Cionus laibalei, Košťál & Caldara, 2019

Košťál, Michael & Caldara, Roberto, 2019, Revision of Palaearctic species of the genus Cionus Clairville (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cionini), Zootaxa 4631 (1), pp. 1-144 : 43-45

23. Cionus laibalei sp. n.

Figs 23 a–f.

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C7864928-A60D-40FC-A279-D2F8E2B636FB

Type locality. Mt. Catharina , Sinai (Egypt). Type series. Holotype: completely preserved, 4.38 mm long, dissected male labeled “ ISRAEL Sinai M. Catha-

rina 1. V. 1979 / On: Scrophularia / HOLOTYPUS Cionus laibalei sp. n. M.Košťál et R.Caldara des. 2017” ( TAU). Paratype: same labeling as holotype except for “ PARATYPUS ” (1 ♀ TAU).

Description. Male (holotype). Body stout, subrotund. Head: rostrum moderately slender, medium long (l/ w 5.0, Rl/Pl 1.25), reddish-brown; in lateral view slightly evenly curved, same width from base to antennal insertion, then on upper outline moderately tapered to apex; in dorsal view very slightly broadened from base to antennal insertion, then same width to apex, basal part laterally constricted, apical part dorsoventrally flattened; densely longitudinally punctured except for small bare median longitudinal apical area, basal part with indistinct carina; basal part covered with recumbent up- and backwardly oriented gingery scales, antennal insertion and apical part with suberect yellowish seta-like scales. Head between eyes narrow, of 0.4 rostrum width at base. Eyes large, rounded, not protruding from head outline. Antennae reddish-brown, inserted at 0.6 of rostrum length; funicle of 0.8 scape length, segment 1 distinctly wider than segment 2, segment 1 more than 1.5 ×, segment 2 more than three times as long as wide, segments 3–5 as long as wide, subglobose; club spindle-shaped, 2.5 × as long as wide, of 0.8 funicle length, completely covered with recumbent tiny brownish and grayish hairs, and sparse, relatively short pale sensilla. Pronotum: reddish-brown, moderately wider than long (Pl/Pw 0.70), unevenly densely, finely punctured, punctures round, of various size, spaces between punctures mostly smaller than puncture diameter; densely covered with variously oriented, recumbent to subrecumbent, shortly elongate (l/w 3–5) gingery scales; widest at base, in basal half moderately, in anterior half distinctly subconically narrowed to anterior margin, with distinct shallow constriction, in lateral view in basal half flat to slightly falling, in anterior half more distinctly falling to anterior margin. Prosternum: anterior margin with sharply incised, deep narrow emargination bounded by two small shiny tubercles, separated from coxae by very narrow prosternal area. Scutellum: triangular, covered with scales similar to those on elytra, densely punctured. Elytra: reddish-brown, in basal 2/3 moderately rounded, in apical third very broadly, somewhat unevenly rounded, short (El/Ew 1.14), humeri rounded, slightly prominent, with broad shallow posthumeral impression; almost flat on disc; interstria 1 shortly beyond 1/3 of medial length and in preapical area moderately broadened, interstria 2 at same lengths narrowed and constricted laterally encompassing subrotund, black tomentous maculae without differently colored scale border; interstriae except perimacular areas of approximately equal width, flat; odd interstriae with very few indistinct scattered patches of dark scales, without light patches; striae shallow, formed by almost even single rows of round punctures; entire surface covered with very dense recumbent, shortly elongate (l/w 3–5), broad scales completely concealing integument. Venter: densely covered with shortly oval, broad gingery scales, only in middle of metasternum and anterior part of ventrite 1 with recumbent hair-like whitish scales; mesosternal process flat, subquadrate, blunt at posterior margin, scaled, densely punctured; metasternum concave, transversally confluently punctured, ventrite 1 with broad shallow impression, ventrite 2 flat, both punctured; ventrite 1 1.5 × as long as ventrite 2, ventrites 1–2 combined 5.3 × as long as ventrites 3–4 combined, ventrites 3–4 combined of approximately same length as ventrite 5. Legs: reddish-brown, profemora with tiny blunt teeth emphasized by erect scales, meso- and metafemora with large subtriangular sharp teeth; femora covered with recumbent scales similar to those on elytra, tibiae with subrecumbent to suberect gingery scales and sparse black scales, tarsomeres 1–3 with suberect thin gingery scales, onychia with subrecumbent hair-like pale scales, femora and tibiae without bands of scales; protarsal onychia of same length as tarsomeres 1–3 combined, protarsal tarsomere 3 markedly wider than long; protarsal lateral, meso- and metatarsal medial claws by 1/4 shorter than their pair-claws. Penis: Figs 23 d–f, its body medium long, with subparallel sides, broadly rounded at apex.

Female. Length 4.46 mm. Rostrum longer (Rl/Pl 1.35), apical part shiny, with sparse tiny punctures, antennal insertion shortly beyond half of rostrum length. Ventrites 1 and 2 without impression. Claws of approximately equal length.

Variability. Both type specimens do not show any variability.

Diagnosis. This species is recognizable by concealed elytral integument, apical part of rostrum in lateral view moderately tapered in males, and distinctly tapered and shiny in females, broad, only slightly elongate gingery scales on elytra and pronotum, moderately uneven claws in males, and penis shape.

Comparative notes. This peculiar species is probably most closely related to C. rabinovitchi and C. negevicola . It differs from the former by the unicolored elytral scales, from the latter by markedly shorter rostrum in both sexes, and from both species by the shortly elongate, broad scales on elytra and pronotum, and the penis shape.

Biological notes. Collected on Scrophularia sp.

Distribution. Egypt (Sinai).

Etymology. The species is named after our colleague L. Friedman, who kindly provided us with the loan of rich and interesting material from TAU.

Non-type specimens examined. None.

Figures

FIGURES 23–24. FIGURE 23. Cionus laibalei sp. n. 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. FIGURE 24. Cionus tamazo. 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.