Promecops (Promecodes) divarichela, Poinar & Legalov, 2017

Poinar, GO & Legalov, AA, 2017, Five new species from the subfamily Entiminae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Dominican amber, Palaeontologia Electronica 20 (2), pp. 1-13 : 10-12

Promecops (Promecodes) divarichela sp. nov.

Figures 12 , 13

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Holotype. Deposited in Poinar amber collection maintained at Oregon State University, Corvallis (Oregon, USA) (accession # 154).

Description. The specimen is complete. Body length (without rostrum), 3.1 mm; rostrum length, 0.4 mm. Body brown-black, with appressed light scales and curved narrowed scales.

Head 0.7x as long as rostrum; rostrum almost straight, short, 0.8x longer than wide at apex, 0.9x longer than wide in middle, 1.0x longer than wide at base, 0.7x as long as pronotum, finely punctate; forehead quite wide, flat, 0.6x as narrow as rostrum base width; eyes large, flat, transversely oval; temples short, 0.2x as long as eye; antennal scrobes directed towards bottom of eyes, not extending beneath eyes; geniculate antennae inserted in apical third of rostrum, not reaching base of pronotum; antennomeres almost conical; 4th antennomere 1.8x longer than wide; 5th antennomere 1.6x longer than wide, 0.7x as long as and 0.8x as narrow as 4th antennomere; 5th–7th antennomeres subequal in length; 6th antennomere equal to 5th antennomere; 7th antennomere 1.4x longer than wide, 0.9x as long as 6th antennomere; 8th antennomere equal in length and width, 1.0x as long and 1.4x as wide as 7th antennomere; club compact, 4.0x longer than wide, a little shorter than last four antennomeres together taken, with fused articles.

Pronotum 0.6x longer than wide at apex and in middle, 0.7x longer than wide at base; densely punctate, flattened, narrower than elytral base;

PALAEO- ELECTRONICA.ORG sides almost rounded, expand to apex; scutellum trapezoidal.

Elytra weakly convex, 2.6x as long as pronotum, 1.5x longer than wide at base, 1.4x longer than wide in middle, 2.1x longer than wide at apical fourth; humeri weakly flattened; punctate striae distinct, with quite small points; intervals weakly convex, wide, 3.0–4.0x as wide as diameter of points; apex of elytra rounded.

Prosternum weakly convex, densely punctate, with distinct postorbital lobe; ventral edge of postorbital lobe rounded, without vibrissae; pre- and postcoxal portions of prosternum quite short; procoxal cavities connected; mesosternum not protuberant; metasternum weakly convex, punctate; metepisternum quite narrow.

Abdomen flattened, finely punctate; 1st, 2nd, and 5th ventrites elongate; 3rd and 4th ventrites short; 2nd ventrite 0.6x as long as 1st ventrite; 3rd ventrite 0.4x as long as 2nd ventrite; 4th ventrite subequal to 3rd ventrite; 5 ventrite 2.4x as long as 4th ventrite and 0.7x as long as 1st ventrite.

Procoxae located near middle of prosternum, slightly closer to basal margin; mesocoxae rounded, narrowly separated; femora thickened, finely punctate, without teeth; tibiae almost straight, punctate, with apical setose fringe and mucro; metatibiae not widened; tarsi elongate; 1st tarsomere elongate; 2nd tarsomere conical; 3rd tarsomere bilobed; 5th tarsomere elongate; claws free, slightly divergent, without teeth.

Type locality. Amber mine in the northern portion of the Dominican Republic.

Etymology. The species epithet is from the Latin “divarico = spread apart and the Latin “chela” = claw, in reference to the free tarsal claws.

Diagnosis. The new species is close to Promecops (Promecodes) uniformis Champion, 1911 from Guatemala but differs by the wider pronotum and elytra and much smaller body size. From P. (P.) alternans Champion, 1911 from Central America, it differs by the unicolored body, wider pronotum, and smaller body size. It is distinguished from the previously described Dominican amber species, Promecops (Promecops) tumidirostris Poinar and Brown, 2011 in the nominative subgenus by possessing free tarsal claws, a wider body, starker flattened elytral humeri, and wide elytral intervals.

Remarks. The new species belongs to the tribe Eudiagogini because it has the distinct postorbital lobes without vibrissae, antennal scrobes directed towards the bottom of the eye and short rostrum. The pronotum with rounded sides narrower than the elytral base, metatibiae not widened and elytra with humeri are characters of the genus Promecops . This species is a member of the subgenus Promecodes based on the free tarsal claws.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Dorsal view of Promecops (Promecodes) divarichela n. sp. in Dominican amber. Scale bar equals 0.7 mm.

FIGURE 13. Lateral view of Promecops (Promecodes) divarichela n. sp. in Dominican amber. Scale bar equals 0.7 mm.