Dinas Wollaston, 1867

Skuhrovec, JiĜí & Batelka, Jan, 2014, Taxonomy of the Cape Verde endemic weevil genus Dinas (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae). Part I: Description of a new subgenus, and two new species from São Nicolau Island, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (1), pp. 315-336 : 318

Genus Dinas Wollaston, 1867

Type species. Dinas rugicollis Wollaston, 1867: 132 (by original designation).

Diagnosis. Body length 3.2 to 9.3 mm; epistome narrow, long and separated from frons by visible decreased line; frons glabrous or scarcely squamose, not separated from epifrons by any distinct carina; epifrons wide, with lateral margin moderately laterally projecting, with median longitudinal furrow of variable length (from short, present only on part of epifrons, to long, reaching occiput); head and rostrum in the same level in lateral view; scrobe in dorsal view visible only in apical half of rostrum as very narrow furrows, in lateral view furrowshaped, obliquely directed below eye, not reaching eye or lower margin of rostrum; scape exceeding posterior margin of eyes; elytra without humeral angles; all femora with a short median spine; claws connate at base; suture between abdominal ventrites 1 and 2 sinuose, ¿ne and shallow, other sutures straight and deep; abdominal ventrites 1 and 2 of the same length, but twice the length of each abdominal ventrites 3 and 4; sternite VIII in females with moderately long apodeme, terminated just inside of plate, plate subtriangular, with somewhat slender point, with slender apical margin and ill-de¿ned basal margin, feebly sclerotised, with setae at apical part; gonocoxites of ovipositor with short apical styli bearing setae; tergite VIII in males with tongue-like process.

Taxonomic assignment of the genus. Lacordaire, in his personal communication to Wollaston, compared voucher specimens of D. obsita Wollaston, 1867 with the Palaearctic genera Foucartia Jacquelin du Val, 1854 and Platytarsus Schoenherr, 1840 (= Brachysomus Schoenherr, 1823 ) ( WOLLASTON 1867). VAN EMDEN (1936) presented tribal and generic keys to the Brachyderinae , where he listed the genus Dinas within the tribe Brachyderini Schönherr, 1826 , which included the tribes Brachyderini and Sciaphilini . ROUDIER (1957) placed Dinas in close proximity to the genus Sciaphilus Schoenherr, 1823 . Recently, ALONSO- ZARAZAGA & LYAL (1999) listed the genus in the tribe Sciaphilini Sharp, 1891 , together with all three genera mentioned above. Generic relationships within this tribe and its position within the subfamily Entiminae are unknown. Inclusion of molecular data for Dinas into a comprehensive phylogeny of the Old World Entiminae , appears necessary to resolve its phylogenetic position.

The subfamily Entiminae is especially represented in the Macaronesian subregion by representatives of the tribe Laparocerini Lacordaire, 1863 . Based on MACHADO’ s (2010) diagnosis of the tribe Laprocerini , most representatives of the tribe differ from Dinas in two important characters: the femora are unarmed and the spiculum relictum is present, whereas members of Dinas have the femora armed each with one distinct spina and the spiculum relictum is absent. In addition, male members of Dinas also have a special tongue-like process on tergite VIII ( Figs 1A–B ), which has never been observed in other Entiminae ( Fig. 1C ) including Laparocerini (MACHADO 2010) . A similar tongue-like process on the tergite VIII of males has only been mentioned for several brentoid groups ( WANAT 2007).

Figures

Fig.1. TergitVIII in males of Entiminae:A – Dinas (Microspina) afonsoi sp.nov. and B – Dinas (s.str.) strakai sp. nov. with tongue-like process; C – Barypeithes interpositus Roubal, 1920 without tongue-like process. Scale: 1 mm.