Strabonus caledonicus, 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 : 187-188

Strabonus caledonicus n. sp.

Figs 80, 128-133

DESCRIPTION. — Shiny black for most part, alutaceously dull on vertex and prothorax. Vestiture consisting of short, fine, semierect brownish pubescence, a little longer on elytral declivity where turned obliquely outwards, whitish.

Head alutaceous at back, becoming gradually more shiny towards eyes. Frons very narrow, in male about as wide as funicle thick, in female a little more apart, with few puncta against eyes, a punctum on midline in line with hind margin of eyes. Eyes in male rounder and more convex than in female. Rostrum 0.8 x length of prothorax, straight or slightly curved; postrostrum tectiform, coarsely punctate, with lateral sulcus above scrobes; prerostrum finely punctate behind epistome. Scape extending to well beyond anterior margin of eyes, strongly curved, moderately compressed; funicle with segment 2 as long as 3 + 4, with last three or four segments moniliform; club as long as preceding six segments.

Prothorax 1.12 x wider than long, slightly rounded on sides, weakly convex on midline more strongly convex transversely; punctation fine, not coalescent, with intervals between puncta as large as puncta, distinctly alutaceously dull with granular minisculpture. Scutellum shiny, sparsely punctulate, nearly glabrous.

Elytra at shoulders 1.5 x wider than prothorax, l.4 x longer than combined maximum width, subparallel or slightly widening towards middle, then converging to broad apex; in lateral view straight on basal third, from here on strongly convex, deepest (highest) on middle. Striae 1 and 2 complete, others posteriorly weaker, more or less abbreviated; stria 10 at base with 4-6 puncta.; interstriae finely punctate, striae 4 and 5 with a single row of puncta, followed by a finely engraved line.

Sides of metasternum coarsely punctate; metepisternum punctulate; last three ventrites finely punctate, others nearly smooth. Fore femora with very small tooth, tooth on others gradually larger. Hind tibiae at lower apical angle inconspicuously extended.

Male: tergite 8 as in Figs 128, 129. Sternite 8 membranous. Sternite 9 as in Fig. 128. Aedeagus as in Figs 130, 131, extending a little into metathoracic lumen, 0. 11 mm long, with body a fraction longer than apodemes, 3 x longer than wide, dorsally and ventrally pigmented; pedon and tecturn fused without discernible sutures. Internal sack lacking basal sclerite, with dense wall vestiture.

Female: tergite 8 weakly pigmented except at apex; apical margin shallowly crenulated, with short setae in crenulations. Sternite 8 as in Fig. 130. Genitalia as in Fig. 131; spermathecal duct long, inserting at bottom of a deep ventral basal sinuosity of bursa.

Length: 2.0- 2.7 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype male, 2.1 x 1.0 mm, Mt. Koghi , G. Kuschel , NZAC. Paratypes with BPBM, MNHW, NZAC .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. 1 female, Mt. Panié , ghi, 28.I.1963, C. M. Yoshimoto; 1 female, Mt. Koghi , 15.II.1963, 20°33’S, 164°46’E, 500-1000 m, 3.II.2004, M. Wanat; 1 female, N. L. H. Krauss; 1 female, Col des Pirogues, 21.II.1963, C. M. Aoupinié, 780-820 m, 8.II.2004, M. Wanat; 1 male, 1 female, Mt. Yoshimoto; 1 male, 6 km N of Païta, 25.I.1963, G. Kuschel. 9 Koghi, 500 m, 29.I.1963, G. Kuschel; 1 male, 1 female, Mt. Ko- specimens .

ETYMOLOGY. — The specific name ‘caledónicus’ stands for the homeland of the weevil.

REMARKS. — Although rather close to S. kanalensis in external morphology and sculpture, S. caledonicus differs markedly from the other species in lacking a basal sclerite to the internal sac, and having a long spermathecal duct inserting at the bottom of a deep basal sinuosity of bursa.