Cionus championi Marshall, 1926

Košťál, Michael & Caldara, Roberto, 2019, Revision of Palaearctic species of the genus Cionus Clairville (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cionini), Zootaxa 4631 (1), pp. 1-144 : 23-25

8. Cionus championi Marshall, 1926

Figs 8 a–f.

Cionus championi Marshall, 1926: 365 . Caldara, 2013: 123. Alonso-Zarazaga et al., 2017: 185.

Type locality. Almora (Uttarakhand, India) .

Type series. In coll. Marshall ( BMNH), there are three specimens (2 ♂♂, 1 ♀) under the name “ Cionus cham- pioni”, all collected in “ W. Almora ”. One completely preserved, 3.67 mm long male labeled “Type [printed redoutlined round label] / H. G. Champion / W.Almora, Kumaon. U.P. India, H.G.C. / Pres. by Imp. Bur. Ent. 1926–95. / Cionus championi , TYPE. ♂. Mshl.” was designated as the lectotype of C. championi by adding the printed red label “ LECTOTYPUS Cionus championi Marshall M.Košťál et R.Caldara des. 2017”. A female labeled “Cotype [printed yellow-ringed round label] / H. G. Champion / W.Almora, Kumaon, U. P. India. H.G.C. / Pres. by Imp. Bur. Ent. 1926–95. / Cionus championi, Mshl. COTYPE. ♀.” was labeled as paralectotype accordingly. The second male labeled “ W.Almora, Kumaon, India, H.G.C. / H.G. Champion Coll. B.M. 1953–156” was not included to type series because of lack of typifying label and discordant dating .

Synonyms. None.

Redescription. Male. Body stout, subrotund. Head: rostrum stout, medium long (l/ w 3.4, Rl/Pl 1.17), brown to black; in lateral view evenly curved, same width from base to closely before apex, then tapered at lower outline; in dorsal view of same width from base to apex, except most basal part being slightly narrowed, basal part in crosssection round, apical part very slightly flattened dorsoventrally; except apex very densely, longitudinally punctured to ribbed, apex glabrous, with only several sparse round punctures at sides; basal part covered with forwardly and upwardly oriented, suberect to subrecumbent, blackish thin seta-like scales and sparsely intermixed yellowish broader elongate scales, apically with forwardly oriented, suberect, yellowish long hair-like scales. Head between eyes narrow, approximately 0.4 rostrum width at base. Eyes large, rounded, not protruding from head outline. Antennae except club and last two funicular segments yellowish-brown, inserted at 2/3 of rostrum length; funicle of 0.6 scape length, segment 1 markedly wider and slightly longer than segment 2, segments 1 and 2 less than twice as long as wide, segments 3–5 transverse; club spindle-shaped, twice as long as wide, very slightly longer than funicle, completely covered with recumbent, densely arranged, at base blackish, at apex whitish tiny hairs and sparse erect, moderately long, pale sensilla. Pronotum: dark brown, moderately wider than long (Pl/Pw 0.72), densely, partially unevenly punctured, punctures variable in size, unevenly shaped, spaces between punctures mostly narrower than puncture diameter; covered with unevenly arranged, forwardly oriented, subrecumbent, markedly elongate (l/w 8–12), reddish-brown and yellowish intermixed scales; widest at base, very slightly conically narrowed to subparallel to half of its length, then narrowed and slightly constricted to anterior margin, in lateral view convex with flat outline in basal half. Prosternum: anterior margin with moderately deep, bluntly incised emargination, not bounded by tubercles, separated from coxae by narrow prosternal area. Scutellum: subtriangular to subquadrate, shallowly incised at anterior margin, blunt at apex, covered with backwardly oriented, whitish and reddish elongate scales, roughly punctured. Elytra: dark brown, in basal 2/3 very moderately rounded to subparallel, in apical third broadly rounded, moderately elongate (El/Ew 1.21), widest in mid-length, at base markedly wider than pronotum (Ew/Pw 1.72), humeri broadly, strikingly prominent, with broad posthumeral impression; slightly convex on disc; interstria 1 from 0.20 to 0.35 of medial length moderately and in preapical area slightly broadened, interstria 2 at same lengths narrowed and moderately constricted laterally encompassing oblong dorsal and subrotund preapical maculae, dorsal macula in its anterior part black tomentous, in posterior part covered with whitish elongate scales, preapical macula formed solely by whitish scales; interstriae of uneven width, odd interstriae wider and clearly convex, interstria 3 in basal part, interstria 5 at about 1/5 of elytral length markedly elevated; odd interstriae with unevenly distributed patches of erect, shortly elongate black scales being especially conspicuous shortly beyond humeral apex and on interstria 5 in posterior part of elytra; striae formed by uneven single rows of densely arranged, large deep punctures; entire surface covered with suberect and erect, variously oriented reddish-brown and whitish elongate (l/w 6–10) scales not fully hiding integument and leaving it partially visible. Venter: covered with backwardly oriented subrecumbent whitish and intermixed reddish hair-like scales, on margins of ventrites 3 and 4 with small brushes of clustered scales; mesosternal process convex, subtriangular, blunt at posterior margin, punctured; metasternum flat, roundly punctured; ventrites 1 and 2 flat to slightly concave, with round punctures; ventrite 1 twice as long as ventrite 2, ventrites 1–2 combined 2.7 × as long as ventrites 3–4 combined, ventrites 3–4 combined of 1.2 length of ventrite 5. Legs: femora dark brown, tibiae brown, tarsi reddish-light brown; profemora with small sharp teeth, meso- and metafemora with large triangular sharp teeth; legs, onychia included, covered with subrecumbent to suberect elongate scales and seta-like scales, which are on femora and tibiae black, reddish and yellowish, mostly whitish on tarsi, on femora with slightly, on tibiae with nearly inapparently clustered light scales indicating transverse bands, tarsi with suberect, mostly whitish, sporadically dark elongate scales; protarsal onychia of normal length, of approximately 0.8 length of tarsomeres 1–3 combined, protarsal tarsomere 3 as long as wide; claws of all legs of equal length, well separated. Penis: Figs 8 d–f, its body subparallel, rounded at apex.

Female. Rostrum moderately longer (Rl/Pl 1.32), of same shape as in male, antennal insertion as in male. Ventrite 1 considerably, ventrite 2 moderately convex, nearly evenly punctured by round to transverse punctures.

Variability. Length: ♂♂ 3.55–3.67 mm, ♀♀ 3.58–3.75 mm. The seven known specimens show no noteworthy variability.

Diagnosis. This species is recognizable by visible elytral integument, normal length of male protarsal onychia, equally long claws in both sexes, elongate dorsal macula, elevated interstriae 3 and 5 in anterior part of elytra, stout rostrum, and penis shape.

Comparative notes. Cionus championi is most closely related to C. himalayensis , from which it differs by larger body size, larger rounded eyes, more prominent profemoral teeth, erect scales on elytra, more prominent elevations on interstriae 3 and 5, shallower and narrower impression on ventrite 1, longer ventrite 1 in comparison to ventrite 2, longer ventrites 2 and 3, and rounded to slightly tapered apex of penis.

Biological notes. Biology unknown. Montane species.

Distribution. North-western India (Uttarakhand), Nepal.

Non-type specimens examined. We examined 5 specimens. INDIA: “W. Almora” mentioned above, (1 ♂ BMNH), “ INDIA bor. 13-17.7. UTTAR PRADES bor. JOSHIMATH 1994 AULI 2800 M Lgt. M.SNIZEK” (1 ♀ TI), “ INDIA bor. 13.- 17.7. 1994 UTTAR PRADES bor. Joshimath, Auli 2800m lgt. SNIZEK / Coll. Winkelmann / Coll. Winkelmann [yellow label] / coll. Wm”(1 ♂ WM), “ INDIA Uttar Pradesh Musoorie, 7000 ft. leg. A. Riedel 5.9.1987 / Coll. Winkelmann / Cionus spec. det. Dieckmann´85 / Coll. Winkelmann [yellow label] / coll. Wm” (1

♀ WM ); NEPAL: “ Tanje , 1700 m valey Dovdi-Khole (riv.) 25.9.1980 / NEPAL centr. 100 km NW Kathmand Dr. Hamet lgt. / Cleopus spec. J. Fremuth det, 2000 / Fh” (1 ♀ ME) .

Figures

FIGURES 7–8. FIGURE 7. Cionus armeniacus sp. n. a: body in dorsal view (male), b: body in lateral view (male), c: penis in ventral view, d: penis in lateral view, e: apex of penis in dorsal view. Not to scale. FIGURE 8. Cionus championi. a: body in dorsal view (male), b: body in lateral view (male), c: rostrum in lateral view (female), d: penis in ventral view, e: penis in lateral view, f: apex of penis in dorsal view. Not to scale.