Elytrurus divaricatus Waterhouse, 1877

Kuschel, Guillermo, 2008, Curculionoidea (weevils) of New Caledonia and Vanuatu: Basal families and some Curculionidae, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 197, pp. 99-250 : 145

publication ID	978-2-85653-605-6
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039F87B5-FFEA-4706-FF7D-FCEDFCADF891
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scientific name	Elytrurus divaricatus Waterhouse
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Elytrurus divaricatus Waterhouse View in CoL

Figs 40, 41

Elytrurus divaricatus Waterhouse, 1877: 10 View in CoL . — Marshall 1938: 73, 82. — Paulian 1945: 195, figs 37, 53.

Elytrurus maculicollis Heller, 1916: 358 View in CoL . — Marshall 1938: 73, 82. — Paulian 1945: 195, 196, figs 41, 42, 44, 45, 63 n. syn.

DESCRIPTION. — Scaling brown, paler on head, sides of prothorax and basal angles of elytra, scales in strial puncta conspicuous, round, usually much larger than surrounding scales. Rostrum tricarinate, median carina broad and smooth but very low, sublateral carinae smooth or punctate, distinctly converging towards base, area between them on basal half flat or nearly so. Segment 1 of funicle shorter than 2. Sutural area of elytra squamose or partly denuded.

Length: 10.0-14.0 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — 1) E. divaricatus : two syntypes present: lectotype male, 11.0 x 4.5 mm, ‘Vati, Elytrurus divaricatus C. Waterh. , type’, NHM; paralectotype female, same data, NHML. 2) E. maculicollis : two syntypes present: lectotype male, 10.5 x 4.5 mm, ‘Neu Hebriden, Epi, 1911, Dr F Speiser, maculicollis H., Typus’, SMT.D; paralectotype female, same data, SMT.D.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Vanuatu. Ambrym , Epi, Efate (?). 102 specimens .

ETYMOLOGY. — The epithet ‘divaricátus’ refers to the diverging apical processes of the elytra of the type specimens.

REMARKS. — There are two pairs of this species in the Natural History Museum, London, one from Vati (Efate), the other from Ambrym (1925, P A Buxton), which I find identical in every respect. That this type form, with the slightly darkened elytral suture area and interstria 5, should occur on the two islands seems most unlikely. Marshall (1938) confronted E. divaricatus with E. maculicollis by bringing up three characters in the same couplet to distinguish them. As aedeagi do not show any difference and the three characters of Marshall turned out to be too unreliable, I feel confident that the synonymy is justified. Apart from the two pairs mentioned above, 40 specimens were present for this study from S Ambrym, and 58 from Epi, none from Efate.