New genus and species of broad-nosed weevils from Baltic amber and notes on fossils of the subfamily Entiminae (Coleoptera, Curculionidae)
Author
Yunakov, Nikolai N.
Author
Kirejtshuk, Alexander G.
text
ZooKeys
2011
160
73
96
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.160.2108
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.160.2108
1313-2970-160-73
Arostropsis groehni Yunakov & Kirejtshuk
sp. n.
Figs 1-16
Material examined.
Holotype "C 7968, GPIH 4516", male (GPIH); the complete beetle with a clear integument is included in an irregular parallelepiped with the largest plane about 18.0
x
14.0 mm and the smallest one 11.0
x
7.0 mm; amber matter on right side from the beetle is rather homogeneous, but that from the left side of the inclusion consists of some layers, in which between the borders is a fine net of dark (almost blackish) organic matter.
Etymology.
The epithet of the new species is formed from the name of Carsten
Groehn
, collector of its holotype.
Type strata.
Baltic Amber; Upper Eocene, Prussian Formation.
Type locality.
Baltic Sea coast and Amber quarry Jantarny near Kaliningrad (formerly Koenigsberg), Kaliningrad region, Russia.
Description.
Length 6.4, width 1.8, height 1.3 mm. Body slender, distinctly depressed from above. Pronotum and elytra strongly carinate at sides. Integument densely covered with small, apparently metallic, lanceolate (apparently green) scales at both sides of body and legs.
Head. Rostrum 1.5 times as long as wide, narrow, distinctly narrower than head capsule, laterally depressed. Pterygia weakly extending beyond lateral contour of rostrum. Epistomal area not depressed. Lateral edges of epifrons at middle convex, narrowed towards middle, then parallel-sided, without basal, transverse depression or sulcus. Median sulcus shallow, extending towards pit between eyes, not continuing towards vertex. Head capsule not constricted beyond eyes. Frons distinctly convex, almost twice as wide as epifrons at level of antennal insertions. Maximum width of head at posterior part of eyes. Scape comparatively short, about 1/4 as long as funicle, strongly expanded apically, somewhat compressed dorsoventrally, not extending beyond anterior third of eyes, directed obliquely downwards in folded state. Funicle slender; all segments elongate, funicular segment 1 about three times as long as wide, 2nd about two times as long as wide, 3rd about 1.5 times as long as wide; 4th-5th about two times as long as wide, segments
6
-7 about 1.5 times as long as wide. Club spindle-shaped and comparatively thin, with distinctly separated segments, about as long as funicular segments 1-7 together. Mandibles entirely bare (without scales), moderately extended beyond buccal cavity. The only remaining left mandibular process knife-shaped, in apical third slightly curved inward, without internal prominences, about 1.5 times as long as protruding part of mandibles.
Pronotum elongate, almost parallel-sided, with anterior and posterior constrictions widely expressed, weakly and evenly convex at sides, with disc weakly convex transversely
and
anterior edge curving upward; posterior edge slightly bisinuate; posterior angles widely rounded and somewhat projecting posteriorly; anterior edge nearly straight.
Elytra elongate, about 4.5 times as long as wide, parallel-sided, humeral prominences distinct (Fig. 8, hp), basal edge of elytra biconvex opposite the posterior pronotal depressions. Elytral declivity gently sloping (Fig. 7).
Legs
slender. Femora slender, elongate, obtuse, weakly swollen in apical third. Tibiae slender and elongate. Protibiae gently curved inwards in apical third; with anterior row of thin spines. Metatibiae subflattened and with inner edge sinuate at apical third. Corbels open (Figs 6, cb; 8), without additional row of spines. Tarsi slender, setaceous, pelma well-developed (term after
Doyen 1966
). Tarsomere 1 almost as long as
tarsomeres
2-3 combined. Ultimate tarsomere extended beyond lobes of tarsomere 3 by length of last one. Claws free. Procoxae comparatively small, situated in middle of prothorax (Fig. 8).
Figures 1-6.
Arostropsis groehni
gen. et sp.n. 1 body, dorsal view 2 body, lateral view 3 body, ventro-lateral view 4 head, dorsal view 5 protarsi 6 metatibia apex. Abbreviations: cb - corbel, ma - mandibular process. Body length: 6.4 mm.
Figures 7-8.
Arostropsis groehni
gen. et sp.n. 7 body outline, lateral view 8 idem, ventro-lateral view (anterior and middle limbs removed). Abbreviations: ed elytral declivity, hp humeral prominence, lr lateral ridge, ma mandibular process. Body length: 6.4 mm.
Figures 9-12.
Arostropsis groehni
gen. et sp.n. 9 head, antero-lateral view 10 idem, antero-dorsal view 11 head and prothorax, lateral view 12 antenna, lateral view. Abbreviations: lr lateral ridge, ma mandibular process. Scale bar: 1 mm.
Figures 13-18. Species of
Arostropsis
,
Lepropus
, and
Naupactus
, details. Figs 17 and 18 (modified from
Thompson 1992
). 13-16.
Arostropsis groehni
sp. n. 13 base of pronotum and elytra 14 epistome 15 epipleural margin of elytra 16 protarsus 17
Lepropus rutilans
(Olivier, 1807) (
Tanymecini
), mandibular processes dentate 18
Naupactus fatuus
Boheman, 1833, mandibular processes simple (
Naupactini
). Abbreviations: dc dorsal carina of mandibular process, ibt interobasal tooth of mandibular process, es epistomal setae, ma mandibular process. Scale bar: 1 mm (Figs 13, 15); 0.5 mm (Figs 14, 16); not in scale (Figs 17, 18).
Comparison
with recent genera.
The new genus differs from all recent genera of
Naupactini
with open corbels and procoxae not completely separated from the prosternum (
Mesagroicus
Schoenherr, 1840,
Eurymetopus
Schoenherr, 1840,
Melanocyphus
Jekel, 1875,
Trichonaupactus
Hustache, 1939) in the following characters: short and depressed scape, rostrum narrow, epistomal area weakly setose, epifrons with a weakly developed median depression and vertex with very small fossa, not continuing to occiput.
Comparison with Baltic amber entimine genera.
Since
Arostropsis
gen. n. has free claws, only two other fossil genera,
Paonaupactus
Voss, 1953 and
Protonaupactus
Zherikhin, 1971, share the same character state and can be compared with the new genus.
Arostropsis
gen. n. strongly differs from both
Paonaupactus
and
Protonaupactus
in the following characters given in the key below.
Key to Baltic amber genera of
Entiminae
with free claws
ndstth |
Arostropsis
|
ndstth |
Protonaupactus
|
Paonaupactus
|
Systematic position
This new genus is undoubtedly a member of
Entiminae
due to the presence of mandibular processes. Due to structural characters: mandibular processes long, knife-shaped (ibt not developed) - claws free, vertex and epifrons combined in uniform structure without transverse sulcus before eyes, the new genus could be assigned to the tribes
Naupactini
or
Geonemini
Gistel, 1848. Emden separated these groups from other
'brachyderoid'
tribes of
Entiminae
with free claws (
Tanymecini
and
Anypotactini
) by the following characters (Table 1).
Table 1. Basic morphological characters of
'brachyderoid'
tribes of
Entiminae
with free claws in comparison with the genus
Arostropsis
gen.n.
Geonemini
|
Naupactini
|
Tanymecini
|
Anypotactini
|
Arostropsis
|
The position of
Arostropsis
is tested following the table:
Presumption 1 (
Geonemini
).
Arostropsis
gen.n. lacks the key characters of
Geonemini
such as: evenly sloping lateral edges of epifrons, very narrow vertex and anterior position of procoxae. Consequently this genus cannot be assigned to this tribe..
Presumption 2 (
Tanymecini
).
Arostropsis
gen. n. could not be considered in the tribe
Tanymecini
, due to absence of postocular vibrissae at the prothorax. The amount of vibrissae varies from genus to genus within
Tanymecini
but at least a few vibrissae are present (some
Pandeleteius
). We do not know any case in which vibrissae are completely absent, so it is unlikely that
Arostropsis
belongs to
Tanymecini
.
Presumption 3 (
Anypotactini
). Due to absence of transverse sulcus between vertex and epifrons and U-shaped epistome in
Arostropsis
it is impossible to consider this genus within
Anypotactini
.
Presumption 4 (
Naupactini
). The strictly lateral position of the eyes, flattened epifrons and very broad vertex resembles that of
Arostropsis
within
Naupactini
, however, the shape of the rostrum is very different from that of any known member of this tribe. This transformation of rostrum probably resulted in reduction of the frontal fossa (Fig. 10) that is normally (in genera with broad rostrum) deep, long and continuing from the anterior portion of epifrons to the occiput. Such head shape together with the unusual slender body makes it difficult to recognize
Arostropsis
as a member of the tribe
Naupactini
.
Probable bionomy. The long legs and well developed tarsal pelma (term after
Doyen 1966
) of the new species suggests that this beetle was capable of running swiftly between leaves and, therefore, it was likely a canopy-dweller.