Stethobaroides lauro Prena, 2025

Prena, Jens, 2025, Neotropical orchid-weevils of the genus Stethobaroides Champion (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Baridinae), Zootaxa 5723 (2), pp. 227-244 : 241

Stethobaroides lauro Prena , new species

( Figs. 4F , 6F , 11C )

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

Diagnosis. Stethobaroides lauro is a short ovate species with virtually identical habitus as S. permixtus and S. scutellatus ( Fig. 11 ). It represents the Pacific, still imperfectly understood branch of this species complex (see notes below). Diagnostic is the basally bent penis with gradually converging sides and round apex ( Fig. 4F ). Stethobaroides lauro can be distinguished best from the South American S. scutellatus , with a similar but basally evenly bent penis ( Fig. 5 ), by the strongly bisinuate distal margin of the fifth ventrite of the female ( Fig. 6F ). Stethobaris permixtus in turn, also with a strongly bisinuate distal margin, has a penis with convex sides ( Fig. 4E ).

Description. Habitus short ovate ( Fig. 11C ), much agreeing with S. scutellatus and S. permixtus ; penis with sides evenly converging and apex round ( Fig. 4F ), female with ventrite 5 densely punctate to faintly rugose, distal margin strongly bisinuate, lobe in middle subrectangular ( Fig. 6F ); total length 2.5–2.9 mm.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym in apposition, honouring the late Costa Rican botanist and university professor Jorge Gómez “Lauro” Laurito (1959–2014). The dedication was proposed by Heiko Hentrich, his former student and discoverer of the species.

Life history. Hentrich (2003) found S. lauro in young inflorescences of orchids of the genus Gongora , section Gongora . All preserved specimens are vouchers retained from individual observations, which encompassed up to eight specimens per inflorescence ( Hentrich 2003). They occurred together with the same Stethobaris species that Rivera Coto & Corrales Moreira (2007) observed on cultivated Oncidium Sw. in Naranjo, Alajuela Province.

Distribution. The species is known from Puntarenas Province on the Pacific side of Costa Rica.

Material examined. Holotype male, dissected, labelled “ COSTA RICA: Puntarenas, Cordillera de Talamanca, Aguirre , 1 km N Cooperativa El Silencio, 100 m, leg. H. Hentrich ”, “ N 9° 24’ 55.4” / W 84° 01’ 24.2” / M-Nr. 10 / 19.v.2003 ”, “on flowers and seed capsules of Gongora spec. ( Orchidaceae )” ( SMNK) . Paratypes ( 2 males, 4 females): Same data as holotype except M-Nr. 1, 29.iii.2003, 1 male ( JPPC), M-Nr. 3, 10.iv.2003, 1 male ( SMNK), M-Nr. 04, 21.iv.2003, 1 female ( JPPC), M-Nr. 5, 28.iv.2003, 1 female ( SMNK), M-Nr. 08, 6.v.2003, 1 female ( SMNK); Estacion Sirena, 0–100m, P.N. Corcovado, Prov. Puntarenas, 21.iii.–21.iv.1992, Z. Fuentes, L-S 270500 508300, INBIO CRI000 880186, 1 female ( MNCR) .

Notes. I examined a single pair ( JPPC) from Nicoya Centro, Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica obtained during the survey of Corrales Moreira & Rivera Coto (2003). The male, without documented host data, has nearly identical genitalia as S. lauro . The accompanying female, found in the flower of a species of Catasetum on the same day, has the distal margin of the fifth ventrite gently bisinuate as S. scutellatus and not nearly as much as S. lauro . A series consisting of one male and two females collected at Río Palenque Biological Station in Ecuador ( CMNC) largely agrees with S. lauro , except that the penis is more elongate. I have not examined the specimens so far reported from Colombia ( Champion 1908; Girón & Cardona Duque 2018) and El Salvador ( Fig. 2 ). Given the meagreness of the presently known material, I am describing S. lauro from the most northern series with host data available to me and exclude all others. Representative, systematically accrued collections are needed to safely distinguish other species that may occur in the Pacific regions of Central America and the abutting lowlands of South America.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Catasetum integerrimum (left) and Stanhopea sp. aff. maculosa (right) visited by unidentified specimens of Stethobaroides in San Salvador. Photos by Yader Sageth, 26.viii.2016 and 1.ix.2016.

FIGURE 4. Stethobaroides, male genitalia, dorsal and lateral aspects. A, S. elcoranus; B, S. villus; C, S. badicrus; D, S. nudiventris (from Toxpam); E, S. permixtus (from La Selva); F, S. lauro. Scale bar 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 5. Stethobaroides scutellatus, male genitalia, dorsal and lateral aspects. A, Nova Teutônia, Santa Catarina, Brazil; B, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil; C, Belém, Pará, Brazil; D, Cayenne, French Guiana. Scale bar 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 6. Stethobaroides, female distal ventrites. A, S. elcoranus; B, S. badicrus; C, S. nudiventris; D, S. scutellatus; E, S. permixtus; F, S. lauro.

FIGURE 11. Stethobaroides, dorsal and lateral aspects of males. A, S. scutellatus from Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil; L=2.6 mm. B, S. permixtus from La Selva Reserve, Heredia, Costa Rica; L=2.7 mm; C, S. lauro from Agirre, Puntarenas, Costa Rica; L=2.6 mm.