Turnerapion, Wanat, 2021

Wanat, Marek, 2021, New basal taxa of South African Apioninae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Brentidae), Zootaxa 5035 (1), pp. 1-60 : 29-31

Turnerapion gen. n.

Type species: Turnerapion pondoense sp. n.

Diagnosis. Medium-sized, slender species, body length 2.5–3.0 mm. Entire body testaceous. Protruding setae missing from all body parts. Vestiture consisting of appressed light piliform scales, ordered on elytra. Rostrum based slightly above middle of head profile, porrect, not less than 3.8 × as long as wide; scrobes in posterior half-length of their course separated with thin carina entering head venter. Head with markedly convex eyes, epifrons between them with three short parallel ribs. Antennae not strikingly elongate, half as long as elytra or slightly shorter and 1.3–1.5 × as long as pronotum; scape nearly as long as 3 basal funicular segments combined; two most distal funicular segments not elongate; club loosely segmented, at most 3.2 × as long as wide, its two basal segments clearly transverse. Pronotum trilobate, markedly elongate (1.30–1.35 ×), in dorsal outline with rectangular hind corners, its posterior third part sub-cylindrical; disc indistinctly punctate, lacking median fovea and basal flange, with a complete arched transverse sub-basal line well distant from posterior margin of pronotum ( Fig. 159 ). Elytra narrowly pyriform, with suture apically straight and simple; their bases not rimmed; five striae present between suture and humeral callus, stria 1 not shortened, nearly reaching elytron base; both subhumeral and subapical remains of separate stria 10 present; striae 3 and 8 apically narrowly disconnected; specialized setae on interval 7 (1 premedian, 1 postmedian) and interval 9 (1 subapical). Procoxae pear-shaped; both pro- and mesocoxal dentiform processes vestigial; in septum of mesocoxae mesoventral process clearly longer than metaventral one. Mesocoxal cavities with a complete narrow posterior rim. Legs thin, all subequally long. Trochanters shortly elongate. Femora unarmed, without coarse wrinkles.

In male, only meso- and metatibiae with mucro; pygidium lacking anterior apodemes, with well-developed tongue-like internal process; single additional sclerite present between sternites VIII and IX; endophallus in repose with paired frena at orifice and several small, thorn-like teeth in part protruding from penile body. In female, tergite VII broadly rounded apically, not carinate along apical margin; tergite VIII with continuous sclerotization.

See also the key to South African genera below.

Description. Body testaceous, legs and antennae lighter. Vestiture sparse, consisting of recumbent or semirecumbent cream-white setae or rather piliform scales ( Fig. 164 ), arranged in single row on elytral intervals, not longer than interval’s breadth.

Rostrum weakly sexually dimorphic, cylindrical, thin, nearly straight, slightly widened at antennal insertion and at base, punctate throughout, with microscopic setae not exceeding diameter of their basal punctures, lacking dorsal and lateral ribs or sulci; prorostrum ventrally confusedly punctate; scrobes latero-ventral, their septum flat, with coarse punctures, narrowing into a fine rib vanishing between eyes ( Fig. 185 ).

Head weakly transverse, with recumbent piliform scales arranged linearly on rostrum base and epifrons, while transversely on vertex; lateral ribs on epifrons often indistinct; temples with rough, sharply bordered microsculpture on a distance equal to approximately one-third of eye diameter; subocular fringe indistinct, consisting of short and weakly protruding, partly radiate piliform scales as long as 3 ommatidia.

Antennae touching procoxae when directed posterad in repose, with short protruding setae on all antennomeres including club ( Fig. 154 ), their insertion on rostrum submedian; scape longer that breadth of mesorostrum; first three funicular joints markedly elongate (length/width ratio 1.6–2.3); club clearly pseudotetramerous, evidently longer than 5 distal funicular segments combined.

Pronotum with subapical constriction evidently closer to apical margin than sub-basal constriction is to base, in profile weakly convex, behind coxae with distinct lateral impression provided with several fine radiate furrows directed backwards; notosternal suture ending in small pit; clothing of disc centripetal, piliform scales on anterior margin arranged transversely, on posterior margin obliquely inwards; disc entirely with heavy scale-like microsculpture; prosternum declining, less than half as long as hypomeron, with fringe of piliform scales projecting downward; prosternellum prominent, separated from hypomeron; posterior rim of procoxae absent; hypomeron flat, its lobes separated by impressed longitudinal median suture.

Scutellar shield isodiametric, very small, not prominent.

Elytra narrow, widest behind middle; intervals convex, finely punctate, with almost regular row of piliform scales slightly overlapping each other; striae broad and shallow, without sharp edges, with sparse punctures and piliform scales shorter than those on intervals; subhumeral free portion of stria 10 often obscure; apical connections of inner striae mostly indistinguishable.

Wing in all details as in Apodytapion , only the anal notch broader and shallower.

Mesoventrite largely impunctate, with strong scale-like microsculpture; anapleural sutures visible; mesepimeral sulcus shallow and narrow, without evident edges. Septum of mesocoxae narrow, its metaventral process markedly raised. Metaventrite with deep pit on process separating hind coxae. Abdominal ventrites with sparse, appressed pilosity; ventrites 1–2 microreticulate, ventrite 2 transversely wrinkled on declining posterior part; ventrites 3–5 scale-like microsculptured and punctate, punctures distinctly larger and denser than those on ventrites 1–2; ventrite 5 unmodified in both sexes.

Legs slender. Femora weakly inflated, with short and sparse recumbent piliform scales distributed mainly on upper side; profemur over 3 × as long as high. Tibiae straight, without sharp edges, finely pilose along inner side, with inconspicuous apical tuft of light setae, without pair of distinct setae. Tarsi very narrow; tarsomere 1 cylindrical in at least basal half, with emarginate dorsal margin; tarsomere 2 longer than wide, clearly emarginate; tarsomere 3 very small ( Fig. 162 ); onychium protruding beyond segment 3, without special apical setae; claws with acute triangular teeth ( Fig. 153 ).

Male. Mucrones on meso- and metatibiae differing in shape. Abdominal ventrite 5 broadly rounded apically, unmodified. Tergite VII divided to hemitergites. Pygidium globose, with only a thin apical ridge exposed. Sternite VIII not divided, with thin sclerotized median bar connecting triangular lobes. Spiculum gastrale Y-shaped, slightly asymmetrical, with apodeme much longer than fork. Tegmen subarticulated, with apodeme slightly longer than basal piece; tegminal plate weakly and uniformly sclerotized, with unclear transparent areas only on extreme sides of fenestral sector; parameral lobes short, suprafenestral sclerites semicircular, with macrochaetae, without membranous extensions; postfenestral plate unsclerotized; prostegium without sclerotized tails and median transparent stripe. Penile apodemes dichotomous basally, connate to both tectum and pedon; endophallus in repose with small exposed part, besides frena with smaller tooth-like sclerites, receiving dorsally unusually broad ejaculatory duct, as broad as apodemal bases; frena hooked.

Female. Rostrum shaped as in male, slightly longer. Abdominal ventrite 5 less transverse than in male, apically similar in shape. Both tergites 7 and 8 strongly transverse, with continuous sclerotization; spiculum ventrale straight, with vestigial sternal plate; gonocoxites broad, with conically narrowed apices not much broader than styli; bursa unilobed; spermatheca small, with corpus lacking prominences, larger than short and strongly narrowing cornu.

Biology. Unknown.

Distribution. R.S.A. (Eastern Cape).

Etymology. This new apionine genus is dedicated to Rowland Edwards Turner, entomologist and excellent collector for the British Museum (Natural History) in the first half of the 20 th Century. He remains the only collector of this interesting genus in South Africa until today, and he was actually the first collector of all other basal apionid genera described in this paper. Gender neuter.

Figures

FIGURES 151–167. Turnerapion pondoense sp. n. Male: dorsal (151) and lateral (152) habitus; tarsal claws (153); antenna (154). Rostrum and head in dorsal view, male (155); female (156). Rostrum and head in lateral view, male (157); female (158). Male: pronotum, dorsal view (159); mesotibia with mucro (160); metatibia with mucro (161); protarsus (162); subhumeral separate 10th elytral stria (163); apex of elytra, postero-lateral view (164); tergite VII (165); sternite VIII with additional sclerite (166); sternite IX (167).

FIGURES 168–186. Turnerapion pondoense sp. n. Male: penis in dorsal (168) and lateral (169) views; tegmen, dorsal view (170); tegminal plate, dorso-lateral view (171); pygidium in dorsal (172), lateral (173) and ventral (174) views. Spermatheca (175). Hind wing (176). Abdominal ventrites, male (177), female (178). Female: gonocoxites (179); spiculum ventrale (180); bursa (181); tergite VII (182); tergite VIII (183); metafurca (184). Male head, ventral view (185). Holotype labels (186).