Heisonyx jelineki, Borovec & Colonnelli & Osella, 2009

Borovec, Roman, Colonnelli, Enzo & Osella, Giuseppe, 2009, On the South African genus Heisonyx (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (2), pp. 841-860 : 854-857

Heisonyx jelineki sp. nov.

( Figs. 9 , 15 , 26–27 ) Type material. HOLOTYPE: J (BMNH), ‘ South Africa, Eastern Cape, Zuurberg Pass road, 33.21.66 S, 25.44.56 E, 550 m, 17.XI.2006, E. Colonnelli lgt.’ ALLOTYPE: ♀ (RBSC), same data as holotype. PARATYPES: same data as holotype, 92 specimens (AMGS, ECRI, GOAI, MCZR, MZUR, RBSC, TMSA).

Description. Body length: 1.7–1.9 mm, holotype 1.8 mm (males), 2.0– 2.6 mm (females).

Integument black, legs and antennae dark rusty-red, sometimes tarsi and antennal club darker. Whole body densely covered by round, recumbent, very finely longitudinally striate scales. Colour of vestiture varying from light grey to dark brown, elytra with a greyish spot behind scutellum on intervals 4–6 and a stripe in lateral and apical parts, pronotal disc with narrow lateral greyish stripes along entire length ( Fig. 9 ). Semierect elytral scales about as long as half of the width of one interval and about as wide as the diameter of one recumbent scale. Pronotum and head with irregularly scattered semierect hair-like scales. Femora, tibiae and antennal scape covered by similar, although sometimes barely visible, recumbent and semierect seta-like scales as those on elytra, tarsi, funicle and club without recumbent scales.

Rostrum convex, short, 1.38–1.53 times as wide as long, feebly tapered anteriad. Epifrons tapered towards apex, with feebly concave sides, at base slightly narrower than the distance between anterior margins of eyes, weakly depressed longitudinally along midline, with narrow longitudinal stria along the whole length and with lateral stria running parallel with margin of epifrons and almost reaching the level of posterior margins of eyes. Epifrons separated from head by very fine, sometimes hardly visible transversal V-shaped stria separating rostrum from the rest of head in lateral view. Antennal scrobes in dorsal view clearly visible in apical two thirds of rostrum, in lateral view feebly curved, enlarged distally, with distinct margins, dorsal one directed toward dorsal border of eye, ventral one toward the middle of eye. Eyes quite large, moderately convex.

Antennae slender. Scape distinctly curved at midlength, apical third gradually thickened toward apex. Funicle 7-segmented, funicular antennomere 1 robust, 1.3–1.4 times as long as wide and 1.2–1.3 times longer than funicular antennomere 2 in males and slightly shorter than funicular antennomere 2 in females, funicular antennomere 2 1.6–1.8 times as long as wide in males and 2.0–2.1 times as long as wide in females, funicular antennomeres 3 to 6 1.2–1.3 as wide as long, funicular antennomere 7 1.4–1.5 times as wide as long, club as wide as scape at apex.

Pronotum 1.25–1.34 times as wide as long, widest just behind middle, in anterior half strongly tapered. Disc in lateral view feebly convex.

Elytra short oval, 1.23–1.31 times as long as wide, widest in middle, with strongly rounded sides. Intervals almost flat, striae very narrow, linear.

Tibiae short, internal margin of protibia enlarged at apex, laterally arcuate, rounded, with three hook-shaped brownish spines at internal angle and a fringe of 5–6 fine and indistinct, almost translucent, short whitish bristles. The longest hook-shaped spine placed at middle, the shortest one at internal part of protibia. Tarsi short, tarsomere 2 1.3–1.4 times as wide as long, tarsomere 3 1.3–1.4 times as wide as long and 1.5 times as wide as tarsomere 2, ungular tarsomere short, 0.7 times as long as tarsomere 3 and surpassing tarsomere 3 by its length, claw short, brownish, with no trace of spur.

Male genitalia. Aedeagus of the same width at base and apex, parallel-sided or with feebly concave sides, apex widely obtuse with sharpened triangular point in middle ( Fig. 15 ).

Female genitalia. Spermatheca C-shaped, with slender, subapically constricted cornu and very large corpus. Corpus large and triangular, nodulus very small and hook-shaped. Ramus very wide and short, rounded ( Fig. 27 ). Ovipositor with almost triangular, apically tapered hemisternite, at apex obliquely subtruncate with long and slender styli with apical setae ( Fig. 26 ).

Differential diagnosis. The 7-segmented funicle place H. jelineki sp. nov. close to H. vitticollis , from which it is readily distinguished by the characters listed in the key below. In addition, it differs from H. vitticollis also by having the legs and antennae rusty-red (dark brownish in H. vitticollis ), rostrum 1.38–1.53 times as wide as long (1.29–1.31 times as wide as long in H. vitticollis ), scrobes visible in dorsal view in apical two thirds (visible in apical half in H. vitticollis ), recumbent elytral scales simply adpressed so that striae are visible as thin lines (scales overlapping so that striae appear punctate in H. vitticollis ), semierect elytral scales on average as wide as one recumbent seta (twice as wide in H. vitticollis ) and styli of ovipositor long (short in H. vitticollis ). For differences from H. giustocaroli sp. nov. see the differential diagnosis of the latter.

Etymology. It is a pleasure for us to name this new species after our friend Josef Jelínek (National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic) as a special present for his 70th birthday.

Bionomics. All individuals were beaten off a flowering Erica , possibly E. woodi Bolus or a similar species, along the Zuurberg Pass road during a cloudy day after a night of heavy rain.

Distribution. South Africa: Eastern Cape.

Figures

Figs. 8–9. Habitus. 8 – Heisonyx giustocaroli sp. nov., holotype; 9 – H. jelineki sp. nov., paratype. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figs. 10–15. Aedeagus. 10 – Heisonyx vitticollis Marshall, 1947, lectotype; 11 – H. barclayi sp. nov., paratype; 12 – H. danielssoni sp. nov., holotype; 13 – H. fuscus sp. nov., holotype; 14 – H. hexarthrum sp. nov., paratype; 15 – H. jelineki sp. nov., paratype. Scale bar: 0.3 mm.

Figs. 16–27. Protibia and female genitalia. 16–19 – Heisonyx vitticollis sp. nov., paralectotype: 16 – right protibia, 17 – ovipositor, 18 – spermatheca, 19 – sternum 8 in female; 20–21 – H. barclayi sp. nov.: 20 – ovipositor, 21 – spermatheca; 22 – H. danielssoni sp. nov., spermatheca; 23 – H. fuscus sp. nov., ovipositor; 24–25 – H. hexarthrum sp. nov.: 24 – ovipositor, 25 – spermatheca; 26–27 – H. jelineki sp. nov.: 26 – ovipositor, 27 – spermatheca. Scale bars: 0.25 mm (a – sternum 8; b – ovipositor and spermatheca; c – protibia).