Miloderes mercuryensis Tanner, 1966

Van Dam, Matthew H. & O’Brien, Charles W., 2015, Review of the genus Miloderes Casey, 1888 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), with desciptions of three new species, Zootaxa 4006 (2), pp. 247-284 : 265

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4006.2.2
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B7A45EAC-D817-47BF-A284-731FEF2B8F8C
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5661860
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C15787EF-E937-FFFD-FF08-FE3A810CFA63
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Miloderes mercuryensis Tanner, 1966
status

Treatment

Miloderes mercuryensis Tanner, 1966 View in CoL

( Figs. 1–4 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 G, 6B, 14)

Miloderes mercuryensis Tanner, 1966: 3 View in CoL . Holotype male. NV: Nye Co. Mercury, N.T.S., 6 January 1961, BYU-AEC, Code JAL100, Ref. No. 21, examined (BYU). Tanner & Harris, 1969: 157. Tanner, 1974: 295. O’Brien & Wibmer, 1982: 60.

Description. Body clothed in relatively short sparse setae. Head with scales on frons convex. Pronotum with two vittae, lateral margins convex. Elytra gray and brown to blue and brown. Legs with front tibial shape convex with apical spines continuing on ventral surface, tibial brush square; hind tibial apex rounded. Median lobe curved. Endophallus with lobes and shape undocumented, transfer apparatus strongly sclerotized. Spermatheca with basal lobes of unequal lengths.

Specimens examined. NV: Clark Co.: Spring Range, Lee Canyon, 6000ft., antifreeze pit trap, December 1982 to March 1983, Derham Giuliani coll. (1 CDFA) [N36.392904, W-115.585429]; 19 mi. S, 27 mi. E Las Vegas, 17 March 1983, Derham Giuliani coll. (2 CDFA, 1 CWOB) [N35.848883, W-114.977118]. Nye Co.: Mercury, N.T.S., 22 January 1961, BYU-AEC, Code JAL8C, Ref. No. 130 (1 BYU) [N36.652558, W- 115.998431]; same location, 2 March 1962, BYU-AEC, Code JAL12 (c) (1 BYU); 23 mi. W Indian Springs, 19 mi. SE Lathrop Wells, elev. 2900, 24 March 1970, E.L. Sleeper coll. (2 BYU, 2 CWOB) [N36.571715, W- 116.212889]; Rock Valley, 26 March 1971, E.L. Sleeper coll. (2 BYU) [N36.619276, W-116.34756].

Distribution. ( Fig. 19 View FIGURE 19 ) This species is found in isolated sand dunes just north of the Amargosa Valley. Specimens from Clark County may represent a separate species however due to lack of enough specimens that determination cannot be made at this time.

Intra- and interspecific morphological variation. Specimens of M. mercuryensis all tend to have shorter and sparser setae than M. setosus , and the width of the pronotum and humeri of the elytra also tend to be more equal in width than in M. setosus . The paucity of specimens (only 7 near the type locality, the other 6 are distant) has made it difficult to identify many characters that might differentiate these two species. The endophallus may yield more characters, but because the process of eversion could be destructive to the specimens, the authors did not examine this structure.