Zimmiodes papuanus, Hsiao & Oberprieler, 2024

Hsiao, Yun & Oberprieler, Rolf G., 2024, An integrative taxonomic and phylogenetic approach reveals a new genus of Australasian Cycas-pollinating weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cossoninae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) 202 (2), pp. 1-22 : 18-19

Zimmiodes papuanus sp.nov.

( Figs 8C, D, 9C, D, 10B, D, 11B, D, F, 12D–F, 13C, D, 14)

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0A0B8FB6-6DE9-406F-88F3-7E9940C88B15

Type locality

Erap, Markham Valley, Morobe, Papua New Guinea.

Type material

Holotype, ♂: ‘ NEW GUINEA / Markham Valley / Erap. / 17.VIII.1956 W. / J.H. Ardley // From ♂ cone / of Cycas / circinalis / papuana // COM. INST. ENT. / COLL. NO. 14956 // HOLOTYPE / Zimmiodes papuanus / Hsiao & Oberprieler, 2024’ ( ANIC) .

Paratypes (all labelled ‘ PARATYPE / Zimmiodes papuanus / Hsiao & Oberprieler, 2024’): 2 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀, same as holotype ( ANIC) .

Other material

Madang District, Faita airstrip, Ramu Valley , 27 July 1955, Cycas sp. , Hoogland leg. (1 ♂, 3 exx., ANIC) .

Diagnosis

The species is readily distinguishable from Z. australis as specified in the diagnosis of the latter above.

Description

Shape and size: Body slender and elongate ( Fig. 8C, D), length 2.6–3.4 mm in both sexes, width ~0.33× length, weakly convex in lateral view ( Fig. 9C, D).

Colour and vestiture: Body and legs reddish to blackish brown, semilustrous, glabrous.

Head: Rostrum: moderately long, as long as pronotum, robust, slightly thinner in female, moderately ventrally curved, dorsoventrally flattened, slightly broadened apically in dorsal view, coarsely punctate dorsally, punctures finer in distal half. Eyes: subcircular in outline, strongly convex and protruding. Antennae: inserted close to base of rostrum in male and female ( Figs 8C, D, 9C, D); scapes reaching eye; funicles with segment 1 ~1.0×, 1.6×, 1.6×, and 1.6× as long as segments 2–5, respectively; clubs stout, ~1.8× as long as wide, densely and finely pubescent ( Fig. 10B).

Thorax: Pronotum: roundly trapezoidal, apex ~0.6× narrower than base; anterior and posterior margins subtruncate, lateral margins mostly rounded, distinctly narrowed anteriorly; disc weakly and evenly convex; surface densely and distinctly punctate. Scutellar shield: roundly pentagonal. Elytra: ~2.2–2.4× as long as pronotum, jointly ~0.5× as broad as long, slightly broader than base of pronotum; humeri broadly rounded, slightly protruding; surface slightly evenly convex, deeply and coarsely punctate in rows, forming distinct striae. Legs: femora ventrally without subapical tooth, profemora of male distinctly obtusely protruding inwards ( Fig. 10D); tibiae with premucro smaller than uncus; tarsi with claws free, divergent.

Terminalia : Sternite VIII of male subtrapezoidal, plates sclerotized, slanting, apical margin rounded, sparsely covered with short setae subapically, basal margin strongly sclerotized ( Fig. 11B), of female abruptly angled laterally, with apical margin densely covered with short setae ( Fig. 11D); spiculum gastrale strongly curved apically, base lightly sclerotized ( Fig. 11F); tegmen with complete ring, without parameroid lobes, manubrium very short; penis elongate (~2.8–3.1× as long as wide), subparallel-sided, slightly narrowing in apical half, moderately narrowed apically, dorsum strongly sclerotized, forming a median groove roundly open in apical quarter, apical margin bluntly rounded, apical opening with a pair of lanceolate orificial sclerites, temones slender, ~1.2× as long as body of penis, anteriorly confluent, joined ventrally to body of penis ( Fig. 12D– F); endophallus long, extending below body of penis, membranous, medially with a sleeve of dense, strongly developed denticles, apically with a pair of slender sclerites, bent basally; ovipositor with gonocoxites slender, elongate, apically bluntly rounded, styli short, subcylindrical, bluntly rounded and setose apically ( Fig. 13C); spermatheca evenly narrow, right-angled, gland elongate, narrowing apicad, rounded apically ( Fig. 13D).

Derivation of name

The specific epithet papuanus refers to the Papuan region of New Guinea, the only known area of occurrence of this species.

Distribution

This species is known only from the eastern regions of Papua New Guinea ( Fig. 14).

Natural history

Based on the label data, the species was recorded to be associated with Cycas papuana . However, the Cycas species occurring at the type locality (i.e. Madang) is apparently Cycas schumanniana rather than Cycas papuana , which is distributed in western regions of Papua New Guinea, Indonesian Papua and Prince of Wales Island of Queensland, Australia ( Calonje et al. 2013 – 2023). A species of Tychiosoma (of the Tychiodes group of weevils; Supporting Information, Appendix S4C) co-exists with Z. papuanus at these localities (several specimens examined, from the same collecting event).