Chaetophloeus psittacanthi Burgos and Atkinson, 2022

Burgos-Solorio, Armando & Atkinson, Thomas H., 2022, New species and new records of Chaetophloeus LeConte (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) from Mexico, Zootaxa 5174 (1), pp. 73-84 : 74-77

Chaetophloeus psittacanthi Burgos and Atkinson , sp. nov.

( Figures 1. C–D , 2 A–E , 3 A–E , 8B )

Diagnosis. This species would come out to couplet 14 in Wood’s (1982) key to North and Central American Chaetophloeus , but would go no further. It resembles C. phoradendri Wood , C. struthanthi Wood , and C. confinis Wood , in that the male frons is strongly concave, with very long setae, that are curved downwards and cover the frons to varying degrees. Chaetophloeus psittacanthi can de readily distinguished from these by the size and vestiture of the body and elytra, and by the arrangement of elytral striae and interstriae.

Male. Color dark-brown, total length 2.06 mm (1.92–2.18), width 1.22 mm (1.09–1.30), length/width = 1.68 mm (1.64–1.75) (n= 10).

Head. Frons deeply concave from epistoma to vertex, surface densely punctured with sparse, short setae. Epistomal margin markedly procurved in central half. Long yellow setae present on upper part of concavity between upper level of eyes and vertex; separated into two patches, the tips of which reach the epistomal margin. Epistoma, broadly emarginate, border ornamented with short setae distributed along its margin that covering half of the mandibles. Short, erect, yellow setae, on lateral margins of frons.

Antennal club oval, flat, longer than wide. Club slender with 3 segments, the two sutures marked laterally by setae; the suture between segments 2 and 3 weakly marked.

Pronotum. Lateral margins rounded (except in females with small teeth on margins of pronotum), pleural regions with bifid, white setate. Dorsal vestiture is a mixture of recumbent brown and yellow scales, with brown predominating to weards the anterior margin. Base of pronotum with a group of erect yellowish orange setae opposite elytral suture. Pronotum about twice as wide as long, notably constricted towards head; posterior margin sinuate.

Elytra. Anterior margin marked by a row of strongly elevated, chisel-like crenulations, larger from suture to interstriae 4, diminishing laterad. Some submarginal crenulations near suture; larger crenulations each subtended posteriorly by a single orange scale. Setae surrounding anterior sutural area erect, scale-like and yellow-orange. Striae obscure, not impressed; strial and interstrial punctures and setae similar in size and color and difficult to distinguish. Strial setae short, harlike and recumbent. Interstriae about 3x width of striae, setae scale-like, recumbent, confused in mottled pattern of brown and yellow.

Declivity convex, interstrae 2 similar in size and elevation to interstriae 1 and 3. Vestiture similar to that of disc.

Sternum: Ventrites densely covered with bifid setae, almost entirely white on ventrites 1 and gradually transitioning to brown towards ventrites 5. Ventrites 5 slightly concave in center.

Female. Length 2.22 mm (1.71–2.29), width 1.16 mm (1.13–1.35), length/width = 1.90 mm (1.67–1.71) (n= 10). Similar to the male with the following differences.

Head. Frons shallowly concave, epistomal margin only slightly procurved above mandibles. Center of frons densely punctured, with erect scale-like setae over the entire surface, ranging from yellow near epistomal margin to brown above.

Pronotum. Anterolateral area with several oblique rows of erect, chisel-like teeth, these barely longer than the vestiture.

Sternum. Ventrite 5 with very dark brown setae.

Type Material. Holotype male ( CNIN) Morelos: Buena Vista del Monte, 18.9524 N, 99.3130 W, 2002 m, 11- II-2018, Psittacanthus calyculatus parasite on Wimmeria persicifolia Radlk. , N. Hernández, NH-01 . Allotype female ( CNIN), same data. Paratypes, same data ( CEUM, 20; CEAM, 4; CE-CIB, 6; UTIC, 2; CNIN, 2; MSUC, 2);

Other specimens: Highway between Tétela Volcán-Hueyapan, km 2, 2180 m, 19-V-1984, SM-266, Psittacanthus calyculatus, E. Martínez & E. Saucedo ( TAMU, 3); State of Mexico, Ahuatenco, 18.9433 N, 99.3255 W, 1919 m, 7-II-2018, N-319S, Psittacanthus calyculatus , mistletoe on oak, N. Hernández Col. ( CEUM).

Etymology. The specific name comes from the genus Psittacanthus , host plants used by this species

Biology and distribution. This species has only been collected at relatively high elevations in pine oak forests on the southern slopes of northern Morelos and adjacent areas of the state of Mexico. It is likely found over a much wider area where similar conditions prevail. Due to the relatively small diameter of the mistletoes in which it breeds, gallery structure is difficult to interpret.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Views of abdominal ventrites of males and females. Chaetophloeus zapotecanus (A, female, B, male), C. psittacanthi (C, female, D, male), C. heterodoxus (E, female, F, male), C. fasciatus (G, female, H, male). All photographs by T.H. Atkinson.

FIGURE 2. Dorsal (A), lateral (B), frontal (C), posterior (D) and ventral abdominal (E) views of a male paratype of Chaetophloeus psittacanthi. All photographs by T.H. Atkinson.

FIGURE 3. Dorsal (A), lateral (B), frontal (C), posterior (D) and ventral abdominal (E) views of a female paratype of Chaetophloeus psittacanthi. All photographs by T.H. Atkinson.

FIGURE 8. Lateral pronotal views showing arrangement of divided scales of Chaetophloeus zapotecanus (A), C. psittacanthi (B), C. woodi (C), C. mexicanus (D), C. heterodoxus (E), C. fasciatus (F), C. sulcatus (G), and C. penicillatus (H). All photographs by T.H. Atkinson.