Kabakovia Kirejtshuk, 1979

Audisio, Paolo, Cline, Andrew Richard, Biase, Alessio De, Antonini, Gloria, Mancini, Emiliano, Trizzino, Marco, Costantini, Lorenzo, Strika, Sirio, Lamanna, Francesco & Cerretti, Pierfilippo, 2009, Preliminary re-examination of genus-level taxonomy of the pollen beetle subfamily Meligethinae (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (2), pp. 341-504 : 464-467

34. Kabakovia Kirejtshuk, 1979

( Figs. 34 a–s )

Kabakovia Kirejtshuk, 1979: 356 .

Type species. Pria latipes Grouvelle, 1908: 366 (by original designation) [= Kabakovia latipes (Grouvelle, 1908) ].

Generic redescription and diagnosis. The single known species (1.9–2.6 mm length; 1.0– 1.5 mm width) exhibits the following combination of characters.

Body color and pubescence: pubescence short and fine, recumbent, silvery-whitish, not obscuring the yellowish-brown dorsal body surface; pronotal and elytral sides relatively narrowly flattened, same color as disc; lateral margin of pronotum and elytra nearly without distinct setae; posterior margin of pronotum comprising moderately long, usually distally bifid or trifid microsetae, microsetae also uniformly distributed on middle region anterior to scutellum.

Dorsal habitus: body slightly convex, elongate, oval ( Fig. 34a ); dorsal punctures on discal portion of pronotum as large as or finer than eye facet, usually moderately to shallowly and densely impressed, space between punctures relatively shining with faint traces of transversely strigose sculpturing; anterior margin of clypeus truncate, simple, i.e. without small distinct medial bulge, distinctly but narrowly bordered ( Fig. 34b ); circum-ocular furrows (occipital sulci) on dorsal side of head absent; eyes mid-sized and moderately projecting laterally ( Figs. 34a, h ); pronotum with markedly distinct posterior angles, nearly at right angle, slightly directed posteriorly ( Figs. 34a, h ); scutellum regularly and finely punctured on most of exposed portion; elytra finely and completely transversely strigose ( Fig. 34e ); elytral humeral angle distinct, obtuse, slightly protruding laterally, usually covered by pronotal posterior angles ( Fig. 34a ); elytral humeral striae indistinct; elytral pre-sutural striae almost indistinct, with faint traces medially and posteriorly; elytral apices obtusely rounded in both sexes ( Fig. 34a ); pygidium partially exposed, moderately convex, apically rounded in both sexes.

Ventral habitus: antennal furrows markedly delimited, arcuately convergent posteriorly; mentum subpentagonal ( Figs. 34p, h ); prosternal antennal furrows on anterior margin of prosternum obliterated ( Fig. 34h ); prosternal process moderately wide, subapical dilated portion ~2.0× as wide as maximum width of 1 st antennomere, posterior margin concave ( Figs. 34g, h ); lateral borders of prosternal process not delimiting shallowly impressed and distinct furrows, distally terminating at posterior margin ( Fig. 34h ); posterior margin of mesoventrite simple, truncate, not medially incised ( Fig. 34g ); scarce sexual dimorphism in impressions on metaventrite; first two visible abdominal ventrites simple in both sexes, without tufts of setae; caudal marginal lines of metacoxal cavities simple, parallel and contiguous to posterior margin of metacoxal cavities, without deep arched impression of outer ‘axillary’ portion; ‘axillary’ space on first abdominal ventrite well developed, ‘axillary’ angle widely obtuse; peculiarly shaped and moderately deeply impressed, bisinuate interconnected arched impressions on basal portion of last visible abdominal ventrite ( Fig. 34k ), frequently partially covered by distal portion of penultimate visible abdominal ventrite.

Appendages: male 1 st antennomere 0.8–1.0× as long as width of protibiae excluding distal teeth; 3 rd antennomere in both sexes ~3.0× as long as wide, 1.8–1.9× longer and distinctly thinner than 2 nd antennomere ( Fig. 34c ); 4 th and 5 th antennomeres subequal in both sexes, long, ~2.2–2.3× longer than wide ( Fig. 34c ); antennal club compact, moderately large, simple, slightly loose, comprising last 4 antennomeres in males ( Fig. 34c ), 3 last antennomeres in females ( Fig. 34d ) distinctly wider than protibiae; labial palpi relatively short in both sexes ( Figs. 34h, n ), terminal segment nearly 1.4× as long as wide; maxillary palpi long and slender in both sexes ( Fig. 34h ), terminal segment 3.4–3.8× as long as wide; mandible mid-sized, apex bifid, moderately acuminate, sexual dimorphism absent ( Fig. 34h ); tarsal claws simple, not toothed at base; tarsi of normal size and shape, 0.6–0.7× as long as corresponding tibiae; protibiae with a series of small and moderately sharp teeth on distal portion of lateral margin ( Fig. 34f ); lateral margin of meso- and metatibiae bearing a single and regular row of long, thin, pale brown pegs ( Fig. 34m ), without U-shaped sinuosity at distal third; meso- and metatibiae wide and short, subtrapezoidal, axe-shaped ( Fig. 34m ); scarce sexual dimorphism in meso- and metatibiae; tarsal plates of prolegs distinctly wider in males; posterior margin of metafemora simple in both sexes, without tubercles or projections.

Male genitalia: processes along inner side of parameres absent ( Figs. 34q–r ), deep and moderately wide V-shaped excision along distal margin, without deep median longitudinal desclerotization from proximal portion of tegmen extending to medial distal V-shaped excision; median lobe of aedeagus without lateral emargination, distally narrow and acuminate, without distal minute excision or emargination.

Female genitalia (ovipositor): relatively small; styli long and distinct, simple, cylindrical and darkly pigmented, inserted at apex of contiguous gonostyloids; each gonostyloid lightly sclerotized and distinctly pigmented distally, with a simple, narrow, never indentate outer portion of basicoxites ( Fig. 34s ), and a single, narrow, pigmented and relatively more sclerotized arcuate area along outer subdistal portion of gonostyloids. ‘Central point’ of ovipositor more proximad than middle, without proximad directed spicule.

Etymology. Kabakovia was named for the Russian entomologist O. N. Kabakov, a member of several Russian entomological expeditions to Vietnam during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Gender feminine.

Biology. The single species is strictly associated with male inflorescences of palms ( Arecaceae ), in particular Phoenix humilis Royle (= P. hanceana Naud. ) ( KIREJTSHUK & KABAKOV 1997, JELÍNEK 2000a).

Phylogenetic position. Available morphological data provide evidence of a likely sister-group relationship of Kabakovia with the clade [ Cryptarchopria + Horakia ] ( JELÍNEK 2000a), and more weakly defined relationships ( COOPER 1980) with Meligethinus . No molecular data are available.

Taxonomy and geographic distribution. This taxon includes the one widely distributed species ( KIREJTSHUK 1979a, JELÍNEK 2000a), previously erroneously attributed to Pria by GROUVELLE (1908a) and later to Meligethinus by COOPER (1980).

Kabakovia latipes (Grouvelle, 1908) India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam

Figures

Fig. 34. Kabakovia Kirejtshuk, 1979: a–s – K. latipes (Grouvelle, 1908). a – male habitus; b –anterior margin of clypeus; c – male antenna; d – female antennal club; e – elytral punctation; f – male protibia; g – prosternum, mesoventrite, and anterior portion of metaventrite; h – ventral view of head and prosternum; k – exposed portion of last visible abdominal ventrite; m – male mesotibia; n – labium and left palpus; p – labrum; q–r – male genitalia; s – ovipositor. Drawings a–g, m–s modified from KIREJTSHUK (1979a); drawings h–k modified from JELÍNEK (2000a)). Refer to KIREJTSHUK (1979a) and to JELÍNEK (2000a) for scale.