Ebenacobius atratus ( Hesse, 1929 ), 2022

Haran, Julien, Benoit, Laure, Procheş, Şerban & Kergoat, Gael J., 2022, Ebenacobius Haran, a new southern African genus of flower weevils (Coleoptera: Curculioninae: Derelomini) associated with dicotyledonous plants, European Journal of Taxonomy 818 (1), pp. 1-54 : 48

Ebenacobius atratus ( Hesse, 1929) gen. et comb. nov.

Derelomus atratus Hesse, 1929: 525 .

Differential diagnosis

Ebenacobius atratus gen. nov. can be distinguished by the combination of appendiculate claws and elytra with distinct but recumbent setae, as long as or shorter than width of interstriae. This species is very close to, if not a synonym of, E. turneri gen. et comb. nov. (see the remarks section under that species). E. atratus has short, not or slightly raised squamiform setae on elytra (long, erect and piliform setae in E. turneri ).

Material examined

Holotype (from description) REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA – KwaZulu-Natal Province • ♂; Estcourt .

Remarks

Ebenacobius atratus gen. nov.) was described in the genus Derelomus based on a single male deposited at SAMC ( Hesse 1929). This specimen was loaned to Guillermo Kuschel (loan 24018) who undertook a study on palaeotropical Derelomini from 2007. Unfortunately he passed away before he could complete this work and left the very preliminary manuscript and the material borrowed from institutions was partly not recovered (see postscript in Haran et al. 2020). Despite intensive search in the material of Derelomini loaned, the holotype of this species could not be identified and is provisionally considered as lost.

Life history

Unknown.

Distribution

Republic of South Africa (Kwazulu-Natal Province).