Aphanerostethus Voss, 1957

Lewis, Jake H., Kojima, Hiroaki, Suenaga, Miyuki, Petsopoulos, Dimitrios, Fujisawa, Yusuke, Truong, Xuan Lam & Warren, Dan L., 2024, The era of cybertaxonomy: X-ray microtomography reveals cryptic diversity and concealed cuticular sculpture in Aphanerostethus Voss, 1957 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), ZooKeys 1217, pp. 1-45 : 1-45

Genus Aphanerostethus Voss, 1957

Darumazo Morimoto & Miyakawa, 1985 , syn. nov.

Type species.

Aphanerostethus vannideki Voss, 1957 , by monotypy.

Gender.

Masculine.

Redescription.

Body length 1.5–3.0 mm. Rounded to bulb-like appearance in lateral view. Cuticle: Dark to pale red. Scale pattern: Large flat white, gray, brown, or golden scales covering the body in most species (the cuticle of A. nudus is largely exposed); two prominent rows of erect scales (“ eyelashes ”) along inner margin of eye which extends ventrally to basal third to middle of rostrum; pronotum with erect or recumbent scales; erect or recumbent scales always on odd elytral intervals; erect scales on even elytral intervals in some species. Head: Rostrum punctate, evenly curved; eyes large, ovate; antennae with six-articled funicle (except apparently in A. armatus which has five articles). Prothorax: Densely punctate; margin of prothorax (in lateral view) extending forward, covering part of the eye (or most of it when rostrum fully set into prosternal sulcus); prosternum with strongly or weakly defined prosternal canal. Elytra: Scutellum prominent or reduced; elytra rounded to bulb-like, with intervals convex; flightless, hind wings reduced to a stub or long filament. Abdomen: Lateral edge of first abdominal segment contiguous with metanepisternum. Legs: Femora with or without apico-ventral tooth; unci of fore- and mid-tibiae simple; unci of male hind-tibiae modified (bifid, hooked, or twisted) in some species, simple (evenly curved) in females; third tarsal segment bilobed; tarsal claws simple.

Distribution.

Aphanerostethus species are known from Japan (Izu Islands, mainland, Nansei Islands), Taiwan, Vietnam (Mt. Lang Biang), Malaysia (Cameron Highlands, Pahang; Sabah, Borneo), and Indonesia (West Java).

Notes.

The genus Darumazo Morimoto & Miyakawa, 1985 was described based on a single species, D. distinctus Morimoto & Miyakawa, 1985 , from specimens collected in the Izu Islands, the Nansei Islands, and mainland Japan. Morimoto and Miyakawa (1985) distinguished Darumazo from Aphanerostethus as the latter have separated fore-coxae as well as toothed femora. However, the twelve new species described here reveal a continuum of forms, relating A. distinctus and A. vannideki with respect to the above two characters. In particular, although A. vannideki has separated fore-coxae and a longer prosternal canal, the related A. bifidus possesses weakly separate fore-coxae (contiguous in the related A. magnus ). Furthermore, the femoral teeth are present but small in A. morimotoi (femoral teeth often completely absent) and A. japonicus , indicating continuity in this character across the genus as well. We do not feel that a moderate degree of separation in the fore-coxae, nor the presence (vs absence) of femoral teeth is enough to justify the continued recognition of Darumazo , especially in light of the continuity of forms newly described here. On the basis of these morphological considerations, we treat Darumazo , syn. nov. as a junior synonym of Aphanerostethus . The genus Aphanerostethus is currently placed in Cryptorhynchini Schoenherr, 1825 and Darumazo in Sthereini Hatch, 1971 ( Alonso-Zarazaga and Lyal 1999; Alonso-Zarazaga et al. 2023). We are currently working on a molecular phylogeny of Aphanerostethus and some undescribed, related genera and hope that this reveals the tribal placement of the genus. Until that work is completed, we treat the genus as Molytinae incertae sedis.