A taxonomic study of the Indian species of Euops Schoenherr (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Attelabidae) Author Riedel, Alexander text Zootaxa 2009 2125 1 56 journal article 10.5281/zenodo.188214 80d07bd4-79e1-4933-88f7-32bf0aa3a538 1175-5326 188214 Euops subgenus Riedeliops Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal Euops ( Charops ) Riedel, 1998 : 100 ; type species, by original designation: Euops paradoxus Voss, 1935 . Euops ( Riedeliops ) Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal, 2002 : 10 (replacement name for Charops Riedel non Holmgren, 1858). Orienteuops Legalov, 2003 : 388 ; type species, by original designation: Euops tonkinensis Voss, 1933 ; Legalov, 2008 (syn.). Sawadeuops Legalov, 2003 : 398; type species, by original designation: Attelabus punctatostriatus Motschulsky, 1860 ; syn. n. Sawadeuops ( Nigroeuops ) Legalov, 2003 : 403; type species, by original designation: Sawadeuops ( Nigroeuops ) ovalis Legalov, 2003 ; syn. n. Asynaptops Legalov, 2007 : 225 ; type species, by original designation: Euops keiseri Voss, 1957 ; syn. n. Asynaptops ( Asynaptopsis ) Legalov, 2007 : 225 ; type species, by original designation: Asynaptops ( Asynaptopsis ) colombensis Legalov, 2007 ; syn. n. Riedeliops ( Orienteuopsidius ) Legalov, 2008 : 215 ; type species, by original designation: Riedeliops ( Orienteuopsidius ) rasuwanus Legalov, 2008 ; syn. n. Diagnosis . Metanotum with one median sutural spine. Description (based solely on species treated herein). Male. Body length: 1.52–2.70 mm . Head short. Gena 0.66–0.75 x as long as width of head behind eyes; genae markedly converging anteriad. Vertex with row of small punctures along posterior margin of eye, without constriction behind eye, evenly rounded towards base. Eyes in dorsal view almost continuous with lateral contour of head, large, dorsally contiguous in middle for 0.4–0.7 x their length. Ventral surface shining, with transverse wrinkles except for smooth median furrow; anteriorly at base of rostrum with few scattered setae. Rostrum 1.44–1.75 x longer than mouthparts; at widest point 1.21–1.27 x wider than at base; in cross section dorsally moderately rounded; dorsum above antennal insertions with rounded prominence; interantennal area converging anteriad with concave margins; surface subglabrous, with sparse minute punctures and if not abraded with thin recumbent setae. Venter sharply delimited against that of head, forming angle of ca. 120°, weakly convex to apex, basally with short submental median carina or without such carina; dorsal and ventral contours converging from base to apex. Prementum ( Figs. 71–72 ) at base 1.7–1.8 x wider than long, ca. 2.3–3.9 x wider than at apex; surface flat except concavity at base of median process; sides weakly sinuate or straight, converging apicad; anteriorly with 3 moderately long apical processes, median shorter, retracted dorsad behind level of lateral processes. Antenna ( Figs. 118–122 ) with club relatively broad. Proventriculus ( Figs. 101–102 ) with eight uniform primary folds bearing thin setae or spiniform processes; without sclerotised gnathal ridges; without secondary folds; without pulvilli. Thorax. Prothorax 0.76–0.87 x as long as wide; disc shining, subglabrous or markedly punctate-rugose with transverse or V-shaped wrinkles. Metanotum ( Figs. 79–84 ) with small lateral lobes; with short median sutural spine ( Fig. 85–86 ), rarely hardly projecting posteriad, but always distinctly cariniform in median sulcus. Prepectus as long as postpectus or shorter. Metasternum ventrally punctate-rugose, laterally deeply punctate. Height of pterothorax in males and females of same species identical, 0.75–0.92 x length of elytron. Elytron 2.00–2.34 x longer than wide; humerus simple; striae deeply impressed; intervals smooth or with more or less marked transverse wrinkles. Legs. Procoxa short, 0.88–1.06 x as long as wide (in E. trichinopoliensis 1.24 x longer than wide), simple. Femora simple, without teeth or knobs; ventral surface basally with sparse erect setae (glabrous in E. bowringii ); anterior surface dull, weakly shining, coriarious, with irregular wrinkles, granulate, with sparse recumbent setae (more shining and sculpture less marked in E. bowringii and E. trichinopoliensis ); posterior surface rather shining, with shallow wrinkles and punctures. Profemur asymmetrically clavate, dorsoventrally markedly swollen (moderately so in E. trichinopoliensis ), in dorsal aspect rather compressed, thickest at ca. 0.35–0.40 of length from apex, with inconspicuous patch of setae (except E. bowringii and E. trichinopoliensis ), at base with indistinct stalk; anterior contour convex; posterior contour almost straight; dorsal contour markedly sinuate; ventral contour convex, subapically with distinct constriction (almost straight and without constriction in E. trichinopoliensis ). Protibia in dorsal and in anterior aspect straight; dorsal contour more or less convex; ventral contour weakly sinuate, almost straight; ventral surface granulate, setose with suberect setae; uncus terminal or ventral; anterior distal comb complete ventrally; posterior distal comb oblique behind tarsal articulation, dorsal and ventral third shortened. Mesotibia ( Figs. 91–92 , 125–129 ) subapically with acute dorsal extension; dorsal edge of meso- and metatibia distinctly crenulate. Protarsus shorter than metatarsus; tarsomere 1 shorter than 2+3 together. Abdomen. Sutures between ventrites 1–4 fused, almost effaced ( Fig. 97 ) (more distinct in E. trichinopoliensis ). Venter laterally densely punctate, rugulose (sparsely punctate in E. trichinopoliensis ); disk concave or flat with shallow constriction between ventrites 4 and 5. Pygidium weakly microreticulate; densely deeply punctate (shallowly in E. trichinopoliensis ); sparsely setose. Terminalia. Sternite VIII ( Figs. 163–167 ) medially fully or incompletely subdivided by membrane connecting lateral sclerotised areas; apex broadly bilobate, setose; sides weakly converging in straight line from base to apex; base evenly concave or medially with marked constriction. Tegminal plate ( Figs. 66 , 142 , 147 , 152 , 157 ) relatively broad, sides converging to evenly setose, subtruncate apex. Females. As males except: Head with gena 0.65–0.74 x as long as width of head behind eyes. Protibia ( Figs.132–135 ) with ventral contour sinuate; ventral surface setose with suberect setae, apically and in middle denticulate; uncus dorsal or more ventral in middle of tibial apex; ventrally with premucro. Mesotibia subapically simple, without dorsal extension. Abdomen with setose patch 1.04–1.90 x longer than wide; ventrites 1–3 each with double row of modified setae, ventrite 4 with single, inconspicuous row of sparse, unmodified setae. Ovipositor without hemisternites. Sternite VIII ( Figs. 170–173 ) ca. 0.7 x as wide as tergite VIII; apex well defined; base without apodeme. Spermatheca as in Figs. 178, 180–182 . Notes. Riedeliops was proposed by Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal (2002) as a replacement name for Charops Riedel, 1998 , a homonym inadvertently made available by the subsequent designation of a type species ( E. paradoxus Voss ) for a genus-group name proposed by Voss (1935) for two species. Although both Riedel (1998) and Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal (2002) clearly stated that E. paradoxus is the type species of this subgenus, Legalov (2003 , 2007 ) incorrectly listed E. armipes Voss (1933) as type species and described another genus, Orienteuops , based on E. tonkinensis Voss (1933) , a species closely related to E. paradoxus . He later ( Legalov, 2008 ) recognised this mistake and synonymised Orienteuops with Riedeliops , also describing another new subgenus, Orienteuopsidius . The characters used by Legalov (2003 , 2007 , 2008 ) to distinguish these genera related to Riedeliops are, however, unsuitable to define distinct genera as well as subgenera, as they are variable among closely related species and the concept of these genus-group names is far too narrow and artificial. Riedeliops is therefore here defined on more conservative characters and to include other species as well. An important character overlooked by previous authors are the sutural spines on the metanotum, a character complex investigated and shown to be of great systematic value by Riedel (2002a) . These spines are generally either absent or present as a submedian pair, but a unique apomorphy occurs in some Asian species of Euops , in which they are fused into a single median one ( Figs. 81–86 ). This character is present in Riedeliops as well as in E. punctatostriatus Motschulsky, 1860 , E. ovalis ( Legalov, 2003 ) and E. rasuwanus ( Legalov, 2008 ) , the type species of, respectively, Sawadaeuops , Nigroeuops and Orienteuopsidius , so that all these names fall into synonymy with Riedeliops . Moreover, Legalov (2007) misinterpreted E. keiseri Voss , examination of the holotype revealing this species to be closely related to E. indicus Legalov and thus to the genus Asynaptops Legalov , which is based on the latter species and therefore another synonym of Riedeliops . Euops hermanni Legalov , the type species of Rugosoeuops Legalov, 2003 , was not examined and the status of this generic taxon is therefore currently impossible to assess, but if Legalov´s phylogeny ( Legalov, 2003 , fig. 1275) is taken as evidence, its proximity to Nigroeuops and Sawadaeuops makes its synonymy with Riedeliops likely. The same applies to a number of other taxa, such as Leveuops, Vieteuops and Riedeliopsis , that were included by Legalov (2007) as subgenera of Riedeliops . Since critical characters are not given in the original descriptions, their type species should be examined before a final decision on their status is made. These various ill-defined genus-group names aside, a distinct species-group exists in Riedeliops that can be readily delimited by the following characters: a protrusion of the mesonotum ( Fig. 77 ), ventrite 4 in the male medially with a more or less conspicuous setose brush with pores at the base ( Figs. 93–98 ) and a fairly uniform flagelliform shape of the TA ( Figs. 144–145 , 149–150 , 154–155 ). This species group is here referred to as the indicus -group, and it currently comprises E. indicus Legalov , E. pseudoindicus sp. n. and E. keiseri Voss , and possibly also E. barbieri Marshall .