Viticis, Lea

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 : 193-194

Genus VITICIS Lea

Viticis Lea 1930: 463 (type species V. bidentatus Lea ). — Emden 1936: 234. — Emden 1944: 582. — Zimmerman 1963: 899.

Tivicis Morimoto, 1983: 57 (type species T. maculatus Morimoto ) n. syn.

DESCRIPTION. — A full-winged phanerognathous genus with large, laterodorsal eyes, distinct temples, thick, short rostrum, deep, nearly vertical scrobes, six-segmented funicle, moniliform first funicular antennite, no ocular lobes, ten striae, dorsal striae sulcate, these coarsely punctate, as wide or wider than interstriae, left sutural flange broader than right one, fore coxae medially positioned, disjunct, femora curved, with large tooth on basal third and one or two additional teeth about middle, all tibiae curved, robust, uncinate, third tarsite emarginate or entire, claw segment rudimentary or absent, sclerolepidia absent, intermediate ventrites nearly straight on sides. Wing long, narrow, approximately 2.2 x as long as wide, twice as long as elytra, with a long, large apical field 1.6 x longer than vein area, veins as shown by Morimoto (1983) but anal cell closed or open, hind margin with long cilia, fore margin with short setae, these shorter than cilia, three at proximal area, five at stigmatical area and nearby. Tergites well-pigmented, 4-6 pale on midline, 7 broadly pale on basal half, rather heavily pigmented on sides and apex, broadly rounded at apex, pruinose patches well developed on 5-7, elytrotergal stridulatory device absent.

Male (based on V. vanuatensis ): tergite 8 exposed beyond 7, visible ventrally beyond ventrite 5 underneath elytra. Sternite 8 with strongly transverse, broadly separate plates; sternite 9 long, slender, curving over right side, as long as abdomen from coxal cavity to apex, with weakly pigmented, slightly asymmetric, divaricate arms. Tegmen short, a quarter of aedeagal length, Y-shaped, lacking parameral lobes. Aedeagus lying upright in abdomen, as long as abdomen from coxal cavity to apex, body well-pigmented, subcylindrical up to ostium over which two elongated, straight backwards directed valves, apex tapering with a slight sinus to a blunt point, body in lateral view weakly curved, straightening out towards end and slightly upcurved; apodemes unusually robust, 0.37 of aedeagal body length, especially broad in lateral view, showing a deep notch against aedeagal body; internal sac not exposed between apodemes, lacking sclerites and obvious wall vestiture.

Female (based on V. vanuatensis ): sternite 8 short, broad, half length of abdomen, with well-pigmented arms, these curving in but broadly separated by membrane at apex, apodeme slightly shorter than blade. Hemisternites and styli absent; vagina wide, short; bursa large, longer and wider than vagina, widest at base; spermatheca 0.15 mm long, hook much narrower than stem, curving in acute angle, base flate, straight, slightly oblique, with duct and gland inserting on base close to each other; gland twice as long as spermatheca; duct extremely fine, inserting ventrally near base of oviduct, a little shorter than bursa.

DISTRIBUTION. — Japan, Fiji, Marquesas, Cook Is., Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Loyalty. HOSTPLANTS. — Uncertain, probably Ficus (Moraceae) .

ETYMOLOGY. — ‘Víticis’ formed from Viti Levu (‘big land’), the main island of Fiji, and the Greek ‘kis, kiós’ for bug or small insect.

REMARKS. — Viticis is a most distinctive genus which, on adult attributes alone, seems to hint its relationships towards Rhamphini . Recognition of a separate genus for species that differ solely by having just remnants of a claw segment, instead of none at all, does not seem to be phylogenetically warranted. The larva may turn out to be a leafminer. There is a hint towards Ficus (Moraceae) being the host genus because three specimens of V. marquesanus Zimmerman (1963) were reported from a Ficus species , and I have beaten V. bidentatus off Ficus fulvopilosa foliage in Korovuli, Vanua Levu, Fiji. Morimoto (1983) rightfully removed Viticis Lea from Adelognatha and transferred it to Phanerognatha groups proposing a new subfamily Viticiinae . Kuschel (1995) demoted the suprageneric taxon by placing it in Curculioninae , but Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal (1999) listed it under Cyclominae in their catalogue of weevil families and genera without giving an explanation. I consider it most unlikely that Viticiini are to be associated with the groups for which Morrone (1997) had proposed the subfamily Cyclominae .