Stethobaroides permixtus Prena, 2025

Prena, Jens, 2025, Neotropical orchid-weevils of the genus Stethobaroides Champion (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Baridinae), Zootaxa 5723 (2), pp. 227-244 : 240-241

Stethobaroides permixtus Prena , new species

( Figs. 4E , 6E , 11B )

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Diagnosis. Stethobaroides permixtus is a short ovate species with virtually identical habitus as S. lauro and S. scutellatus ( Fig. 11 ). The penis of S. permixtus ( Fig. 4E ) is similarly ovate-lanceolate as in S. badicrus and S. nudiventris from the Atlantic region ( Figs. 4C, 4D ) and differs notably from those of the externally similar S. lauro from the Pacific region ( Fig. 4F ) and S. scutellatus from South America ( Fig. 5 ). Female S. permixtus ( Fig. 6E ) have the distal margin of the fifth ventrite similarly strongly bisinuate as female S. lauro ( Fig. 6F ) but the two species seem to be allopatric.

Description. Habitus short ovate ( Fig. 11B ), much agreeing with S. lauro and S. scutellatus ; penis basally bent in lateral view, in dorsal view ovate-lanceolate with roundly narrowed apex ( Fig. 4E ); female with ventrite 5 transversely rugose medially and with lobe at middle of apical margin narrow ( Fig. 6E ); total length 2.5–3.0 mm.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a Latin participle meaning confounded or mingled together.

Life history. Adult weevils were collected repeatedly from Catasetum maculatum Kunth in Costa Rica and Panamá. Some occurred together with S. badicrus and an undescribed species of Stethobaris on Gongora in Costa Rica ( Fig. 1 ). The weevil larvae that damaged Gongora flower buds on Barro Colorado Island ( Dressler 1968) might have been either S. permixtus or a species of Stethobaris . Habitus photographs and label data provided by H. Lezama (MUCR) suggest that the observed association of Stethobaris sp. with Vanilla sp. by Rivera Coto & Corrales Moreira (2007) probably applies to a large series of S. permixtus gleaned from V. planifolia in Pococí, Limón Province, Costa Rica.

Distribution. The species is known from the Atlantic lowland of Costa Rica and from central Panamá.

Material examined. Holotype male, Costa Rica, labelled “ COSTA Rica: Heredia / Pr : La Selva Biol. Sta. / 3 km S Pto. Viejo / 10° 26’N 84° 01’W ”, “ Catasetum / maculatum / 16.viii.1996 / H.A. Hespenheide ” ( MNCR) . Paratypes 141 ( 78 males, 63 females): same data as holotype, 3 males, 3 females ( CMNC 2 , MNCR 2 , TAMU 2 ) ; same locality, 20.vi.1991, H.A. Hespenheide, 1 male ( TAMU) ; same locality, 21.vii.1992, H.A, Hespenheide, 11 males, 4 females ( CMNC 2 , TAMU 13 ) ; same locality, 7.vii.1993, H.A. Hespenheide, 1 male, 1 female ( TAMU) ; same locality, 13.viii.l996, H.A. Hespenheide, 2 males, 4 females ( CMNC 1 , JPPC 1 , TAMU 4 ) ; same locality, 27.i.2004, K. Nishida, Gongora sp. , 4 males, 3 females ( JPPC 3 , MfNB 2 , SMNK 2 ). Panamá: Panamá Prov. , Ancón , 30.ix.1993, H.P. Stockwell, Catasetum maculatum , 2 males, 1 female ( CMNC); Panamá Ciudad , Barrio El Cangrejo , 7.vii.1970, H.A. Hespenheide, Catasetum sp. , 5 males, 7 females ( CMNC 2 , TAMU 10 ); Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island, 9° 10’N 79° 50’W, 15.vi.1977, H.A. Hespenheide, 49 males, 40 females ( CMNC 22 , TAMU 67 ) .

Additional material. Costa Rica: Limón, Pococí, Guápiles , 265 m, 7.v.2004, G. Corrales Moreira, Vanilla planifolia ( MUCR 26 ) .

Notes. Because specimens of S. permixtus were mistaken in the past for S. nudiventris , information published about the latter apply partially to the former. Examples are some country records in O’Brien & Wibmer (1982) and Prena & O’Brien (2011) and morphological and phylogenetic data in Davis (2009, 2011). My identification of the series from Guápiles, listed above under additional material, is based on photos and therefore tentative. Genitalia dissections were not made.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Flowering orchid of the Gongora section Gongora visited by ants, two species of Stethobaroides and one species of Stethobaris at the OTS La Selva Reserve in Costa Rica. Photo by Kenji Nishida, 27.i.2004.

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.