Rhopalotria (Rhopalotria) meerowi, O’Brien & Tang, 2015

O’Brien, Charles W. & Tang, William, 2015, Revision of the New World cycad weevils of the subtribe Allocorynina, with description of two new genera and three new subgenera (Coleoptera: Belidae: Oxycoryninae), Zootaxa 3970 (1), pp. 1-87 : 27-28

Rhopalotria (Rhopalotria) meerowi Tang and O’Brien, new species

Figures: habitus: 29–32; antennal pockets: 108; male genitalia: 139–140, 180, 220; female genitalia: 247.

DESCRIPTION—Body small (range 2.0– 2.9 mm, mean = 2.4 mm, n = 11), robust, elongate-oval; distinctly bicolored, orange-red and black.

Male (holotype). Rostrum: moderately long, 1.08 X longer than pronotum, light brownish orange; coarsely, rugosely punctate in basal 2/3, finely more sparsely punctate in apical 1/3, moderately strongly expanded in apical 1/2; moderately but evenly curved in lateral view. Head: entire dorsum including forehead, rugosely punctate; distance between apical margin of eyes ca. half as wide as distance between basal margin of eyes, distance between apical margin of eyes ca. equal to length of eyes. Antennae: scape length 0.85 X as long as eye and 0.99 X as long as desmomeres 1+2, 1–2 elongate, 3–7 rounded, submoniliform; scape and funicle reddish brown; club with rhopalomeres 1–2 piceus to black, and rhopalomere 3 with pale yellowish distal tip. Prothorax: strongly transverse, 1.45 X wider than long; apex moderately narrow, evenly expanded to middle, there slightly narrowed to slightly rounded base; lateral margins with minute denticles; disc with coarse, dense, not contiguous punctures, laterally subrugose; individuals with pronotum, dorsal surface of head and profemora with fine reticulation visible under high magnification 40–100X; uniformly brownish orange. Scutellum: narrowly subquadrate, with sparse large coarse punctures. Elytra: 0.62 X as wide as long; subparallel behind rounded humeri, to slightly expanded near declivity, there suddenly evenly narrowed to broadly rounded deeply emarginate apices; unevenly coarsely punctured, medially rugosely punctured; entirely and evenly blackish brown. Legs: very robust, procoxae protruding, with single inner apical process; profemora very strongly asymmetrically swollen, with apical pit-like impression, receiving base of tibia, anterior margin of apical pit near its base with stout apical tooth, posterior margin near base with rounded tooth; protibiae very stout in lateral view, with base very strongly rounded with right angle bend, rounded subapical tooth on inner surface near base, inner surface weakly submedially narrowly excavate from base to near apex, apex with large anterior mucro, and smaller posteriorly directed tooth. Length, pronotum and elytron: 2.5 mm.

Female. Same as male except: Rostrum: 1.30 X longer than pronotum, basal half finely sparsely punctate, distal half smooth, nearly impunctate, very weakly expanded apically. Prothorax: 1.56 X longer than wide; sides more or less evenly rounded from narrow apex to slightly narrowed base. Legs: protibiae lacks inner basal tooth, inner surface with moderately broad shallow excavation, with two apical teeth small and subequal in size. Length, pronotum and elytron: 2.4 mm.

Genitalia and Associated Structures— Male. Length of penis and apodeme together 0.68–0.73 mm (n = 2). Penis: in dorsal view bulging in basal half, slightly tapering toward apex, near gonopore tapering increasing sharply with angle between sides ~ 65˚, to subtruncate apex (Figs. 139, 180). Tegmen: distal margin with 20 setae (Fig. 220). Female. Sternite VIII: 0.56–0.65 mm long (n = 3), arms 68–83% as long as apodeme, diverging from apodeme with slight angle (<20˚) between arms for ~ 1/3 of length, then diverging at sharper angle (~ 60˚) for ~ 1/ 3 of length, then bending inward and becoming briefly subparallel, then converging slightly near apices (Fig. 247).

Intraspecific Variation— The rostral length relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.08–1.21 (mean = 1.11, n = 7) and of females = 1.22–1.30 (mean = 1.26, n = 9); the pronotal width relative to the pronotal length of males = 1.45–1.58 (mean = 1.49, n = 7) and of females = 1.46–1.60 (mean = 1.54, n = 9).

Etymological Note— This species is named in honor of Alan Meerow, one of the collectors of the type series of this species, and for his work on the population genetics of Caribbean Zamia .

Remarks— Morphologically R. meerowi is the most distinctive of the three species in the subgenus Rhopalotria . This assessment is supported by molecular analysis of the 16S rRNA ( Tang et al. in prep.). In color pattern, Rhopalotria meerowi is most similar to R. vovidesi . These two species can be distinguished by: 1) the presence of long hairs on the scutellum of R. vovidesi vs. absent in R. meerowi , 2) the presence of fine reticulation on the head, pronotum and profemora of R. meerowi vs. absent in R. vovidesi , and 3) RL/PL in females of R. vovidesi of 1.58–1.79 vs. 1.22–1.30 in females of R. meerowi .

Biology— The host Zamia varies from a wide leaflet form with aerial trunks to narrow leaflet forms with entirely subterranean stems.

Range— Known only from Jamaica, in the parishes of St. Ann and Trelawny, but likely occurs in other parishes where populations of Zamia occur.

Material Examined— Holotype (by designation) male with the following labels: 1) [rectangular; white; printed in black ink] JAMAICA, St. Ann Parish, nr./ Puerto Bueno, 100m, [GPS coord. omitted]/ ex ♂ cone Zamia / cf. amblyphyllidia trunking form,/ II-10-2008,A. Meerow & M. Calonje; 2) [rectangular; red; printed in black ink] HOLOTYPE ♂ / Rhopalotria (Rhopalotria) /meerowi/ Tang & O’Brien 2015 (CAS). Paratypes: same label data, (12). Trelawny Parish: 3k SW Falmouth, Greenside, Gun Hill, [GPS coord. omitted], 45–220 m, ex ♂ cone Zamia cf. portoricensis , II-10-2008, A. Meerow & M. Calonje (14). Paratypes (26) are deposited at CAS, CWOB, FSCA, IEXA.

Subgenus Allocorynus Sharp, 1890

Type species: Allocorynus mollis Sharp, 1890 , by monotypy

DIAGNOSIS. The subgenus Allocorynus can be distinguished from all other Allocorynina by the following character: ventrodistal surface of profemora of male with a single medial spine bordering the base of the apical pit that receives the base of the tibia (Fig. 273), when the tibia is in repose the spine is directly opposite the tibia and does not lie on the anterior or posterior side of the tibia as in other Allocorynina with profemoral spines (Figs. 271– 272, 274, 276).

REDESCRIPTION. Body minute to medium-sized (BL = 1.8–3.6 mm, mean = 2.6 mm, n = 58); robust, broad-oval; uniformly brown or bicolored orange to black, elytra completely black or completely brown.

Male. Rostrum: 0.91–1.23 X as long as pronotum (n = 34). Antennae: scape length 0.68–1.13 X eye length and 1.01–1.45 X length of desmomeres 1+2 (n = 20); club with rhopalomeres 1 and 2 each with both sides of distal surfaces with 3 round pits, visible at 112.5X magnification, center pit of 3 larger and usually partly covered with spoke-like arrangement of filaments (Figs. 109–112). Prothorax: pronotal width/pronotal length (PW/PL) = 1.34– 1.52 (n = 34); distance between anterior margin of procoxae and distance to anterior margin of prosternum on average 1.24–2.4 X distance between posterior margin of procoxae and posterior margin of prosternum. Legs: ventrodistal surface of profemora with single medial spine bordering base of apical pit receiving base of tibia in repose (Fig. 273).

Female. Same as male except: Rostrum: 1.27–1.79 X longer than pronotum (n = 31), on average 26.8–43.6% greater than in males and never with overlap with males within a species. Antennae: scape length = 0.75–1.23 X eye length (n = 20). Prothorax: PW/PL = 1.39–1.63 (n = 38), on average 4–11% greater in females than in males, with no overlap or broad overlap between sexes depending on species; distance between anterior margin of procoxae and distance to anterior margin of prosternum on average 0.88–2.85 X distance between anterior margin of procoxae and posterior margin of prosternum.

Genitalia and Associated Structures— Male. Length of penis and apodemes together 0.68–0.90 mm (n = 11). Penis: (Figs. 141–148, 181–184). Tegmen: apical visor length 17–27% of length of apical plate (Figs. 203–204, 221–224). Female. Sternite VIII: (Figs. 248–251) 0.57–0.84 mm long (n = 9), arms ~ 0.7–1.1 X as long as apodeme.

Host and Geographic Distribution— This subgenus is currently known from Mexico and Belize, but is likely to extend to Guatemala and perhaps further south in Central America. Its hosts include various species of Zamia and one species of Dioon , D. spinulosum . In the one species that has been studied closely, Rhopalotria (Allocorynus) furfuracea , larvae develop singly in individual sporophylls of male Zamia cones ( Norstog & Fawcett 1989).