Idastes montanus (Heller) Kuschel, 2008

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 : 220-221

Idastes montanus (Heller) n. comb. ( Conopsis )

Fig. 107

Conopsis montanus Heller, 1916: 345 .

DESCRIPTION. — Dullish black, antennae and tarsi reddish bown. Scales minute, dense, appressed, brown or ochrous on head, ochrous on two or four dots across middle of prothorax, scutellum and an oblique line from shoul- der to interstria 3, remainder of body dark brown; setae white or ochrous.

Head densely squamose, with deep furrow against eyes. Forehead as wide as rostrum in both sexes, with deep fovea. Postrostrum cylindrical, straight, in male dull, densely punctate and squamose, and midline not raised, in female partly shiny and bare, squamose on basal one-half; prerostrum in both sexes slightly widening apicad, curving down, shiny.

Prothorax conical, with straight sides, densely covered with small brown scales except for two or four small pale dots across middle, punctation restricted to collar; setae erect, directed forward, pale. Scutellum a cone raised well above level of elytra, densely covered with small, erect ochrous scales except on usually hidden anterior face.

Elytra conical, much wider than prothorax, strongly sinuos at base, with rounded shoulders and separately rounded apices, in lateral view strongly convex, declivity sloping in straight line. Striae fine, with small, spaced puncta dorsally, striae broader with large puncta below humeral area, stria 10 complete, reduced to a line alongside abdomen, not margined with a fine carina; interstsriae partly convex, 3 to 6 more so at area of pale scales.

Underside, except for pale fore coxae, dark brown. Rostral canal nearly open behind, ending on a mesosternal process extended to about hind margin of middle coxae, with hind wall across slightly raised. Ventrite 5 in male with large, rather deep fovea, emarginate. Femora lacking a tooth; apex of tibiae in female with a hook or uncus, in male with a bidentate mucro, that on hind tibiae long, broad, straight.

Male: abdomen not extracted, but tergite 8 and tip of aedeagus exposed, showing an emarginate tergite and an apiculate pedon with a few short hairs at apex, and an ostium situated right in front of the tip.

Length: 6.5-7.5 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype with SMT.D, seen in 1963. It fully agreed with a male specimen from Plateau de Dogny

I collected, which is with NZAC. Identified non-type specimens with IRSN, NZAC.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. Bourail , Mt. Mou, Plateau de Dogny. 6 specimens .

ETYMOLOGY. — The specific name ‘montánus’ stands for montane.

REMARKS. — The most striking feature of I. montanus is the sexual dimorphism of the apical tooth of the tibiae, normal, unciform in female, modified to a bidentate mucro in male.