Azotoctla angustacra, Cardona-Duque, Juliana & Franz, Nico M., 2012

Cardona-Duque, Juliana & Franz, Nico M., 2012, Description and phylogeny of a new Neotropical genus of Acalyptini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Curculioninae) associated with the staminodes of Cyclanthaceae, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166 (3), pp. 559-623 : 581-583

AZOTOCTLA ANGUSTACRA CARDONA- DUQUE & FRANZ SP. NOV. ( FIG. 13 )

Diagnosis: Yellowish to light reddish brown; antennal scrobe subrectate, not projected beyond antennal socket; mesepimeron distinctly projected ventrad; elytra with a central darkened macula; abdominal sternites 1 and 2 separate; aedeagal apical projection long and narrow. Azotoctla angustacra closely resembles A. tibiatra and some specimens of A. femorata from Ecuador by virtue of a darkened macula on the elytra, although it can be separated from the former species by the homogeneously coloured tibiae. Azotoctla angustacra is distinguished from A. femorata by its smaller size (i.e. 2.2–2.3 mm vs. 2.5– 3.0 mm in A. femorata ) and by a dorsally arcuate and ventrally subrectate rostrum that is similar in both sexes, whereas in A. femorata the rostrum is subrectate in males and strongly curved in females. Azotoctla angustacra is furthermore readily separated from other Azotoctla species by the slender and T-shaped basal portion of the basal plate of the male sternum 9, and by the narrowly elongate aedeagus (more than four times longer than wide), which has a long and narrow apical projection.

Description: Male ( Fig. 13A ): small, length 2.2– 2.3 mm, width 1.2–1.3 mm, oval l/w = 1.7–1.8 (N = 2). Colour yellowish to light reddish brown; vestiture long, golden, most conspicuous on pronotum, elytra, metaventrite, femora, tibiae, and tarsi. Rostrum short, 0.5 mm; r/p = 1.1–1.2, light reddish brown, apex dorsally slightly flattened; in dorsal view punctulate between antennal insertion and eyes; antennal insertion near apical third, scrobe subrectate, not projected beyond antennal socket, basally deep. Antennal club oval, similar in colour to funicle, I similar in length to II + III, II and III similar in length. Head yellowish brown; ventrally and dorsally pilose. Eyes distant from pronotal margin by nearly half their diameter. Pronotum l/w = 0.6–0.7, yellowish brown, in dorsal view subovate, anterior margin 0.6¥ width of posterior margin, lateral margins rounded, greatest width at midpoint, vestiture short; posterior margin distinctly bisinuate; in lateral view conical. Mesepimeron ventrally distinctly projected. Prosternum subglabrous (few setae posteriad); procoxal cavities inserted on posterior three quarters; prosternal process rounded; metaventrite pilose, even, centrally concave, posterolateral depression narrow; metacoxal cavities separated by distance similar to mesocoxal diameter. Prothoracic legs light yellowish brown; procoxa distinctly pilose; profemur f/p = 1.4; protibia t/f = 0.8–0.9. Meso- and metatibiae anteroventrally pubescent along apical third. Scutellum short, triangular, yellowish brown. Elytra semicircular, elongate l/w = 1.2–1.5, anterior margins sinuate; lateral margins subparallel throughout anterior half, thereafter evenly rounded and converging; with a central darkened macula; in lateral view slightly evenly convex; striae subequal to intervals; IV- VII merging towards apex; strial punctures medium, brown, suboval; intervals yellowish-brown, vestiture short. Abdomen nearly 2.5¥ length of lateral margin of metaventrite, vestiture denser and longer than on metaventrite; sternites 1 and 2 separated (as opposed to centrally fused), nearly flat; 1 slightly longer than 2; 2 slightly shorter than 3 + 4; 5 slightly longer than 2 + 3. Tergites 1–2 incomplete; tergites 3–7 complete; tergites 4–6 lateroposteriorly with paired strigate-sculptured regions. Tergite 8 almost completely covered by elytra; wider than long, posterior margin straight, simple (as opposed to plicate), laterally rounded. Distal angle of sternum 8 with four to five large setae. Sternum 9 ( Fig. 13B ) with basal portion of basal plate sinuate, T-shaped; apodeme 1.5¥ width of aedeagal apodemes. Tegminal plate ( Fig. 13D ) reduced, basal piece Y-shaped; tegminal apodeme subrectate, nearly one-quarter length of aedeagus. Aedeagus ( Fig. 13C ) long, l/w = 4.5 (N = 1), longitudinal plates elongatetriangular; basal margin narrowly rounded, diffuse, apex rounded, projected (projection long and narrow); tectum membranous, tissue papillate, dense; endophallus with a rounded sclerite on basal quarter; in lateral view wide, ventral margin deflexed, apex projected, fairly narrow, straight; aedeagal apodemes in lateral view very slightly sinuate at apex.

Female: unknown.

Variation: No significant variation is apparent amongst the examined specimens.

Type material: Holotype male (dissected) ‘ Ecuador, Pichincha, 47 km S [south] Sto. [Santo] Domingo, Río Palenque , on palm flowers, V-18/30–1975 leg. S. & J. Peck’ ( CMNC) . Paratypes, same label information as holotype ( CMNC: three males; two dissected) .

Etymology: Named in reference to the narrow shape of the aedeagal apex, through combination of the Latin word angustus, which means ‘narrow’ and the Greek word akron, which means ‘tip’ ( Brown, 1956).

Natural history: Azotoctla angustacra is known from the western lowlands of Ecuador ( Fig. 35 ), and specifically from the western flange of the Andean Cordillera where it occurs sympatrically with A. aecuatorialis and A. femorata (see also Natural history section of A. aecuatorialis ). An association with Cyclanthaceae is highly probable in spite of the specimen label information, which probably represents a common identification error.

Figures

Figure 13. Azotoctla angustacra, male. A, habitus, lateral view; B, sternum 9; C, aedeagus, dorsal and lateral view; D, tegmen, lateral view.

Figure 35. Azotoctla species distributions, I: Azotoctla angustacra, Azotoctla gomezi, Azotoctla punctata, Azotoctla tibiatra, and Azotoctla tuberquiai.