Mogulones chikatunovi, Colonnelli, 2020

Colonnelli, Enzo, 2020, A new species of the genus Mogulones Reitter (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from Israel, Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 50 (2), pp. 47-52 : 48-50

Mogulones chikatunovi n. sp.

( Figs 1, 2, 5)

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:01FE41E0-6008-41DE-8CB4-A518074BFA29 .

Etymology: The species is named after Prof. Vladimir I. Chikatunov, the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv, Israel, whom I had the pleasure to meet during my first visit to Israel in 1995.

Diagnosis: The closest to M. chikatunovi n. sp. is undoubtedly M. andreae , a species rather widely spread in Europe, Caucasus, Eastern Mediterranean, and reported also from Israel by Alonso-Zarazaga et al. (2017). Mogulones chikatunovi easily differs from M. andreae by its reddish legs, more elongate body, lack of black spots on the abdominal ventrites, and a narrower aedeagus with a rather sharp apex (cf. Figs 5 & 6). Another species of this group, also very similar to M. chikatunovi n. sp., is M. larvatus (A. Schultze, 1897) from the Western Palaearctic, but, apart from its plumper body shape, the latter differs from the new species by its pitchy legs, spotted abdomen and a blunt apex of the aedeagus (cf. Figs 1 & 4, and 5 & 7). No other species of Mogulones can be confused with the newly described one.

Description: Male (holotype). Length, 3.73 mm. Pitchy-brown, rather shining, coarsely punctured; antennae (apical fourth of scape excepted) and legs ferruginous. Dorsal vestiture consists of moderately dense recumbent blackish, brownish and whitish comma-like scales, plus adpressed recumbent roundish white scales forming a distinct pattern ( Fig. 1). Underside clothed with thick subrotundate white scales somewhat sparser on sides of metasternum and at middle of ventrite I. Rostrum 0.91× as long as pronotum, moderately curved, densely punctured, tricarinate to antennal insertion, then slightly thicker, finely setose and very coarsely punctured. Antennae inserted at apical 0.47 of length of rostrum, scape thin, quite abruptly clubbed, funicle 7-jointed, four basal segments longer than wide, segments 5–7 moniliform, about as long as wide, club moderately large, fusiform, hardly longer than segments 5–7 combined. Interocular space concave, strongly punctured; eyes fairly large, protruding. Pronotum subtrapezoidal, 0.76× as long as wide, constricted at apex, base slightly bisinuous, apical margin slightly elevated above head, disc flat, coarsely punctured; antero-lateral depressions moderate; dorsal sulcus in form of elongate pit in front of scutellum, lateral tubercles acute. Elytra 1.04× as long as wide, almost flat, with slightly depressed base near scutellum, widest at about apical ¼, sides moderately curved up to preapical tubercles, humeri quite strong. Striae furrowed. Interstriae clearly wider than striae, flat, coarsely punctured. Legs fairly elongate; femora quite strongly clubbed and acutely dentate; tibiae slightly curved at base, then almost straight, slightly widened towards apex, all mucronate at inner margin, mucro of anterior tibiae minute, those of middle and posterior tibiae strong; tarsi robust, claws appendiculate. Ventrites 1 and 2 flat at middle, 5 quite concave. Aedeagus quite sharply pointed and moderately thin ( Fig. 5).

Paratype male. Very similar to the holotype ( Fig. 2). Length, 3.72 mm.

Holotype: ♂ with the following labels: “ ISRAEL - Lower Galilee / Beit Lekhem HaGlilit [Bet Lehem haGelilit] / 32°44’N 35°12’E - m 170 / 6.IV.2014 - E. Colonnelli ” [white, printed], “ HOLOTYPUS ♂ / Mogulones / chikatunovi n. sp. / E. Colonnelli det., 2020” [red, handwritten].

Paratype: Israel: ♂ “ Panyas [Banyas Nature Reserve], 205 m / 33°15N’ 35°42’E / 28.iv.2011, D. Furth ” .

Habitat: The holotype of the new species was collected in a pasture with scattered oak trees ( Fig. 9) near the turn off to Bet Lehem haGelilit from the main road 77 from Teverya to Haifa, North Israel ( Fig. 8). Despite careful examination, it was impossible to detect there a likely host plant nor to procure additional specimens .