Aphanerostethus falcatus Kojima, Lewis & Fujisawa, 2024

Lewis, Jake H., Kojima, Hiroaki, Suenaga, Miyuki, Petsopoulos, Dimitrios, Fujisawa, Yusuke, Truong, Xuan Lam & Warren, Dan L., 2024, The era of cybertaxonomy: X-ray microtomography reveals cryptic diversity and concealed cuticular sculpture in Aphanerostethus Voss, 1957 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), ZooKeys 1217, pp. 1-45 : 1-45

Aphanerostethus falcatus Kojima, Lewis & Fujisawa sp. nov.

Figs 1 I – L , 3 , 5 D – F , 10 B , 15 E, F , 17 C, D

Specimens examined.

Holotype: Vietnam: Lam Dong Province: • Mount Lang Biang , 12°02'N, 108°26'E, elevation 1700 m, 18. II. 2011, H. Kojima, male deposited in TUA, JHLHY_DAR_153 . Paratypes: Vietnam: Lam Dong Province: • Mount Lang Biang , 12°02'N, 108°26'E, elevation 1700 m, 17–18. II. 2011, H. Kojima, (21, TUA; 1 OIST), JHLHY_DAR_094 , JHLHY_DAR_096 (EGP 0160 D 01), JHLHY_DAR_097 , JHLHY_DAR_099 , JHLHY_DAR_110 (EGP 0160 C 12), JHLHY_DAR_112 (EGP 0160 D 02), JHLHY_DAR_116 (EGP 0160 D 10), JHLHY_DAR_117 (EGP 0160 D 09), JHLHY_DAR_119 (EGP 0160 D 07), JHLHY_DAR_154 – JHLHY_DAR_166 ; • near Phi Lieng, Lam Ha , 21. II. 2011, H. Kojima, (1, TUA), JHLHY_DAR_118 (EGP 0160 D 11) ; • Da Knang, Dam Rong District , 23. II. 2013, H. Kojima, (1, TUA), JHLHY_DAR_122 (EGP 0160 E 01) ; • same locality, 2. III. 2014, Y. Fujisawa, (1, TUA) ; • Mount Lang Biang , 12°02'N, 108°26'E, elevation 1700 m, 20–26. II. 2013, H. Kojima, (18, TUA; 2, OIST), JHLHY_DAR_091 , JHLHY_DAR_109 (EGP 0160 D 04), JHLHY_DAR_168 – JHLHY_DAR_179 , JHLHY_DAR_181 – JHLHY_DAR_186 .

Diagnosis.

Body length 1.7–2.1 mm. Cuticle coated in dark, sandy gray, and white scales in indistinct pattern. Funicle with six articles. Procoxae contiguous. Only odd-numbered elytral intervals with erect scales. Erect elytral scales evenly distributed, not concentrated in bundle. Elytral interval 5 + 6 not distinctly arched at base. Hind femora with distinct tooth along ventral edge. Fore- and mid-femur with minute tooth. Scutellum reduced. Prosternal cavity prominent and with steep lateral ridges. Metaventrite with a distinct elevated transverse ridge separating the meta- and mesocoxae. Metatibial uncus sickle-shaped in male (Fig. 1 I – L ). Aedeagus tapering over apical half, and swelling at tip (Fig. 15 E, F ), unevenly curved in lateral view; clearly bent ventrally at apex (Fig. 15 E, F ). Internal sac with basal protruding structure (Fig. 15 E, F ).

Distribution.

This species is currently only known from Lam Dong Province (Mt. Lang Biang, Phi Lieng, and Da Knang), Vietnam.

Etymology.

The specific name falcatus is a Latin adjective in reference to the sickle-shaped metatibial uncus of males (Fig. 1 I – L ).

Figures

Figure 1. Metatibial unci in Aphanerostethus (males) A – D A. bifidus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 102) E – H A. distinctus (Morimoto & Miyakawa, 1985) (OKENT 0087658) I – L A. falcatus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 099) M – P A. incurvatus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 100).

Figure 3. Maximum likelihood tree of Aphanerostethus species based on an 872 base-pair long concatenated DNA matrix (CO 1, Cytb, 16 S) with gene-wise partition modelling (CO 1 / Cytb: GTR + F + I + G 4; 16 S: GTR + F + G 4) constructed in IQ-TREE v. 1.6. 12. Branch support values represent standard nonparametric bootstraps (1000 replicates) and posterior probabilities. The symbol “ – ” indicates a posterior probability less than 50 (i. e., collapsed nodes in the Bayesian Inference tree). EGP codes represent DNA extraction codes and serve also as unique specimen identifiers. Associated Aphanerostethus weevil figures on the right of the tree are not to scale. Note that, except for A. distinctus and A. taiwanus (see Comments under the A. taiwanus species profile), the monophyly of all Aphanerostethus species is strongly supported (BS: 100, PP: 1).

Figure 5. X-ray microtomography generated 3 D models of Aphanerostethus pronota with scales removed, revealing otherwise hidden differences in underlying puncture morphology A – C Aphanerostethus distinctus (Morimoto & Miyakawa, 1985) (OKENT 0089414, JHLHY _ DAR _ 071, and 062, respectively) D – F Aphanerostethus falcatus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 167, 170, and 172, respectively).

Figure 10. X-ray microtomography generated 3 D models of Aphanerostethus elytra with scales removed, revealing differences in the length of the 10 th elytral stria. The yellow and red arrows indicate the base and apex of the 10 th elytral stria, respectively A Aphanerostethus bifidus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 092) B A. falcatus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 172) C A. morimotoi sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 115) D A. decoratus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 079) E A. distinctus (Morimotoi & Miyakawa, 1985) (OKENT 0089414) F A. taiwanus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 070).

Figure 15. Aedeagi of Aphanerostethus species A, B A. bifidus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 102) C, D A. distinctus (Morimoto & Miyakawa, 1985) (OKENT 87658) E, F A. falcatus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 099) G, H A. incurvatus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 100) I, J A. japonicus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 052) K, L A. magnus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 022) M, N A. morimotoi sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 113) O, P A. nudus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 012) Q, R A. spinosus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 077) S, T A. taiwanus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 016) U, V A. vannideki Voss, 1957 (JHLHY _ DAR _ 082).

Figure 17. Lateral and dorsal photographs of Aphanerostethus species A, B Aphanerostethus distinctus (Morimoto & Miyakwa, 1985) (OKENT 0087605) C, D Aphanerostethus falcatus sp. nov. (JHLHY _ DAR _ 167). Scale bars: 0.5 mm.