Procas michaelis, Thompson, 2006

Thompson, Richard T., 2006, A revision of the weevil genus Procas Stephens (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Erirhinidae), Zootaxa 1234 (1), pp. 1-63 : 24-25

Procas michaelis sp. n.

[?] Erirhinus carbonarius Dejean, 1835: 277 (nomen nudum).

[?] Procas armillatus (Fabricius) : Barros 1907: 140. [Misidentification].

Description

Length 4.9–6.6 mm, mean (3) = 6.0. Head without a frontal pit; rostrum × 4.4–4.7 as long as broad, mean (3) = 4.64, punctures on upper surface finer and more regular than in P. picipes and with only faint traces of a median carina.

Antennae with lengths of funicle segments 1–3 in ratio 10: (7.1–7.7): (5.7–6.2), mean (3) = 10: 7.5: 5.9; segment 2 × 1.2–1.3 as long as 3, mean (3) = 1.26.

Legs with vestiture of middle and hind tibiae as in P. p. picipes but basal circlets of white setae ill defined.

Vestiture of body as in P. p. picipes .

Terminalia. Processes of male sternite 8 stiff, inflexibly united at base and very strongly divergent ( Figs 86, 87 ); spermatheca with gland­lobe elongate, slender and very strongly reflexed (single example seen)( Fig. 48 ); pigmented areas of female sternite 8 large and narrowly separated, with medium to large setae (<0.1 mm)( Fig. 26 ).

Type material

HOLOTYPE, male, SPAIN: Ciudad Real , Tablas de Daimiel, 28.xii.1983 (Velazquez de Castro), on Scirpus , ‘3h. solar’ ( MNCN). The specimen is clean and in good condition (dissected).

PARATYPES. SPAIN: 1 male , Cordoba, Luque, Santa Lucia, ‘Bajo piedra’, 28.xii.1983, under stone; 1 female, Cordoba, Puente Genil (no further data); 1 male, Santander (C. Bolivar)(all MNCN). Total : 4 specimens.

Comments

This species is named in honour of Miguel Alonso­Zarazaga. It lies between P. p. picipes and P. armillatus both geographically and in some details of its morphology. A male specimen from Elche, SE Spain (E. Pons, 1937­8)( MNCN) may belong to this species but its internal parts have been destroyed by Anthrenus .

The identity of Dejean’s species cannot be established with certainty. An original male specimen ( IRSN, examined) lacks the apices of the venter and elytra; the genitalia are incomplete and sternite 8 is missing. The tibial setae are pale brown throughout, with no basal circlets and the proportions of the antennal funicle segments are appropriate for P. michaelis or P. armillatus . The type locality, ‘Hispania’ also suggests its placement here.

Barros’s record of P. armillatus from Portugal may also refer to this species; the entry reads: ‘S. Martinho d’Anta! Très rare, sur les Mauves [ Malva spp ].’

Figures

FIGURES 86–99. Sternite 8 of male of Procas michaelis from (86) Spain, Santa Lucia, (87) Spain, Tablas de Daimiel; P. armillatus from (88) Corsica, Bonifacio, (89) Algeria, Oran, (90) Libya, Benghazi, (91) Azores, São Miguel I, Livramento; P. biguttatus from (92) Russian Far East, Evseevka, (93) China, ‘Erdzendjancy,’ (94) Russian Far East, Vladivostok, (95) Japan, Hokkaido; P. lecontei from (96) Canada, Yukon, Dawson, (97) USA, Colorado, La Vita Pass, (98) Canada, Quebec, Duparquet, (99) Canada, Ontario, Pearson Point. Scale­bar = 0.2 mm.

FIGURES 44–50. Spermatheca of Procas granulicollis, (44) ‘shaggy’ form from Spain, Cangas, (45–47) normal form from (45) Wales, Carn Gefallt, (46) Spain, (47) England, Carlisle; (48) P. michaelis from Spain, Puente, (49) P. picipes levantinus from Israel, Jerusalem, (50) ditto, from Jordan, Amman). Scale­bar = 0.2 mm.

FIGURES 21–26. Sternite 8 of female of (21) Procas granulicollis, ‘shaggy’ form from Spain, Cancas, (22) normal form from Wales, Carn Gefalt, (23) ditto, from Spain; (24) P. picipes levantinus from Israel, Jerusalem, (25) ditto from Jordan, Amman; (26) P. michaelis from Spain, Puente. Scale­bar = 0.2 mm.