Cnemidothrix, Fairmaire, 1879

Kuschel, Guillermo, 2008, Curculionoidea (weevils) of New Caledonia and Vanuatu: Basal families and some Curculionidae, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 197, pp. 99-250 : 163-164

Genus CNEMIDOTHRIX Fairmaire

Cnemidothrix Fairmaire, 1879: 3 . — Fairmaire 1881: 296. — Faust 1897: 234. — Paulian 1945: 183. — Marshall 1956: 11, 50.

Type species: C. protensus Fairmaire.

DESCRIPTION. — Eyes evenly convex. Rostrum strongly compressed above scrobes, dorsally, in lateral view, continuous, with steep, non-squamose apical declivity. Prothorax granulate. Scutellum concealed or minute. Elytra 12-striate, granulate, in male elytral dorsum depressed, apex of elytra in lateral view straight and first two ventrites not transversely strigose, in female elytral dorsum convex, apex of elytra in lateral view distinctly hooked downwards and first two ventrites transversely strigose. Fore coxae contiguous or nearly so; mesosternal process strongly transverse. Hind femora reaching elytra (female) or passing them (male); hind tibiae with long soft hairs, sometimes also middler tibiae with long hairs. All tibiae in male with distinct mucro, hind ones in female without mucro.

Male: sternite 9 with symmetrical blade, apodeme two-thirds of combined length of ventrites, robust, forked at base. Tegmen with complete, well-pigmented ring, without parameral lobes; apodeme as long as pedon. Aedeagus with apodemes as long as combined length of ventrites, extending ( Fiji) or not ( Vanuatu) into thoracic lumen, wellpigmented; aedeagal body more than 2.5 x longer than wide, widest at base, tapering gently to ostial area or beyond, broadly unpigmented on underside, dorsally pigmented except on midline of distal half; apodemes approximately 3 x longer than pedon, as slender as tegminal apodeme; internal sac very long, extending beyond apodemes by a full length of aedeagus with apodemes, area beyond apodemes, inner walls in part pigmented with long, usually with areas of distinct granulation, with a curved, rigid, in dorsal view subuliform sclerite.

Female: tergite 8 slightly exposed beyond 7. Sternite 8 nearly 1.2 x longer than combined length of ventrites, not articulated; blade elongate-triangular, with kong setae at apex; apodeme fused to blade medially. Ovipositor nearly as long as sternite 8; proximal hemisternites unpigmented, 9 x longer than distal ones, but boundary sometimes obscured; distal hemisternites weakly pigmented; styly subapical, pigmented, twice as long as wide; vagina extended beyond ovipositor by nearly as much again as length of ovipositor, if turgid gradually widening towards oviduct and bursa; bursa short, about as long as spermatheca which with broad base owing to broad duct and gland extension diverging at an obtuse angle; gland short; duct pigmented, fine, twice as long as spermatheca.

DISTRIBUTION. — Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia.

BIOLOGY. — No data.

ETYMOLOGY. — ‘Cnemídothrix’ is a Greek compound derived from ‘cnemis’ (cnemid-) = tibia, and ‘thrix’ = hair, to express the striking feature of hairy legs of the type-species. Although ‘thrix’ is feminine, the author intended to make the genus of masculine gender by calling the species ‘protensus’ instead of ‘protensa’.

REMARKS. — A distinctive genus because of widely disjunct middle coxae and hind tibiae, often also middle tibiae, with unusually long soft hairs. Cnemidothrix is represented in Fiji and Vanuatu but the species are, at least in Vanuatu, ill-defined because of lacking good morphological characters and, apparently, no firm and constant features derivable from terminalia and genitalia in either sex. Although populations from some islands can be separated readily from those of other islands, it is most unlikely that everyone of the vicariants would represent a separate specific taxon. Three forms of the named ones are here accepted with species status, to which, admittedly with some hesitation a new one is added. The described forms were from the following islands: Ambrym for C. auberti , Futuna for C. barbipes, Efate for C. centralis, Malekula for C. malekulae, Erromango /Tanna for C. meridionalis, Epi for C. penicilliger, Pentecost for C. pentecostae , and Espíritu Santo for C. protensus and C. santoi .

KEY TO SPECIES OF CNEMIDOTHRIX

1. Tarsi uniformly reddish brown. Scales shiny, mostly with pink metallic sheen (under some magnification). Hind tibiae fringed with sparse, long hairs, these finer, softer, less distinctly twisted at basal half. 7.0- 7.2 mm. Vanuatu (Aneityum) ........................................................................................... notonesiotes — Tarsi entirely or in part black. Scales dull, without metallic sheen. Hind tibiae fringed with dense, long hairs, these thicker, stiffer, distinctly twisted at basal half.................................................................. 2

2 (1). Sides of elytra beyond middle lacking a tuft of long soft hairs. Male: aedeagus with narrowly rounded, tapering apex. 6.0-8.0 mm. Vanuatu (Espíritu Santo, Pentecost, Ambrym, Efate, Methaven). New Caledonia (Mt. des Sources) ...................................................................................................... protensus — Sides of elytra beyond middle with a tuft of long soft hairs similar to those of hind tibiae ........... 3

3 (2). Elytra shiny, lacking scales except at times on declivity and a dot at base of interstria 5; long

hairs of elytra present also beyond the lateral tuft and across declivity. Striae broader than interstriae,

with large, deep puncta separated by narrow intervals. 6.0- 8.5 mm. Vanuatu (Erromango, [Tanna],

Futuna) ....................................................................................................................................................... barbipes

— Elytra dull, squamose all over; long hairs only as a tuft beyond middle, rarely with some additional

long hairs on declivity. 6.0- 8.5 mm. Vanuatu (Maewo, Ambae, Malekula, Epi, Emae, Efate) .................

.................................................................................................................................................................. penicilliger