. (most teneral) ( AMC, TFMC, ZMUH, MNCN, NHM); same locality, 20-12-2003, leg. P. Oromí, 26 exx. (POM); same locality, 6-12-2002, leg. R. García, 20 exx. (RGB). Other specimens: Cumbre de Juan Tomé, 1350 m, 6-12-2002, leg. A. Machado, 6 exx. ( AMC).

Distribution and ecology. Laparocerus acutipennis occurs in scrub vegetation on the high southern slopes of La Gomera, apparently restricted to the district of Alajeró. Westwards, in the huge watershed of Benchijigua , it seems to be replaced by L. benchijigua and eastwards by L. orone . It feeds at night on several plants, mainly on Cistus monspeliensis but also on Innula viscosa, Bystropogon origanifolius, Adenocarpus foliolosus and Plantago sp .. It is a species of the winter and early spring.

Figures

FIGURE 1. New Laparocerus species from La Gomera, holotypes: (A) L. orone; (B) L. acutipennis. Scale = 2 mm