Tapinomorphus franzi, Borovec & Skuhrovec, 2017

Borovec, Roman & Skuhrovec, Jiří, 2017, Systematic position of the Afrotropical species described in Trachyphloeini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), Zootaxa 4344 (3) : -

Tapinomorphus franzi sp. n.

( Figs 8A–E )

Material examined. Holotype: ♀, ( NHMW, Franz’s coll.), ‘ Kilimanjaro, Tanganyika [p] / Kibo SW—Hang, 2500- 3100 m, lg. H. Franz [p] / HOLOTYPE, Tapinomorphus franzi sp. n., R. Borovec & J. Skuhrovec det. 2017 [p, red label]’ ( Fig. 8A ) . Paratype: 1 ♀, ( NHMW, Franz’s coll.), the same data as holotype, but ‘PARATYPE’.

Description. Body length: holotype 4.13 mm, paratype 3.88 mm. Vestiture. Body ( Fig. 8A ) dark brown, antennae and legs paler, reddish brown. Elytra covered with (1) long oval appressed scales, larger greyish and smaller brownish, with pearly or cupreous sheen, irregularly placed, forming narrow transverse wavy stripes, and (2) an inconspicuous, dense, irregular row of short, fine, semi-erect piliform setae on each interstria, setae slightly shorter the half the width of one interstria, visible mainly in lateral view. Pronotum, head and rostrum covered with same appressed setae as elytra, sparsely irregularly scattered; head and rostrum with short semi-erect setae, pronotum without them. Ventral part glabrous. Antennae and legs glabrous, with sparse short semi-erect fine setae.

Rostrum ( Figs 8A–C ) widest at base, 1.19–1.22 × wider than long, at base 1.12–1.16 × wider than at apex, evenly tapering apicad, with straight sides, at apex weakly laterally enlarged around scrobes; laterally only slightly convex and faintly separated from head by transverse sulcus. Epifrons widest at base, distinctly tapering apicad, with weakly concave sides, dorsally longitudinally shallowly depressed, posteriorly separate from head by narrow V-shaped sulcus. Frons glabrous, posteriorly not distinguishable from the epifrons. Epistome not developed. Scrobes dorsally narrowly reniform, visible in apical half of rostrum; laterally linear, narrow, almost straight, directed below eyes, dorsal margin not reaching eye. Head wide; vertex slightly convex. Eyes convex, moderately prominent from outline of head; in lateral view almost reaching dorsal margin of head.

Antennae ( Fig. 8A ) very slender; scape weakly curved at midlength, in apical half evenly widening apicad, at apex as wide as club. Funicles 7-segmented; segment 1 as long as 2, 2.2 × longer than wide; segment 2 2.6–2.8 × longer than wide; segment 3 1.2–1.3 × longer than wide; segment 4 1.1–1.2 × longer than wide; segments 5 and 6 isodiametric; segment 7 1.2–1.3 × wider than long; club spindle-shaped, narrow, 2.3–2.4 × longer than wide.

Pronotum ( Fig. 8A ) 1.28–1.30 × wider than long, widest before midlength, posteriorly evenly tapering with almost straight sides, constricted behind anterior margin. Disc moderately roughly punctate, in teneral specimen intervals between punctures flatly granulate. Pronotum in lateral view weakly convex.

Elytra ( Fig. 8A ) oval, 1.19–1.23 × longer than wide, widest at midlength, dorsolaterally with weakly prominent protuberances: at basal part on interstria 9, at middle on interstria 8 and at posterior third on interstria 5– 7. Striae moderately roughly punctate, deep; interstriae 1, 3 and 5 slightly wider and more elevated than others, at posterior declivity with indistinct flat humps, forming irregular transverse arched elevated wave. Elytra in lateral view regularly convex.

Abdominal ventrites 1.5 × longer than wide, glabrous, shiny, with only several short piliform appressed setae. Ventrite 1 in middle 1.5 × longer than ventrite 2; ventrite 2 as long as segments 3 and 4 combined. Metaventral process obtuse, broader than width of metacoxa.

Femora unarmed. Tibiae ( Fig. 8D ) slender and long, protibiae in apical quarter distinctly curved inwards, at apex rounded with very fine fringe of short brownish setae. Tarsi with segments 2 and 3 isodiametric, deeply bilobed, segment 3 1.5 × wider than segment 2; onychium 1.1 × longer than previous segment. Male genitalia. Unknown.

Female genitalia. Sternite VIII with long and slender plate, comprising about half the length of the sternite, parallel-sided, with elongate sharp tip and two longitudinal sclerites along whole length; apodeme extending to inside of plate at basal quarter, with pointed transverse caput. Gonocoxites moderately small, flat, weakly sclerotised, apically rounded with long, finely setose apical styli. Spermatheca ( Fig. 8E ) with long, slender, irregularly curved cornu and large, rounded corpus; ramus slender, tubular, longer than wide; nodulus a very small hump at tip of corpus.

Derivation of name. The species is dedicated to its collector, eminent Austrian entomologist and specialist on Scydmaeninae , Herbert Franz (1908–2002).

Differential diagnosis. Tapinomorphus franzi sp. n. is the largest species of the genus. It is most similar to T. interjectus Voss, 1962 in having small protuberances in the apical half of the elytra, equally long funicle segments 1 and 2 and the elytra longer than wide, but it can be distinguished from this species, known also from the Kilimandjaro, by having the interstriae 3 without a protuberance (vs. interval 3 with distinct elongate protuberances in T. interjectus ), a shorter rostrum, tapering anteriad (vs. rostrum longer and narrower, almost parallel-sided), a wider pronotum (vs. narrower pronotum), the protibiae distinctly curved inwards in apical quarter (vs. straight protibiae) and a larger body size, 3.9–4.1 mm (smaller, 2.0– 3.2 mm).

Figures

FIGURE 8. Tapinomorphus franzi sp. nov., Holotype, female. A — habitus, dorsal view, scale bar: 1 mm, and its labels, B — rostrum, dorsal view, C — rostrum, lateral view, D — protibia, E — spermatheca, scale bar: 0.5 mm.