Khoisan mendeli Meregalli & Borovec, 2025

Meregalli, Massimo & Borovec, Roman, 2025, Khoisan, a new genus of Cyclominae from South Africa, with nine new species (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Zootaxa 5646 (1), pp. 1-37 : 17-19

Khoisan mendeli Meregalli & Borovec sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9BAC84C0-A334-416F-9CDD-43ACD762265F

Figure 9

GenBank COI sequence: PV560672.

Type locality: South Africa, Western Cape, W Robertson .

Material examined: Holotype: ♂, RSA, Western Cape, R60 18 km W Robertson , 284 m, 33°45.140'S, 19°43.341'E [-33.7523° 19.72235°], 15.xi.2018, R. Borovec & M. Meregalli lgt., sifting of litter under shrubby Euphorbia (TMSA) . Paratypes: 2 ♂♂, same data as the holotype ( MMTI, RBSC) ; 1 ♂, RSA, Western Cape, R60 18 km E Robertson , 289 m, 33°41.699'S, 19°35.784'E [-33.69498° 19.59641°], 15.xi.2018, R . Borovec & M. Meregalli lgt., sifting of litter under shrubby Euphorbia (MMTI) ; 1 ♂, RSA Western Cape, R 60 , between Worcester & Robertson , 292 m, 33°41.685'S, 19°35.802'E [-33.69475° 19.5967°], 24.xi.2016, R . Borovec & M. Meregalli lgt., sifting of detritus, dead leaves and branches under shrubby Euphorbia (RBSC) .

Description. Body length 1.75–2.06 mm, holotype 2.06 mm. Body dark brownish; antennae and tarsi yellowish to reddish brown, clubs in some specimens slightly darker; apical half of rostrum in males reddish brown, short apical part dark brownish. Scales on basal part of rostrum, pronotum and elytra erect, spaced, regularly inserted, broad, as long as wide, concave, dark brownish to blackish on dorsum of pronotum and elytra, whitish on sides of pronotum and sides and lateral parts of elytral declivity, from interstriae 3; anterior margin of pronotum with a row of translucent whitish scales, dorso-lateral margin of rostrum with a thick layer of pale greyish scales; scales on head brown, on base of rostrum paler; setae sparse, dark, spatulate, one at midlength of sides of pronotum, visible from above, narrow, longer, inserted on top of tubercles on elytra and on tiny tubercles on protibiae.

Rostrum in males 2.5–2.7× as long as wide at base; in lateral view 1.1–1.15× as long as pronotum. Basal half of rostrum in dorsal view in males distinctly tapered apicad, with rounded sides; apical half of rostrum distinctly narrower than basal part, linearly broadened to apex; rostrum at base 1.9–2× as wide as at apex. In lateral view rostrum sharply, subangularly curved at midlength in males. Antennal insertions before apical 2/3 of length.

Scapes slender, 1.6–1.75× as long as funicle, at apex 0.7–0.8× as wide as club; funicles 4-segmented with first segment long, subglobose and last segment transverse; segment 1 1.3–1.4× as long as wide and 1.6–1.7× as long as segment 2, this 1.1–1.2× as long as wide; segment 3 1.1–1.2× as wide as long; segment 4 1.4–1.5× as wide as long; clubs 1.8–1.9× as long as wide.

Pronotum 0.95–1.07× as long as wide, widest at anterior third, distinctly constricted behind anterior margin and regularly tapered basad; dorso-lateral and lateral humps low, small, almost indistinct; base weakly curved, apex moderately prominent above head, slightly raised in profile, slightly curved, not sinuate at middle.

Elytra oval, 1.09–1.16× as long as wide; punctures of striae small, shallow, distantly spaced, scarcely visible; interstriae 1 with small tubercle on declivity, interstriae 3 weakly convex, tubercles not distinct; interstriae 5 with two oblong, moderately raised tubercles on basal part, interstriae 7 with 4 tubercles, equally spaced, basal one low, median tubercle obtusely raised, two post-median tubercles narrowly conically raised, acute.

Protibiae robust, 2.8–2.9× as long as wide at apex, with three granules on external side, slightly inflated at midlength, broadened towards apex, apex straight, lacking distinct spines.

Penis 2.6–2.8× as long as wide, in dorsal view in basal half subparallel-sided, in apical half narrowly subtriangular with straight sides, lamella elongate, narrowly rounded; ostium with sides almost subparallel basally; in lateral view regularly curved, evenly tapered apicad. Endophallus with transverse, semicircular sclerites. Female genitalia not known.

Bionomics. All specimens were sifted from litter under shrubby Euphorbia .

Derivation of the name. This species is named in honour of Gregor Johann Mendel (1822–1884), author of ‘ Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden ’ [Experiments on Plant Hybrids] ( Mendel 1866), in which he published the results of his experiments on plant hybrids, which gave rise to modern genetics; Mendel was also the first to lay the mathematical foundations of science.

Distribution. South Africa, southern part of Western Cape, south of the Langeberg mountains ( Figure 18 ).

Remarks. Khoisan mendeli shares the character of 4-segmented funicles with K. harani and K. umbrosus . The former differs in having the penis with a short apical lamella and sides sinuate anteriorly and the ostium with sides rounded basally, the blackish elytra and rostrum, the scapes almost twice as long as the funicles, the broad, obtuse elytral tubercles, the larger size and the elytral sides sublinearly tapered at apex; K. umbrosus , other than for the penis with short apical lamella, mainly differs in having highly raised elytral tubercles, with a dense coating of scales, and a dark brown apical part of rostrum, antennae and tarsi.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Khoisan mendeli. Body, dorsum (a), side (b); head with rostrum, dorsal view (h), lateral view (c); antenna (k); pronotum, dorsal view (i), lateral view (e); elytra, dorsolateral view (d), dorsal view (g); protibia (i); ventrites (f); penis, dorsal view(l), profile (m). Scale bar 1 mm; figures not to scale.

FIGURE 18. Distribution map. Symbols with a black dot indicate the locality of the holotype. Map generated from https:// www.openstreetmap.org.