Ita chobauti ( Desbrochers, 1895 )

Meregalli, Massimo & Borovec, Roman, 2011, Radiation in the halophytic coenoses of the Peri-Tethys: taxonomy and biogeography of the genus Ita (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Journal of Natural History 45 (21 - 22), pp. 1331-1401 : 1350-1352

Ita chobauti ( Desbrochers, 1895)

(Figure 5)

Rhinospathus chobauti Desbrochers 1895: 57 .

Type locality

Algeria, Biskra, 34 ◦ 51 ′ N 05 ◦ 43 ′ E .

Material examined

Lectotype ♀ (here designated): “1. Rhinospathus Chobauti type!, Biskra, Db [hw]; 2. genre Itha [sic!] [hw]; 3. MUSEUM PARIS, Coll. Tournier [pr]; 4. Rhinospathus chobauti Desbrochers , Lectotypus, 2009 Meregalli and Borovec des.” [red, hw] ( MNHN, coll. Tournier). See introduction for remarks on the synonymy between Rhinospathus and Ita .

Non-type specimens: ALGERIA, “M’Raïer [33 ◦ 57’ N 05 ◦ 56’ E], Mai 1898, Dr. A. Chobaut”, two ♂, three ♀, one fragment (two ♂, two ♀, MSNM, coll. Solari; one ♀, one fragment OSL) ; “ Biskra, coll. Tournier ”, one ♂ ( MNHN, coll. Tournier) ; “ Biskra, 5780, J. Sahlberg, Ita crassirostris Tournier, Reitter det.”, one ♀ ( MZH) ; “Algeria, Reitter, Sammlung Hartmann”, one ♂, one ♀ ( MTD) .

Redescription

Male. Head, pronotum and elytra black; rostrum dark ferruginous; antennal scape and funicle, trochanters, femora, tibiae and first two tarsal segments yellow; coxae and tarsal segment 3 dark ferruginous. Scales white, oval to drop-shaped, three times as long as wide, appressed to surface and completely covering integument on head, pronotum, elytra and underside, scales on legs slightly narrower and more widely spaced (Figures 5G, H). Rostrum robust, distinctly curved in lateral view, sinuate at base at junction with head, slightly gibbous above antennal insertion; in dorsal view sub-linearly and feebly broadened from base to antennal insertion, more strongly broadened in apical half; surface in basal part densely and irregularly wrinkled, finely punctulate in apical part (Figures 5C, D). Scrobes deep, slightly curved downwards, upper margin keeled and curved, extended towards basal part, lower margin less well-delimited. Antennal scape only slightly longer than rostrum width at antennal insertion, slightly curved forwards, more thickened and curved in apical part; funicle segment 1 conical, barely twice as long as wide, segments 2–7 as long as wide, conical to globose; club shortly elliptical (Figure 5I). Pronotum with irregularly broadened Figure 5. Ita chobauti , lectotype ♀: (A, B) body. Ita chobauti , Biskra, ♂: (C, D) rostrum; (J) fore tarsus; (K, L) aedeagus. Ita chobauti , Biskra, ♀: (E, F) rostrum; (G) scales of side and (H) dorsum of elytra; (I) antenna. Scale bar: (A, B) 1 mm; (C–F, I–K) 250 µm.

sides, maximum width in basal half. Elytra oval–oblong, moderately convex, sides scarcely broadened from base to posterior half, regularly rounded at apex. Tarsi slen- der, segment 1 nearly three times as long as wide, segment 2 two-thirds as long as wide, segment 3 shorter than 2, with scarcely broadened sides and with distinctly broadened lobes, onychium slender, scarcely broadened in anterior part (Figure 5J). Aedeagus scarcely curved, median lobe elongate, with broadly sclerotized margins, as wide as central membranous part, sides subparallel for most of the length, sharply convergent at apex, lamella short, not well-differentiated, curved upwards in lateral view (Figures 5K, L).

Description of the female and variation. (Figures 5A, B, lectotype.) Rostrum feebly and regularly curved, slightly sinuate at its base, sides distinctly broadened at antennal insertion, concave between base and antennal insertion and again between antennal insertion and apex. Sculpture in basal half shallower and less dense (Figures 5E, F). Antennal scape distinctly longer than width of rostrum at antennal insertion.

The few specimens examined show uniformity of characters.

Natural history

No data are known, but the inundated zones of the Chott are fringed by halophyte vegetation, where this species was probably collected.

Distribution

Known so far from the salty marshes in central-eastern Algeria, the depression of the Chott Melrhir , near the towns of Biskra and M’Raïer. All the examined specimens were collected in the last part of the nineteenth century, but since the habitat is still relatively well-preserved, the species should be still present at its type locality .

Remarks

Ita chobauti shares the shape of the scales with I. crassirostris , which differs in the shorter rostrum, also in the male, and with barely concave sides in the female, in the shorter tarsi, particularly the fore ones, and in the aedeagus with narrowly sclerotized margins of the median lobe. I berbera sp. nov. and I. gracilis have a longer rostrum and more elongate antennae. See the descriptions of I. punica sp. nov., I. chavanoni sp. nov. and I. gratiosa sp. nov. for the comparison with those species.