Genus Paratranes Zimmerman, 1994

Figs 1–10

Paratranes Zimmerman, 1994: 695 .

Paratranes – Oberprieler 1995: 306; 2004: 183 (classification, host associations). — Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal 1999: 210 (catalogue); 2014: 560 (classification, host associations). — Oberprieler & Caldara 2012: 57 (classification, host associations). — Pullen et al. 2014: 289 (catalogue). — Anderson et al. 2018: 2 (classification, host associations). — Legalov 2018: 345 (key, catalogue, classification).

Type species

Tranes monopticus Pascoe, 1870, by monotypy.

Redescription

Body slender and depressed, completely shiny black; pronotal and elytral derm nearly nude, covered with very short setae (Fig. 1A). Rostrum moderately long, equally long in both sexes (Fig. 4). Eyes dorsally well separated (Fig. 1C); ventrally very narrowly separated, as narrowly as procoxae (Fig. 1B); forehead slightly narrower than basal width of rostrum (Fig. 1C). Antennae inserted at about distal third of rostrum in both sexes, not sexually dimorphic (Fig. 4); funicles 7-segmented but segment 7 closely approximated to club and nearly continuous in outline with it, segments 1 and 2 short, 2 slightly longer or as long as apical width of scape and slightly shorter than segments 3+4 (Fig. 5); clubs stout and short, distinctly shorter than funicles, 4-segmented, with small conical apical segment, appearing 5-segmented due to funicle segment 7 being closely approximated to basal club segment. Pronotum distinctly narrower than elytra at humeri, with sides weakly to moderately arcuate (Fig. 3); surface punctate, punctures separate on disc but confluent and vague laterally (Fig. 1D). Elytra elongate, jointly ca 0.5–0.6× as broad as long, sides subparallel or slightly diverging apicad, subapically slightly indented (Fig. 2A); surface nearly flat (Figs 3–4). Prothorax with anterior margin laterally extended into weak ocular lobes ventrally separated by shallow emargination (Fig. 1B); prosternum before procoxal cavities impunctate or sparsely punctate medially; procoxal cavities confluent, with procoxae contiguous; metanepisterna without sclerolepidia. Femora distinctly sulcate beneath; meso- and metatibiae with distal setal combs continued around apex and extending to almost middle of tibia (Fig. 2B), metatibiae with dorso-apical corner rounded. Terminalia: tergite VII of female subtrapezoidal (Fig. 2C), with posterior margin subtruncate, anterior margin ca 1.5–1.9× as wide as posterior margin; tergite VIII of male subquadratic (Fig. 2D), with posterior margin subtruncate, of female subtrapezoidal (Fig. 7A, C), very long in P. monopticus, ca 0.9–1.8 × as long as width at anterior margin, posterior margin subtruncate, anterior margin ca 1.4–1.5 × as wide as posterior margin; sternite VIII of female with sclerotised parts of apical lobes slender, linear (Fig. 7B, D); tegmen with oval to rounded ring (Fig. 7I–J), manubrium distinctly shorter than parameroid lobes; penis subparallel (Fig. 8), dorsum strongly sclerotised at both sides, forming a broad median groove, apical margin roundly subtruncate or slightly medially emarginate, body distinctly shorter than temones (ca 2.0–3.0 ×); endophallus (Fig. 8A–B, D–E) membranous, long, extending below body of penis, apically with anchor-shaped symmetrical armature composed of two strongly hooked sclerites joined medially to form a common stalk (Fig. 9A–D); ovipositor short ( P. zimmermani sp. nov.) to long ( P. monopticus), ca 1.5–5.7 × as long as wide, proximal gonocoxite ca 0.8–1.4 × as long as distal gonocoxite (Fig. 10A–B), gonostyli subapical, broad, apically truncate, with few long setae.

Remarks

Paratranes is here classified in the tribe Orthorhinini, following Anderson et al. (2018), who included the Tranes group in this tribe based on the strongly supported relationship between Tranes Schoenherr, 1843 and the orthorhinine genus Vanapa Pouillaude, 1915 found by Shin et al. (2017) in a robust phylogenetic analysis of 522 protein-coding genes. Without considering these results, Legalov (2018) recently proposed a separate tribe for the Tranes group, Tranini (incorrectly formed as ‘Tranesini’; see Hsiao & Oberprieler (2020)), but his diagnosis of Tranini did not distinguish the group from Orthorhinini, and it further contained characters not present in all the included genera. Pending further and more detailed analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of the Tranes group, it is premature to afford it tribal status in Molytinae .

The relationships of Paratranes to the other genera of the Tranes group also remain uncertain for the moment. It agrees with Tranes, Miltotranes Zimmerman, 1994 and Howeotranes Zimmerman, 1994 in lacking sclerolepidia along its metanepisternal sutures, which are present in Demyrsus Pascoe, 1872 and Siraton Hustache, 1934 (Oberprieler & Caldara 2012; Lyal 2014; Hsiao & Oberprieler 2020), but how closely related it may be to the cycad-associated genera, Tranes and Miltotranes, is as yet unknown. The similarity of the anchor-shaped sclerite of the endophallus in Paratranes and Tranes lyterioides (Pascoe, 1875) suggests a close relationship between these taxa and that Tranes in its current concept may be nonmonophyletic. The taxonomy of Tranes is currently under investigation (unpubl. data 2020).