Phloeophagosoma sulcirostre, Zimmerman, 1942

Zimmerman, Elwood C., 1942, Curculionidae of Guam, Insects of Guam I, Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, pp. 73-146 : 142-143

44. Phloeophagosoma sulcirostre , new species (pl. 5, E).

Male: derm shiny, almost entirely reddish brown excepting black eyes; setae minute, inconspicuous.

Head about as long from pronotum to front of eyes as basal breadth, with a distinct, narrow constriction four fifths the length of an eye behind eyes as measured from above, constriction not impressed across dorsum; area behind constriction shiny, impunctate, area beyond constriction and interocular area rather coarsely, densely, subconfluently punctate, interstices narrower than punctures; interocular area not quite four times as broad as breadth of an eye as measured from above, with a shallow, obscure median fovea between hind margins of eyes; eyes very slightly more convex than sides of head, five sevenths as long as high. Rostrum forming a continuous curve with front of head, three fifths as long from front of eyes to apex as length of prothorax, three times as long as an eye, almost twice as long as its basal breadth, subparallel-sided from base to apex but outline made slightly sinuous by a slight expansion at antennae, apex distinctly emarginate in middle; antennae inserted at basal third at a length of an eye from eyes; scrobes extending to middle, their upper margins ill defined, but evidently directed to lower margin of eyes, lower edges of scrobes well marked, terminating below about middle of eyes and there the breadth of apex of scape from eyes; with a fine groove running from top of scrobe above antenna! insertion; puncturation dense, continuous with that of front, becoming distinctly finer distally. Antennae with scape extending behind eye to cephalic constriction; first funicular segment hardly longer than broad, as long as 2 plus 3, 2 subquadrate, 3 to 7 successively slightly more transverse; club as long as preceding five segments. Prothorax slightly longer than broad (2.7:2.5), base and apex subtruncate, broadest at basal third, thence arcuately narrowing to narrow subapical constriction, constriction evidently not interrupting almost straight longitudinal dorsal outline; densely and evenly punctured throughout, punctures medium large, separated by less than their diameters, without any impunctate areas; setae minute, hardly discernible. Elytra. somewhat more than twice as long as broad, somewhat more than twice as long and slightly broader than prothorax, very slightly and gradnally narrowed to apical third, thence more rapidly narrowed, thence broadly rounded at apex; striae distinct and well impressed, tenth complete, punctures crenulating sides of intervals, about as broad as intervals on disk, closely placed; intervals convex, each bearing a row of minute punctures giving rise to microscopical setae, 7 beginning above metacoxa, 9 costiform from above third ventrite to its apex joining 1 at apex. Legs with femoral setae min~te; tibiae strongly uncinate and mucronate, ·a mucro about half as long as inner edge of an uncus; third hind tarsal segment entire, slightly broader than 2, slightly broader than long, third fore tarsal segment about twice as broad as 2. Sternum with prosternum densely, comparatively coarsely punctate, interstices narrower than punctures, broadly depressed down middle, more than twice as long in front of than behind coxae (11: 4), intercoxal process five sevenths as broad as a coxa; mesosternum densely punctate, on same plane as 17:etasternum, intercoxal process as broad as a coxa; metasternum broadly depressed <lown middle, coarsely and densely punctate throughout except between metacoxae, interstices narrower than punctures, twice as long between mid and hind coxae as intercoxal process of mesosternum, metacoxae as widely separated as mesocoxae. Vent'er with first ventrite broadly concave down middle, ventrites 1 and 2 less densely and coarsely punctate than metasternum; ventrites 3 and 4 with a basal row of coarse punctures and a row of small discal punctures; ventrite 5 densely set with small punctures. Length, 2.2 111111.; breadth, 0.65 111111

Holotype male collected by Fullaway and bearing the number "1174" and without specific locality other than " Island of Guam."

This species is closely allied to Phloeophagosonia carinirostre Marshall (1931) , from Samoa, but it differs from that species in being reddish brown instead of black in color, and the cephalic and rostral puncturation is denser and coarser and the upper margin of the scrobe is not distinctly defined as a carina to the eye as on P. ca-rinirostre.