A new genus and species of anophthalmous Otiorhynchini from Greece, with a new synonymy and new combinations (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Entiminae)
Author
Bello’, Cesare
0000-0002-8091-8043
World Biodiversity Association Onlus c / o Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Lungadige Porta Vittoria, 9, 37129 Verona, Italy. cesarebello @ ortoveneto. it; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 8091 - 8043
cesarebello@ortoveneto.it
Author
Colonnelli, Enzo
Via delle Giunchiglie n. 56, 00172 Roma, Italy.
Author
Forbicioni, Leonardo
0000-0002-9888-6756
World Biodiversity Association Onlus c / o NAT LAB Forte Inglese, 57037 Portoferraio, Livorno, Italy. arcipelago. toscano @ biodiversityassociation. org; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 9888 - 6756
arcipelago.toscano@biodiversityassociation.org
Author
Osella, Giuseppe
0000-0002-8091-8043
World Biodiversity Association Onlus c / o Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Lungadige Porta Vittoria, 9, 37129 Verona, Italy. cesarebello @ ortoveneto. it; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 8091 - 8043 & Via XXIV Maggio, 20, 37126 Verona, Italy.
cesarebello@ortoveneto.it
Author
Ruzzier, Enrico
0000-0002-8091-8043
World Biodiversity Association Onlus c / o Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Lungadige Porta Vittoria, 9, 37129 Verona, Italy. cesarebello @ ortoveneto. it; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 8091 - 8043 & Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and the Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, viale dell’Università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, Italy.
cesarebello@ortoveneto.it
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-02-25
4938
1
69
84
journal article
7833
10.11646/zootaxa.4938.1.3
8c551ff8-1bf5-428d-8833-39a64d03eb09
1175-5326
4561366
5F8F8E25-2418-4D07-B4C3-671AFED4A50F
Giavarhynchus
Bellò, Osella & Ruzzier
gen. n.
(
Figs 1
a-1n)
Type
species.
Giavarhynchus amicorum
Bellò, Osella & Ruzzier
sp. n
.
Diagnosis.
Blind, large-sized (7.3-8.0 mm)
Otiorhynchini
easily distinguishable from all other genera by the following combination of characters: elongate rostrum with a ventral transverse furrow and excised lateral margins located at apical third (
Figs 1
d-1e), punctation of pronotum of two distinct sizes arranged in a distinctive pattern (figs. 1a, 1b, 2a, 2c, 2f), interval 7 of elytra crenulate in basal eighth (figs 1a,
1g
, 2a); by metafemora bearing a spine-like tooth placed at apex of distal third and much larger than that of pro- and mesofemora (
Fig. 1a
,
2a
); tibiae of female granulate on inner margin, granules particularly strong on the bisinuous mesotibiae (figs 1a, 1c, 1f); and tarsi thin and elongate, segment 3 only slightly wider than the preceding two (figs 1a, 1c).
Description.
Body
elongate (TL: 7.30–8.00 mm; BL:
5.60–6.60 mm
), colour brownish-black, dull or weakly glossy, antennae and legs paler.
Head
globular and smooth. Rostrum elongate (RL:
1.30–1.60 mm
, RW:
0.50–0.60 mm
, RL/RW: 2.60–2.67), regularly curved from base to apex. Scrobes deep, completely visible in dorsal view. Pterygia evident. Rostrum ventrally in apical third with deep transverse furrow. Apex of rostrum with sparse raised short setae. Upper surface of mesorostrum with setae on both sides, carinae sub-parallel to the lateral margin. Epistome absent. Genae elongate, scarcely punctured. Mandibles in horizontal plane, with scar indicating point of attachment of deciduous cusps; mandibular scars present. Eyes absent. Forehead (FW / MW: ratio 1.50–1.60) in lateral view slightly convex, intraocular pit not visible. Submentum without pappolepida.
Antennae
long and thin (SL:
1.30–1.40 mm
, FL: 2.00–
2.10 mm
, SL/FL: 0.65–0.67). Scape about 4-5 times as long as wide, straight, with widened and curved apex. Funicle with 7 antennomeres, all with fine setae. Relative length of antennomeres 1-7 of funicle, in millimetres: 0.32–0.34, 0.30–0.32, 0.18–0.20, 0.18–0.20, 0.12–0.15, 0.16–0.18, 0.16–0.18; length of antennal club: 0.58–0.60. Club fusiform, as long as the last four funicular antennomeres, almost 3 times as wide as the funicle, basal antennomere of club elongate and glabrous, the remaining two with golden pubescence and some thin, long setae.
Pronotum
longer than wide (PL:
1.80–1.90 mm
, PW:
1.70–1.80 mm
, PL/PW: 1.05–1.06) with strongly rounded margins, widest at middle, anterior and posterior margins straight, the anterior one much narrower than the posterior margin. Disc with irregularly placed large and fine punctures bearing long erect setae; punctures more distant from each other than on sides; interspaces between punctures often shiny and microreticulate.
Elytra
dorsally almost glabrous, slightly shining, in dorsal view oval-elongate, in lateral view slightly vaulted (EL:
4.40–4.80 mm
, EW:
2.60–2.80 mm
, EL/EW: 1.70–1.72). Elytra slightly convex, widest at middle of moderately rounded sides, not fused but suture ill defined. Humeri protruding, angular and toothed (
Fig.
1g
). Wings absent. Each elytron with nine complete striae; seventh stria raised and prominent particularly at humeri. Interstriae convex, with 10 to 20 punctures and with sparse thin setae. Elytral declivity from 60 to 75 degrees.
Legs
long, slender, with long setae, and more or less large tooth on each femur. All femora clubbed at middle, tooth of metafemur very large and with four to five small tooth-like tubercles. All tibiae mucronate, with fringe of thick golden setae on inner apical angle, protibia with distinct inner apical grooming brush, tarsomere 1 elongate, conical, 2 short and transverse, 3 deeply bilobed; all tarsomeres with thin golden setae. Onychium curved, thin and elongate.All coxae globular, procoxae almost connate, mesocoxae separated by a space almost equal to the diameter of a mesocoxa, metacoxae separated by a space about three times their diameter.
Abdomen
shiny, slightly rugose, finely punctured; each puncture bearing a short seta.
Male terminalia.
Unknown.
Female terminalia.
Female genitalia as in figs: (1i) spermatheca; (1l) VIII sternite; (
1m
) III- VII sternites; (1n) gonocoxites. Gonocoxite small, rather slender, weakly sclerotized, evenly tapered apicad, stylus elongate, with tuft of 4–6 setae at apex. Sternite VIII with long, straight and slender apodeme terminating just at base of plate, creating a short basal margin. Plate of sternite VIII trapezoid and with longitudinally developed arms, apical margin welldefined, armed with fringe of setae. Spermatheca sclerotized, small, slender, cornu slender, corpus small, ramus slightly longer than wide, nodulus smaller, hump-shaped.
Etymology.
The new genus is named after our friends and colleagues Pier Mauro Giachino and Dante Vailati (World Biodiversity Association, Verona,
Italy
), collectors of the
type
material. The name is a combination of their surnames initial Gia[chino]Va[ilati] and [Otio]rhynchus, a supposedly closely related weevil genus, resulting thus in
Giavarhynchus
.
Gender masculine.
Remarks.
The lack of or extreme reduction of eyes is not such an uncommon feature among the soil-dwelling
Entiminae
.
Morrone & Hlaváč (2017)
listed all world taxa of such entimines presently known, which occur in seven tribes:
Celeuthetini
Lacordaire, 1863
(genera
Genavius
Osella, 1983
from
New Caledonia
and
Guineobius
Osella, 1983
from New
Guinea
), Laparocerini
Lacordaire, 1863
(some species of
Laparocerus
Schoenherr, 1834
from the Canary Islands and Madeira), Pachyrhynchini Schoenherr, 1826 (genus
Schauenbergia
Osella, 1977
from
Réunion
), Peritelini
Lacordaire, 1863
(genera
Hobarypeithes
Hustache, 1939
and some species of
Dysommatus
Marshall, 1933
, both from Africa, plus
Solariola
Flach, 1908
, and
Troglorhythmus
Alziar & Lemaire, 2008
both from Europe); Sciaphilini
Sharp, 1891
(genus
Abarypeithes
Hustache, 1939
from Africa), Typhlorhinini
Kuschel, 1954
(genera
Cambefortinus
Richard, 1986
,
Cephalorostris
Richard, 1979
,
Hopactorrhynchus
Richard, 1953 and
Scrobops
Richard, 1979
from
Madagascar
and West Africa), and
Otiorhynchini
(five taxa from the Palaearctic). Among these last, although one or another of the features of
Giavarhynchus
, including lack of eyes, can be found in some Mediterranean otiorhynchines, the presence of all of the characters detailed in the diagnosis is unique to the genus described here. Firstly, the unusual deep rostral constriction is shared with both the Moroccan species
Otiorhynchus deceptorius
Białooki,
Germann & Pelletier, 2017
and
Otiorhynchus incisirostris
Białooki,
Germann & Pelletier, 2017
which were incidentally wrongly placed (
Białooki
et al.
2015
) in the subgenus
Lixorrhynchus
Reitter, 1914
rather than in
Aranihus
Reitter, 1912 to which they evidently belong because (
new subgeneric placement
). Secondly, the ventral rostral furrow is also present in the Cretan genus
Mirorhynchus
Magnano, 2003
. All the above cited taxa clearly have a shorter rostrum, well developed eyes and edentate (or almost so) femora and cannot be confused with
Giavarhynchus
. In particular, whereas both
Otiorhynchus
(
Aranihus
)
deceptorius
and
Otiorhynchus
(
Aranihus
)
incisirostris
appear also to be very different from
Giavarhynchus amicorum
on the basis of their very weakly granulate tibiae, lacking humeral tubercles, and granulate pronotum,
Mirorhynchus bellus
Magnano, 2003
from Crete (not from
Cyprus
as wrongly reported in the title of its description (
Magnano 2003
)), has a similar or even stronger tibial denticulation compared to that of
G. amicorum
, but on the inner margin of the protibiae instead of on the meso- and metatibiae. It is however immediately distinguishable by the squamiform-like punctation of pronotum, lack of humeral tubercles and oval shape (
Germann
et al.
2021
). The loss of eyes is a morphological convergence of
Giavarhynchus
with
Baldorhynchus
Di Marco & Osella, 2002
,
Ioniorhynchus
Magrini, Meoli & Abbazzi, 2005
, and with some
Otiorhynchus
of the subgenera
Aranihus
Reitter 1912,
Cavernodes
Białooki 2015
,
Italorrhynchus
Magrini, 2019,
Lixorrhynchus
Reitter, 1914
and
Troglorhynchus
F. Schmidt, 1854
.
FIGURES 1a–1c.
Giavarhynchus
gen. n
.
, habitus: 1a—dorsal view of the female holotype; 1b—ventral view of the female paratype; 1c—lateral view of the holotype. Scale bar: 1 mm. TL of the holotype: 8.00 mm; TL of the paratype: 7.30 mm. Photograph courtesy of Francesco Sacco.
FIGURES 1d–1n.
Giavarhynchus
gen. n
.
, details: 1d—rostrum: dorsal and lateral view; 1e—hollowed rostrum: ventral and lateral view; 1f—metafemora with large spur; 1g—prominent humeri; 1g—elytra without scales; 1i—spermatheca; 1l—sternite VIII; 1m—sternites III-VII; 1n—gonocoxites. Photograph courtesy of Francesco Sacco.
Giavarhynchus
is one of the nine genera or subgenera of micro-or anophthalmic subterranean weevils occurring in
Greece
(
Morrone & Hlaváč 2017
). Two of these are apparently endemic to this country, namely
Hauseriola
Osella, 1980
and
Giavarhynchus
, whereas the remaining six are not, namely
Absoloniella
Formánek, 1913
,
Amaurorhinus
Fairmaire, 1860
,
Ioniorhynchus
Magrini, Meoli & Abbazzi, 2005
,
Otiorhynchus
Germar, 1822
,
Styphloderes
Wollaston, 1873
and
Ubychia
Rost, 1893
.
Giavarhynchus
is surely one of the most peculiar entimine genera due to its unique morphology, also being somewhat similar, although distantly related, to
Solariola
Flach, 1908
and
Troglorhythmus
Alziar & Lemaire, 2008
, genera which include much smaller species and which are both presently placed in Peritelini (
Bellò
et al
. 2019
).
The presence of a marked cuticular sculpture, tuberculate elytral humeri and strongly punctured elytral striae suggest a perhaps recent adaptation of
Giavarhynchus
to life in the superficial subterranean habitat. As in most endogean
Otiorhynchini
both elytra and elytral humeri are smooth.