Xenostrongylogethes Audisio & Cline, 2009

Audisio, Paolo, Cline, Andrew Richard, Biase, Alessio De, Antonini, Gloria, Mancini, Emiliano, Trizzino, Marco, Costantini, Lorenzo, Strika, Sirio, Lamanna, Francesco & Cerretti, Pierfilippo, 2009, Preliminary re-examination of genus-level taxonomy of the pollen beetle subfamily Meligethinae (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (2), pp. 341-504 : 445-448

29. Xenostrongylogethes Audisio & Cline , gen. nov.

( Figs. 29 a–h )

Type species. Anthystrix luculenta Kirejtshuk & Easton, 1988: 42 , 45 [= Xenostrongylogethes luculentus ( Kirejtshuk & Easton, 1988) comb. nov.].

Generic description and diagnosis. Inclusive species vary moderately in size (1.9–2.5 mm length), and share the following combination of characters.

Body color and pubescence: pubescence long, golden to silvery-whitish and dense, recumbent, partially obscuring the predominantly dark brown dorsal body surface, sometimes obscuring the narrowly flattened and frequently paler pronotal and elytral sides ( Fig. 29a ); lateral margin of pronotum and elytra with a series of faintly distinct, short setae, each seta nearly 0.5× as long as those on elytral disc; posterior margin of pronotum with relatively short, distally multifid microsetae, microsetae also present on middle portion anterior to scutellum (as in Fig. 27f ).

Dorsal habitus: body moderately convex and short, suboval ( Fig. 29a ); dorsal punctures on discal portion of pronotum as large as or larger than eye facet, moderately to deeply impressed ( Fig. 29a ); anterior margin of clypeus faintly emarginate medially, simple, i.e. without small distinct medial bulge, usually distinctly bordered ( Fig. 29a ); circum-ocular furrows (occipital sulci) on dorsal head surface almost obliterated, indistinct; eyes large and usually markedly projecting laterally ( Fig. 29a ); posterior angles of pronotum distinct, blunt, obtuse ( Fig. 29a ), never directed posteriorly; scutellum uniformly punctured on most of exposed portion (as in

Female genitalia (ovipositor): large; styli long and distinct, simple, unpigmented, inserted near apex of contiguous gonostyloids, each gonostyloid lightly sclerotized and moderately pigmented distally, with a simple, never indentate outer portion of basicoxites ( Fig. 29h ), and a single, small, pigmented and more sclerotized arcuate area along outer subdistal portion of gonostyloids. ‘Central point’ of ovipositor located more distad than middle, without proximad directed spicule.

Etymology. This genus is named for the short oval and moderately convex body shape of inclusive species, covered by dense, long, whitish to yellowish pubescence, which strongly resembles members of the Palaearctic Nitidulinae genus Xenostrongylus Wollaston, 1854 , and from ‘- gethes ’, to emphasize its phylogenetic relationship with Meligethes . Gender masculine.

Biology. Larval development is strictly associated with male inflorescences of Asteraceae within the isolated tribe Tarchonantheae (especially Tarchonanthus L.) (AUDISIO unpublished data).

Phylogenetic position. Xenostrongylogethes gen. nov. is moderately isolated within the Anthystrix complex of genera, potentially more closely related to Sebastiangethes than other members of the complex. Xenostrongylogethes gen. nov. exhibits some peculiar traits such as reduced antennal sexual dimorphism, and a distinct and large tuft of short, dense, dark, medial setae on the first two visible abdominal ventrites in males.

Taxonomy and geographic distribution. The genus includes a single southern African species. A second new southern African species awaits description from the Northwest Province and southern Limpopo. An upcoming paper is devoted to the description of this new species and the taxonomic revision of the genus (AUDISIO et al. in prep.).

Xenostrongylogethes luculentus (Kirejtshuk & South Africa: E Cape, W Cape, KwaZulu-Natal Easton, 1988) comb. nov.

Figures

Fig. 29. Xenostrongylogethes Audisio & Cline, gen. nov.: a–h – X. luculentus (Kirejtshuk & Easton, 1988). a – male habitus (length 2.5 mm); b – protibia (length 0.32 mm); c – male antenna (length 0.50 mm); d – ventral view of head and anterior portion of prosternum (pronotal width 1.22 mm); e–f – male genitalia (e – length 0.42 mm; f – length 0.47 mm); g – major sclerites of male endophallus (length 0.42 mm); h – distal portion of ovipositor (length 0.49 mm).

Fig. 27. Tarchonanthogethes Audisio & Cline, gen. nov.: a, c–i – T. rotundiclava (Kirejtshuk & Easton, 1988); b – T.sp.; k – T. martini (Grouvelle, 1899). a, b – male habitus (a – length 2.6 mm; b – length 2.0 mm); c–d – male genitalia (c – length 0. 43 mm; d – length 0.38 mm); e – major sclerites of male endophallus (length 0.20 mm); f – scutellum and microsetae on middle of posterior margin of pronotum; g – ventral view of body; h – male antenna (length 0.65 mm); i – dorsal view of head; k – distal portion of ovipositor (length 0.4 mm). Scale bars: Figs. f, i = 100 μm; Fig. g = 300 μm.