Ascopus girardi, Borovec & Perrin, 2019

Borovec, Roman & Perrin, Hélène, 2019, Systematic position of Ascopus Marshall, Oreosecus Marshall, Perarogula Hoffmann and Rhadinocopes Hustache (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae) with description of a new species of Ascopus from Guinea, Zootaxa 4668 (2), pp. 245-257 : 249-252

Ascopus girardi sp. nov.

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:827697EC-1D8D-48CE-84D4-72E86AE74183 ( Figs 5 , 9–17 )

Type locality. Guinea, Reserve naturelle du Mont Nimba, forest-gallery of river Zié. Type material. Holotype: ♁, ‘FT. GAL. DU ZIÉ [Forêt galerie du Zié = forest-gallery of river Zié] [p] / 1450

m, 29.V.1991 [hw] // GUINÉE-NIMBA / C. GIRARD REC. [p] // battage / arbustes [beating of shrubs] [hw] // Muséum Paris [p] // HOLOTYPE / Ascopus / girardi sp. nov. / R. Borovec & H. Perrin det. 2019 [p, red]’ ( MNHN). Paratypes: 9 ♁ ♀, the same data as holotype; 4 spec., Forêt du / Zougué / 750 m [hw] // battage des / arbustes [beat- ing of shrubs] / 30.VI.1991 [hw] // Guinée / Mt. Nimba / C. Girard [hw, blue]; 6 spec., Forêt du / Zougué / vers 800 m [hw] // battage / arbustes [beating of shrubs] / 19.VI.1991 [hw] // Guinée / Mt. Nimba / C. Girard [hw, blue]; 5 spec., Forêt-galerie [gallery forest] / du Zougué / 750-850 m [hw] // battage / strate basse [beating field layer] / 14.VI.1991 [hw] // Guinée / Mt. Nimba / C. Girard [hw, blue]; 6 spec., Forêt-galerie [gallery forest] / du Zougué / 750-850 m [hw] // battage / strate basse [beating field layer] / 4.VI.1991 [hw] // Guinée / Mt. Nimba / C. Girard [hw, blue]; 9 spec., Forêt-galerie [gallery forest] / du Zié 1300 m / 2.VI.1991 [hw] // battage / strate / arbustive [beating shrub layer] [hw] // Guinée / Mt. Nimba / C. Girard [hw, blue]; 5 spec., Forêt-galerie [gallery forest] / du Zié 1300 m / 25.VI.1991 [hw] // battage / strate / arbustive [beating shrub layer] [hw] // Guinée / Mt. Nimba / C. Girard [hw, blue]; 1 spec., A. V. no 27 [hw] // NIMBA ( Guinée) / Lamotte, Amiet / Vanderplaetsen / XII.56 - V.57 [p, blue] (all MNHN) .

Description. Body length 2.43–2.69 mm, holotype 2.43 mm. Body ( Fig. 5 ) dark brownish to blackish; only antennae, short apical part of tibiae and tarsi paler, reddish brown. The whole body densely covered with rounded appressed scales, slightly imbricated, 5–6 across width of one interval. Elytra with one dense regular row of long, subspatulate erect setae; setae at tip slightly wider than diameter of one appressed scale, somewhat shorter than width of one interval, distance of setae 2–3 × longer than length of one seta. Erect setae bordering inner margin of eyes identical to elytral ones; erect setae on pronotum and rostrum half as long as elytral ones, densely and irregularly scattered. Femora, tibiae and tarsi with conspicuous long semierect subspatulate setae; scapes with short semiappressed setae; funicles with short semierect bristles; clubs finely setose. Vestiture of dorsal part of body dark brownish, elytra with densely scattered light brownish spots.

Rostrum ( Figs 9, 10 ) in dorsal view as long as wide, widest at base and slightly tapered anteriad with straight sides, only ventral borders of scrobes form small and short, laterally prominent teeth; in lateral view regularly distinctly vaulted, separated from head by shallow transverse sulcus. Epifrons wide, in dorsal view occupying the whole rostral area, slightly tapered anteriad with straight sides; flat area with indistinct, U-shaped stria, concealed by appressed scales. Frons extremely short, glabrous, forming only narrow stripe along epistome. Epistome small but distinct, V-shaped, narrowly carinate. Antennal scrobes invisible in dorsal view; in lateral view narrow, straight, furrow-shaped, well edged, inserted directly beneath eye, extending to approximately midway of it. Eyes of medium size, weakly vaulted, hardly prominent from outline of head; in lateral view subcircular, placed in dorsal third of head. Head short; vertex wide and flat.

Antennae ( Fig. 5 ) slender and short; scapes reaching to the middle of eye when folded, 1.2–1.3 × longer than funicle, straight, slightly evenly enlarged at apical third, at apex 0.8–0.9 × as wide as clubs. Funicle 7-segmented; segment 1 conical, twice as long as wide and twice as long as segment 2, which is 1.3 × longer than wide; segments 3–5 1.3–1.4 × wider than long; segment 6 1.4–1.5 × wider than long; segment 7 1.5–1.6 × wider than long; clubs 1.6–1.7 × longer than wide.

Pronotum ( Fig. 5 ) short, 1.53–1.61 × wider than long, widest at mid-length, behind anterior border constricted; disc regularly vaulted; base straight. Pronotum in lateral view vaulted, behind anterior border flattened.

Elytra ( Fig. 5 ) nearly pear-shaped, 1.07–1.12 × longer than wide, behind base slightly narrowed and then with widely rounded sides; in lateral view distinctly vaulted just from base. Striae narrow, indistinctly punctured, completely hidden by appressed scales; intervals wide, slightly vaulted.

Abdominal ventrites 1.1 × longer than wide; ventrite 1 at middle about as long as ventrites 2–4 combined, behind metacoxa about 1.5 × longer than ventrite 2; ventrite 2 slightly longer than short ventrite 3 or 4; ventrite 5 subtrapezoidal. Suture between ventrite 1 and 2 slightly arched and fine, the others straight, wide and deep. Metaventral process obtuse, slightly longer than transverse diameter of metacoxa.

Femora ( Fig. 11 ) moderately long, adentate; tibiae regularly distinctly curved, 5.4–5.6 × longer than wide at mid-length, apically obliquely subtruncated, fringed by very short and fine, yellowish setae, mucronate. Metatibiae with glabrous apical surface, lacking corbels. Tarsi with segment 2 1.3 × wider than long; segment 3 1.4 × wider than long and 1.3–1.4 × wider than segment 2; onychium as long as segment 3; claws solidly fused at basal half.

Penis ( Fig. 12 ) short, widest at base and regularly tapered apicad, at basal half more sclerotised than at apical half, with slender fenestra just before the tip, tip narrowly rounded; temones twice as long as body of penis and 3.1–3.3 × longer than tegminal manubrium; endophallus long, with two elongated but wide sclerites at base. Teg- men with slender complete ring without parameres with manubrium short, 0.6–0.7 × shorter than diameter of ring. Sternite IX ( Fig. 14 ) with spiculum gastrale moderately long, weakly curved anteriorly and tapered, posteriorly with fused, V-shaped basal arms.

Gonocoxites ( Fig. 17 ) long and slender, evenly tapered apicad, apically shortly obtuse with short apical styli, about as long as wide with tuft of 3–4 fine long setae. Sternite VIII ( Fig. 16 ) with long and slender apodeme, 3.0–3.3 × longer than plate, terminating just inside of plate; plate small, umbrella-shaped, with basal margin membranous and apical margin slender but developed, fringed by short and fine setae. Spermatheca ( Fig. 15 ) with slender, short and regularly curved cornu; corpus rounded; ramus very short, distinctly wider than long, hardly prominent from outline of corpus; nodulus tubular-shaped, slightly longer than cornu, evenly tapered apicad and distinctly curved backwards.

Biology. The type specimens were beaten from shrubs in canopy forest.

Etymology. The species is dedicated to Claude Girard, our colleague for many years in MNHN, a specialist on African Elateridae and collector of these specimens.

Differential diagnosis. The newly described species is easily distinguishable from all other species of the genus by laterally placed small eyes, with a wide vertex between, as wide as space between antennal insertions, rostrum only slightly tapered apicad and erect subspatulate elytral setae. Ascopus girardi resembles A. pyriformis by the slightly pear-shaped elytra, but it is easy to recognize it by its distinctly curved protibiae. By contrast, the curved protibiae in A. girardi are similar to those in A. curvipes and A. echinatus , but except for characters stated above it is possible to distinguish it by its subglobular elytra and pronotum widest at mid-length.

Figures

FIGURES 5–8. Dorsal habitus. 5. A. girardi sp. nov.; 6. Tapinomorphus alticola (Hustache); 7. T. orientalis (Hustache); 8. T. porculus (Marshall). Scale = 1.00 mm.

FIGURES 9–17. Structural details of Ascopus girardi sp. nov. 9. head with rostrum, dorsal view; 10. head with rostrum, lateral view; 11. femur and tibia of right foreleg; 12. penis, dorsal view; 13. tegmen, dorsal view; 14. sternite IX of male; 15. spermatheca; 16. sternite VIII of female, dorsal view; 17. ovipositor, dorsal view. Scale = 0.50 mm, only 17 = 0.25 mm.