Asphalmus sharpi, Borovec, 2010

Borovec, Roman, 2010, A taxonomic study of Eastern Palaearctic Omiini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (2), pp. 577-594 : 589-592

Asphalmus sharpi sp. nov.

( Figs. 20‒22 , 26 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♁, ‘ China, Jiangxi Province, Wuyi Shan N. R., N 27 83, E 117 76, Haungganshan, 5.vi.2001, Hardwood + bamboo litter, leg. J. Cooter’ ( BMNH).

Description. Body length (rostrum excluded): 2.96 mm.

Body dark brown, antennae and legs reddish brown, femora and basal part of antennal club darker. Elytra with one row of semiadherent, grey, piliform setae, about equally long as width of interval and with 3‒4 irregular rows of adherent, dense, long-oval and distad pointed, tear-drop shaped, grey scales with feeble greenish metallic sheen. Pronotum and head with indistinct adherent, short, grey piliform setae, pronotal setae transversally directed to midline ( Fig. 26 ). Antennae and legs with scarce, erect, brown piliform setae.

Rostrum long, 1.16 times as wide as long, at base 1.12 times as wide as at apex and 1.27 times as wide as in median narrowest part. Rostrum in basal third strikingly tapered anteriorly, in apical two thirds strikingly enlarged anteriad with rounded sides. Epifrons distally strongly tapered, with feebly concave sides, at rostral base narrower than a third of the rostral width in the same place. Frons large, U-shaped, curved ventrally, slightly angular in lateral view, reaching posterior border of pit-shaped scrobes, shiny, with several very fine punctures, shallowly feebly depressed. Epifrons elevated compared to the rostrum, the latter separated from the rest of head by a wide and distinct transversal furrow. Interocular space with small fovea in the middle. Rostrum in lateral view strongly vaulted. Scrobes in dorsal view well visible and open, in lateral view large, dorsal border subparallel with dorsal border of rostrum, directly visibly above eye, ventral border directed bellow ventral border of eye. Eyes small, convex, protruding from outline of head. Head tapered anteriorly ( Fig. 20 ). Head and rostrum matt, very finely and densely punctate, distance between punctures strikingly shorter than their diameter.

Antenna with short scape, regularly curved at the middle, enlarged mainly in apical half, at apex distinctly narrower than apical club. Antennomere 1 1.6 times as long as wide and 1.1 times as long as antennomere 2, 1.8 times as long as wide; antennomeres 3‒6 1.1 times as wide as long; antennomere 7 1.3 times as wide as long.

Pronotum slender, 1.06 times as wide as long, regularly vaulted, with regularly rounded sides, widest behind the midlength ( Fig. 21 ). Dorsal surface irregularly, coarsely and densely punctate, with small, ill-defined apunctate region medially. Distance between punctures strikingly shorter than their diameter ( Fig. 26 ).

Scutellum very small, hardly visible.

Elytra long-oval, 1.41 times as long as wide, widest in midlength ( Fig. 21 ). Striae very wide, distinctly punctate, in dorsal part about as wide as intervals. Intervals feebly elevated, in basal part odd intervals slightly more elevated than even ones ( Fig. 26 ).

All femora feebly dentate. Dent of profemur small, hump-shaped, twice shorter than tooth at internal angle of protibia. Dent of metafemur hardly visible. Protibia slender and long, strongly enlarged mesally and straight laterally, apex obliquely subtruncate with a fringe of very short and fine yellow setae and with one distinct, long tooth at internal angle. Mesal edge of protibia sinuate, with scarce, long erect setae. Protarsi more robust than metatarsi. Protarsomere 2 1.4 times as wide as long; protarsomere 3 1.4 times as wide as long and 1.4 times as wide as protarsomere 2; ungular tarsomere 1.4 times as long as protarsomere 3. Metatarsomere 2 1.1 times as wide as long; metatarsomere 3 1.2 times as wide as long and 1.5 times as wide as metatarsomere 2; ungular metatarsomere 1.4 times as long as metatarsomere 3.

Male genitalia. Aedeagus long and slender, regularly tapered apically, apex in ventral view slender, regularly arcuated, in lateral view irregularly straight in middle part, lengthened to long, sharp, slender point ( Fig. 22 ).

Female unknown.

Differential diagnosis. Asphalmus sharpi sp. nov. is easily distinguishable from both remaining species of the genus by the elytral vestiture, small tooth on the profemur and by the small body size.

Etymology. The newly described species is dedicated to David Sharp (1840‒1922), an English physician and entomologist, who described the two remainig species of the Asphalmus .

Biology. The holotype was collected from litter in a forest with bamboo.

Distribution. China (Jiangxi).

Figures

Figs. 14–22. 14–19 – Asphalmus ovatus (Sharp, 1896), Japan. 14 – head and rostrum, dorsal view (scale = 0.50 mm); 15 – pronotum and elytra in male, dorsal view; 16 – pronotum and elytra in female, dorsal view (scale = 1.00 mm); 17 – aedeagus, ventral and lateral view (scale = 0.25 mm); 18 – ovipositor (scale = 0.25 mm); 19 – sternum 8 in female (scale = 0.50 mm). 20-22 – A. sharpi sp. nov., holotype. 20 – head and rostrum, dorsal view (scale = 0.50 mm); 21 – pronotum and elytra in male, dorsal view (scale = 1.00 mm); 22 – aedeagus, ventral and lateral view. (scale = 0.25 mm).

Figs. 23–26. Habitus. 23 – Yunakovius orientalis gen. & sp. nov. (paratype ♀, 3.1 mm, ZIN); 24 – Asphalmus japonicus Sharp, 1896 (♂, 3.8 mm, BMNH); 25 – A. ovatus (Sharp, 1896) (♂, 3.4 mm, BMNH); 26 – A. sharpi sp. nov. (holotype ♂, 3.0 mm, BMNH).