Lymantes reddelli Anderson, 2022

Anderson, Robert S., 2022, A new species of eyeless Lymantes Schoenherr (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Molytinae: Lymantini) from Texas caves, Zootaxa 5087 (2), pp. 383-388 : 384-385

Lymantes reddelli Anderson , new species

Figs. 1–2 , 5–6 , 8–9 .

Material examined. Holotype male, TEXAS: Travis County, Arrow Cave , 20 Jan 2016, J. Owen ( CMNC) . Paratypes: Bexar County, Root Canal Cave , Camp Bullis, 7 Sep 1998, J. Reddell, M. Reyes (1 female, CMNC) . 26 Oct 1995 (1 female, TMMC) . Black Cat Cave , 29 Apr 2009, P. Paquin (1 female, CMNC) . Karst Feature AMA 002, 26 Apr 2017, J. Larsen, D. McBee (1 female, CMNC) . Bear Cave , 10 Jul 2015, P. Sprouse (1 female, TMMC) . Oblate Pit , no date or collector (1 male, TMMC) . Oblate Pit #3, 30 Jun 2009, R. Myers (1 female, CMNC) . Travis County, Sinky Dinky , Blowing Sink Research Management Tract, 18 Feb 2013, H. Tucek, J. Shaw (1 male, CMNC) . Val Verde County, Finnegan Spring , 3 Sep 2018, B. Schwartz (1 male, CMNC) .

Diagnosis. Differing from the only other eyeless species of the genus by darker body coloration; dorsal vestiture short and fine, more reclinate, slightly shorter than in L. nadineae , difficult to see in lateral view; body form more robust; length/width (L/W) pronotum 1.10–1.25; length/width (L/W) elytra 1.60–1.75 mm ( Figs. 1–2 ). Aedeagus ( Figs. 6–7 ) with apex truncate (not produced at middle); horizontally directed “C-shaped” endophallites equal in width and degree of sclerotization.

Description. Male, length 4.0– 4.5 mm, width 1.5–1.7 mm. Color dark orange-brown throughout. Head globose, eyes fully lacking, ocular swelling not evident. Rostrum with antennae inserted slightly beyond apical 1/3 of length, slightly wider in dorsal view beyond antennal insertions, scrobes narrowly visible at point of antennal insertions in dorsal view. Rostrum about 0.7 times pronotal length, slightly arcuate in lateral view. Pronotum about 1.10–1.25 times as long as wide; lateral margins moderately arcuate, widest at about midlength; disc with punctures shallow, moderate, widely spaced; distance between punctures greater than diameter of a puncture; each puncture with a small, fine, seta. Elytra about 1.60–1.75 times as long as wide; lateral margins slightly rounded from behind humeri to apical ¼; humeri not pronounced; discal striae with small, shallow, linearly arranged punctures numbering moreor-less 30 per complete discal stria; interstriae finely punctate, shiny, much wider than width of a strial puncture; punctures each with fine, very short, reclinate seta; each seta about as long as elytral strial puncture. Abdomen with ventrites 1 and 2 with small, shallow punctures widely separated in middle area, ventrites 3 and 4 narrow, impunctate, ventrite 5 with punctures much larger than on ventrites 1 and 2. Aedeagus with pedon short, very slightly longer than wide, apex broadly truncate, not produced at middle; internal sac with extensive internal sclerotization in form of a pair of distal arciform endophallites about equal in width and degree of sclerotization, basally with pair of laterally situated helical (twisted) band-like endophallites surrounding an irregularly shaped median apical complex; struts long, about 3 times length of pedon.

Female differs from male as follows: length 3.8–5.0 mm, width 1.5–2.0 mm. Ventrite 1 of abdomen slightly more convex. Female not dissected.

Variation. There is some variation in the size and depth of punctation, particularly that of the elytral striae and on the abdominal ventrites.

Identification. Lymantes reddelli can be distinguished from L. nadineae by the characters mentioned in the following key. Dissections of males from Travis County (Sinky Dinky Cave) ( Fig. 5 ) and from Val Verde County (Finnegan Spring) ( Fig. 6 ) revealed aedeagi that were similar to that of L. nadineae ( Fig. 7 ) differing in the truncate apex and distal arciform endophallites of the endophallus about equal in width and degree of sclerotization. These differences in the aedeagus combined with differences in vestiture and body form distinguish L. reddelli as a distinct species.

The Val Verde County specimen is geographically distant from the other specimens of the species known ( Fig. 8 ) but although the body of the aedeagus is slightly longer ( Fig. 6 ), it otherwise appears to be L. reddelli and is included in the type series.

Etymology. This species is named after James Reddell of Austin, Texas for making specimens of cave-collected weevils available and for sharing his knowledge of the distributions of Texas cave arthropods.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Map of distribution of eyeless Lymantes species in Texas. Circles, Lymantes nadineae; stars, Lymantes reddelli.

FIGURE 9. Lymantes reddelli, living specimen. Photographed by Jean Krejca, Oblate Pit, Bexar County, Texas.

FIGURES 1–4. Lymantes species. 1. Lymantes reddelli, dorsal habitus (holotype; Arrow Cave). 2. Lymantes reddelli, lateral habitus (holotype; Arrow Cave). 3. Lymantes nadineae, dorsal habitus (Zapata Cave). 4. Lymantes nadineae, lateral habitus (Zapata Cave).

FIGURES 5–7. Lymantes species, aedeagus, dorsal view. 5. Lymantes reddelli (paratype; Sinky Dinky). 6. Lymantes reddelli (paratype; Finnegan Spring). 7. Lymantes nadineae (holotype; Electro-Mag Cave). Scale bar = 0.2 mm.