Thamiocolus chikatunovi, Korotyaev & Friedman, 2020
publication ID |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4393104 |
publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3C814C5E-22FD-452F-BA9A-12149EF75ACB |
DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15813639 |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E821432F-595C-B326-FE47-FC4BFD9073E4 |
treatment provided by |
Felipe |
scientific name |
Thamiocolus chikatunovi |
status |
sp. nov. |
Thamiocolus chikatunovi n. sp.
( Figs 1, 5, 30–35)
LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:134E8D13-53BD-4288-AECA-871068659051 .
Etymology: The species is named in honour of Prof. V. I. Chikatunov on the occasion of his 80 th birthday, paying tribute to his valuable contribution to the studies of the Coleopteran fauna of Israel.
Description: Male. Rostrum 1.15–1.17× as long as pronotum, 0.6–0.7× as wide as fore femur, weakly bent, somewhat more strongly so at antennal insertion, parallel-sided along most of its length, weakly narrowing at base and more strongly so toward apex distal to antennal insertion, scarcely compressed laterally with sides almost flat. Dorsal surface moderately convex in cross-section, matt, densely rugosely punctate, except for very short apical portion, without carinae, noticeably declivous in apical part. Antennae inserted at 0.29–0.32 distance from apex of rostrum. Scape rather stout, moderately swollen in apical part. Funicle short; 1 st segment twice as long as wide, 2 nd segment about as long as, or slightly longer than 1 st, and half as wide; 3 rd and 4 th segments subequal in length, ⅔ as long as 2 nd segment and about twice as long as wide; 5 th segment less than 1.5× as long as wide, scarcely wider than 4 th; 6 th segment about as long as wide, 7 th moderately transverse, both noticeably wider than 5 th segment. Pubescence of funicle fine, moderately long, semi-erect. Club short, ovate, with scarcely blunted apex and distinct although not deep sutures between segments. Eyes small, rather weakly convex, irregular-shaped, with rather widely rounded posterior margin. Frons flat, posterior part of frons and temples slightly depressed along margins of eyes.
Pronotum 1.40–1.44× as wide as long, with base very widely angular, moderately long apical part separated by constriction not raised, tubular, very shallowly emarginate in medial half or obsoletely emarginate along entire anterior margin. Sides almost angularly protruding somewhat behind mid-length, strongly convexly converging toward base and more strongly and almost rectilinearly converging toward apex. Lateral tubercles weakly prominent but quite distinct, formed by coarser, almost granular intervals between punctures. Disc moderately and almost regularly convex, deepest slightly behind mid-length, shallowly depressed at sides in anterior half; matt, with dense, regular, small punctures. Median sulcus reduced to a shallow prescutellar fovea in basal quarter of pronotum.
Scutellum narrow, keel-shaped, matt.Apices of mesepimera moderately convex, clearly visible from above.
Elytra 1.03–1.08× as long as wide, very weakly narrowing from shoulders toward mid-length and more strongly narrowing then toward apex; sides scarcely concave in basal part and almost rectilinear or barely concave in apical part, rather smoothly rounded; preapical prominences obtuse-angularly rounded, well defined. Disc moderately convex, deepest slightly behind mid-length, shallowly depressed along suture between 3 rd intervals in basal third of elytra and slightly depressed at sides somewhat behind humeral prominences. Striae rather narrow and moderately deep, their sides slightly notched by dense oblong, somewhat irregular punctures. Intervals flat, about twice as wide as striae, weakly shining, with dense rather large punctures. Fine granules in apical part of lateral intervals not condensed to form an angulation of elytral contour.
Femora wide, all with sharp tooth largest on middle femur. Middle and hind tibiae with equal-sized, moderately long, acute mucro pointed posteromedially. On fore tibia, corbel occupying nearly ⅓ of its outer margin and ending in weak prominence, moderately emarginate, with dense, narrowly separated, narrow-triangular mid-brown spines. Corbel of hind tibia deeply emarginate, ending in a prominence with condensed spines, and occupying slightly less than ⅓ length of outer margin. Tarsi narrow, 1 st and 2 nd segments slightly compressed, 1 st segment twice, 2 nd 1.5× as long as wide, 3 rd segment 1.6× as wide and 0.83× as long as 2 nd; claw-segment by slightly more than ⅔ extending beyond lobes of 3 rd segment, moderately and evenly widening from base toward apex. Claws moderately long, with subconnate appendages medially not reaching their apices.
Pygidium with dorsal margin deeply bisinuate and narrowly produced medially, moderately transverse, roundly narrowing toward ventral margin, latter long, almost rectilinear. Surface slightly and almost evenly convex in cross-section or scarcely depressed dorsomedially, matt. Anal ventrite with deep transverse-oval depression in medial third; sides of depression only weakly obtusely convex and lacking erect setae; bottom of depression with pubescence as dense as elsewhere on the ventrite. Posterior part of ventrite lateral of depression weakly bent dorsally.
Aedeagus as in Fig. 5.
Female. Rostrum 1.18× as long as prothorax, weakly or very weakly regularly bent in basal 0.7, weakly bent at apical 0.3 and almost straight hereafter, moderately narrowed toward half-way off antennal insertions and then subcylindrical, with glabrous apical part longer than in male, about as long as wide; sides of rostrum in apical part with fairly dense semi-erect fine brownish hairs. Antennae inserted at 0.36 rostrum length from apex. Prothorax 1.33× as wide as long. Elytra 1.1× as long as wide.
Body black; funicle and extremities of scape of antennae, tibiae and tarsi light to mid-brown; apex of rostrum and antennal club black even in the teneral individual (with brown legs). Basal part of rostrum and head capsule densely clothed with moderately raised, narrow, posteriorly-pointed, light golden scales not concealing integument completely; brown scales may be scattered in between along sides of rostrum.Apical part of rostrum black, with sparse light hair-like scales over antennal insertions and with dark hairs distally; those on sides semi-erect, rather long and well visible. Disc of pronotum evenly covered with wider recumbent, truncate apically golden scales separated mostly by less than own widths. In addition, larger oval white scales constitute median line broken in apical half and densely cover sides leaving free apices of lateral tubercles. Elytra with slightly wider golden scales arranged mostly in 2 or 3 rows on intervals and replaced by darker brown scales in short area behind middle on sutural interval and in short ill-defined speckles in basal half of 3 rd, 5 th and 7 th intervals. Large oval white scales covering entire sutural interval except for short dark area behind mid-length, constituting angular basal band running from end of basal quarter of sutural interval toward sides behind humeral prominences, and wider, less clearly defined preapical band. Striae with very narrow lanceolate subrecumbent white scales. Underside almost evenly covered with broadly oval white scales thinned at sides. Pygidium densely covered with semi-erect broad oval and lanceolate (pointed apically) white scales, with sparse semi-erect hair-like scales or hairs in lateral corners and along posterior margin. Femora moderately densely clothed with subparallel-sided yellowish scales shorter than those on elytral intervals and separated mostly by own widths, with rings of larger wide oval and lanceolate white scales distal to mid-length; that on hind femur extending ventrally toward apex of femur, base of femur also with wide white scales. Tibiae with similar yellowish scales replaced along dorsal surface with white scales becoming wider toward apical combs. Dorsal surface of tarsi moderately densely clothed with white hair-like and wider subrecumbent and semi-erect scales, 2 nd and 3 rd segments with longer and wider scales at apices protruding over subsequent segments.
Body length 2.50–2.85 mm.
Comparison: The new species is similar to Th. wittmeri in the shape and proportions of the body, rostrum, and antennae, also in the structure of the legs, but differs in the much less extensive white pattern of the dorsal surface, light coloration of the darker scales on the elytra, and in the absence of the contrasting black spots on the venter. White broad scales of the elytral pattern are not or only slightly depressed medially. The dorsal outline of the elytra is smoother, preapical prominences are much more widely rounded and lacking conspicuous angulation.
Holotype: ♂ [288552] Israel: ʻHar Qida [32°03'N 35°21'E], SE, Gid'on Road, 685 m, 13.iv.2018, L. Friedmanʼ (SMNHTAU). GoogleMaps
Paratypes: Israel: Ma'on , 0–1 km S, 750–800 m, 14.iv.2015, L. Friedman , 1♂ (SMNHTAU), A. Freidberg, 1♀ ( ZIN) ; 1♀ [288547] Kokhav haShahar – Rimonim, Alon Rd. 485, Wadi Wahita , opposite cliff, 570 m, 13.iv.2018, L. Friedman (SMNHTAU) . Jordan: 1♀ (pattern quite abraded on left side): “ Jordania – m 750 / Mt. Nebo nr. Madaba / 25.iii.1987 – P. Audisio ” [white, handwritten] ( COL) .
Distribution: In Israel, four specimens were found along the transition belt between the Mediterranean scrubland and the desert, the western edge of the Samarian and Judean deserts. This area is situated at the altitudes of 500–800 m asl and is characterized by high temperatures, low humidity with 250–300 mm annual precipitation, and low vegetation of the Mediterranean, Irano-Turanian and Saharo-Sindian origin, with high percentage of the local endemics ( Shmida 2005; Zohary 1973; Amos Sabah, pers. comm.). In Jordan, the single specimen was collected on Mount Nebo, the Abarim Ridge (700–800 m), an area with the biotic and abiotic characteristics rather similar to those described for the Israeli part of the species range.
Biology: All specimens were swept occasionally in the habitats with different vegetation, and their association with any plant was not noticed. As most of the Thamiocolus species are associated with Phlomis spp. , Phlomis brachyodon (Boiss.) Zohary may be a host. The second author visited repeatedly the type locality, Gid’on Road, east to Shilo ( Fig. 30), and the part of the Alon Road between Kokhav haShahar and Rimonim ( Fig. 35), where one paratype was collected, but Ph. brachyodon was not found, although this plant is widely distributed in the area, particularly on Har Kokhav ( Figs 33, 34). Instead, Marrubium vulgare L. ( Fig. 31) and Ballota undulata (Sieber ex Fresen.) Benth. ( Fig. 32) were very common throughout the type locality. The latter plant may well be a host of the new species, as Th. niveus is associated with Ballota nigra L. (Colonnelli 2004).
All four known specimens had been collected on 13–14 April in 2015 and 2018, but intensive searches in the same area nearly at the same date in 2019 and 2020 were unsuccessful. The period, when the adults can be found on the plants, is probably very short lasting 2–3 days only.
ZIN |
Russian Academy of Sciences, Zoological Institute, Zoological Museum |
COL |
Universidad Nacional de Colombia |
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
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