Baiocis laosi Beaver & Liu, 2018

Beaver, Roger A., 2018, A review of the genus Baiocis Browne, 1962 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Platypodinae), with new species, new synonymy and a key to males, Zootaxa 4434 (3), pp. 481-501 : 484-485

Baiocis laosi Beaver & Liu , new species

( Figs 30‒32 )

Male: 2.7‒3.0 mm long, 4.3‒4.5 times as long as wide. Head and elytra dark brown, antennae and pronotum paler. Head with frons longitudinally impressed, rugulose with irregular very shallow punctures, bearing short, erect hairs; angularly separated from vertex by a weak transverse ridge. Eye rounded, slightly longer than deep. Pronotum 1.5‒1.6 times longer than wide, widest behind deep femoral grooves, maximum width about 1.3 times minimum, disc smooth, shining, weakly alutaceous close to apical and basal margins, almost glabrous above, a few short hairs laterally, with scattered fine punctures, median line extending from close to base to narrowest part of pronotum.

Elytra about 2.5 times as long as wide, 1.7‒1.8 times as long as pronotum, horizontal, the sides weakly convex, lacking a constriction posteriorly, the lateral margins with a series of serrations in the apical quarter, visible from above, each serration with a single hair; disc smooth, shining, glabrous, except for a row of hairs on lateral margin and a few scattered hairs on posterior quarter; striae not impressed, punctures fine and regularly spaced, separated by about 3-4 times diameter of puncture; interstriae distinct, their punctures more widely separated than on striae; disc terminating abruptly in a carinate rim; declivity narrow, lunate, concave, matte, lacking punctures, posterolateral angle projecting ventrally as a small pointed tooth. Abdomen with first and second ventrites lacking special modifications, third abdominal ventrite with a small median triangular raised area near the posterior margin, its apex posterior, fourth abdominal ventrite with a larger median conical tooth on posterior margin directed ventrally. Anterior margin of impression on metanepisternum and metaventrite with two minute spines on metanepisternum. Metacoxa with a spine on its posterior margin.

Female: 2.9‒3.0 mm long, similar to male, but the pronotum and elytra differently proportioned, frons flat, sparsely punctured with a shining area in middle extending from epistoma to mid-level of eyes, a narrow median groove extending from level of antennal insertions to middle level of eyes, the sides rugulose and more evenly rounded into vertex. Pronotum stouter than in male, 1.4‒1.5 times longer than wide, femoral grooves a little shallower and surface alutaceous throughout, less shining than in male. Elytra more elongate than in male, 2.5‒2.6 times as long as wide, 2.0 times as long as pronotum, almost parallel sided, tapering slightly in apical third; declivity short, lunate, not sharply separated from disc, almost flat with dense, short, erect hairs. Abdominal ventrites without processes, fifth ventrite convex. Metanepisternum without spines or a carina. Metacoxae without spine on posterior margin.

Holotype: Male: LAO[S], Phongsaly Prov. , 21°41‒2'N, 102°06‒08′E, 28.v.‒20.vi.2003, Phongsaly env., ~ 1500m, Vit Kubáň leg. (Deposited in NHMB)

Allotype: Female: as holotype. (Deposited in NHMB)

Paratypes: 32 specimens: 20 males, 9 females: as holotype (NHMB, RAB); 1 male: LAO[S], Phongsaly Prov., 21°38′N, 101°57′E, Bun Neua (4km E), 20.vi.2003, ~ 1100m, Vit Kubáň leg. ( NHMB) ; 2 males: LAOS-N (Oudomxai), 1‒9.v.2002, ~ 1100m, 20°45′N, 102°09′E, Oudom Xai (17km NEE), Vit Kubáň leg. ( NHMB) .

Etymology: The specific name refers to the country of origin ( Laos).

Diagnosis: The species is related to B. orientalis and B. unispineus in its general form, and by the presence of a spine (double in laosi ) rather than a carina on the anterior margin of the metanepisternum of the male. The male is easily distinguished from all other species of Baiocis by the ventral armature. The fourth ventrite has a large, conical median tooth, and the third a small, median, triangular raised area near the posterior margin. The female is of similar size and form to B. unispineus from New Guinea, but has an impressed median line on the frons from the level of the antennal insertions to the midpoint of the eye. This impressed line is absent in B. unispineus .

Biology: Unknown.

Figures

FIGURES 26–32. Baiocis species. 26‒27. B. orientalis dorsal view: 26, male (2.3 mm); 27, female (2.4 mm). 28. B. pernanulus male (2.3 mm), dorsal view. 29. B. sumatranus male (3.5 mm), dorsal view. 30‒32. B. laosi. 30, male (2.9 mm), dorsal view; 31, female (3.0 mm), dorsal view; 32, male abdomen, lateral view.