A new species of Neapion (Neotropion) Alonso - Zarazaga from Paraguay (Brentidae: Apioninae)

Abstract

A new species of the genus NeapionAlonso-Zarazaga, 1990 subgenus NeotropionAlonso-Zarazaga, 1990 (Brentidae: Apioninae) is described and illustrated. Neapion (Neotropion) cleidecostae sp. nov. (Type locality: Paraguay, Misiones) is the second Apioninae species from South America with dense, thin vestiture and raised areas on the elytra. In addition to these characters, vestiture color pattern and male genitalic characters such as penis shape, length of the tuning fork-shaped sclerite in the internal sac (the largest found in Apioninae), and shape of the tegminal plate are diagnostic of this new species.

Key-Words.
Apionini; Chacoan province; Ixapiini; Neotropical region; Taxonomy

INTRODUCTION

The New World genus NeapionAlonso-Zarazaga, 1990 (Apionini: Ixapiina) was defined to include species belonging in the genus Apion Herbst, 1797, subgenus IxiasSainte-Claire Deville, 1924sensuKissinger (1968). Two subgenera were recognized by Alonso-Zarazaga (1990): Neapion (type species N. (Neapion) umboniferum (Fall, 1898)) and NeotropionAlonso-Zarazaga, 1990 (type species N. (Neotropion) xanthoxyli (Fall, 1898)). These subgenera have specialized trophic habits: Neapion feeds only on plants of the family Caprifoliaceae, while Neotropion only on Rutaceae (Alonso-Zarazaga, 1990; De Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa, 2018; De Sousa et al., 2019).

The genus Neapion has 18 described species, six of which in the subgenus Neapion, which is distributed in the Nearctic region (Canada to the Northeastern United States) and in the Mexican transition zone (Mexico). The subgenus Neotropion comprises 12 species, with seven of them occurring in the Nearctic (USA) and part of the Neotropical region (Central America and the Antilles) (Kissinger, 1968, 1990; O’Brien & Wibmer, 1982; Wibmer & O’Brien, 1986; Alonso-Zarazaga, 1990). The remaining five species are restricted to the Neotropical region (Central and South America) and include: N. (Neotropion) lebasii (Gyllenhal, 1839), which occurs from Central America to Colombia; N. (Neotropion) peculiare (Wagner, 1909) and N. (Neotropion) americanum (Wagner, 1908), which occur from Central America to Brazil; N. (Neotropion) marquesaeDe Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa, 2018 and N. (Neotropion) diringsiDe Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa, 2018, which are restricted to Brazil (Alonso-Zarazaga, 1990; Kissinger, 1968, 1990; O’Brien & Wibmer, 1982; De Sousa et al., 2019).

Neapion is characterized by the pronotum without basal flange; elytra with vestiture forming transverse or longitudinal bands, or spots of coarse, broad, light or dark colored scales; elytral intervals 7 and 9 each with one specialized seta in the apical quarter in N. (Neapion), while only in the interval 9 in N. (Neotropion); elytra with striae joining apically in the following pattern: 1 + 2 + 9, 3 + 4, 5 + 6, 7 + 8 (N. (Neapion) 1 + 9, 2, 3 + 4, 5 + 6, 7 + 8); no sexual dimorphism (e.g., mucrones) in male tibiae; broad tarsi, first and second protarsomeres as wide as long; toothed claws; tegminal plate fused to the free ring; long tuning fork-shaped sclerite in the internal sac of penis (Kissinger, 1968, 1990; Alonso-Zarazaga, 1990; De Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa, 2018).

The subgenus Neotropion can be diagnosed by: body robust; pronotum conical, sides almost straight; antennae inserted distal than the width of the frons (closer than the width of the frons in N. (Neotropion) peculiare (Wagner, 1909)); head with moderately elevated lateral keels, extending beyond half the length of an eye in ventral view; prostegium strongly protruding, sometimes medially bifid; parameroid lobes sparsely microsetose in membranous region, with some macrochaetae in the sclerotized area (Kissinger, 1968; Alonso-Zarazaga, 1990). In addition, N. (Neotropion) clarki (Kissinger, 1990), from Mexico, and N. (Neotropion) marquesae, from Brazil, differ from the other species in the subgenus by having remarkable raised areas on the elytra, which is uncommon among Apioninae.

During a taxonomic study on the South American fauna of Apioninae, a new species with raised areas on the elytra was recognized, which is here described and illustrated. We adjust the key to South American species of N. (Neotropion) presented in De Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa (2018) to include the new species. With this addition, the subgenus now includes 13 species.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The holotype of Neapion (Neotropion) diringsi deposited in the Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo (MZSP) and the holotype and paratype of Neapion (Neotropion) marquesae, respectively deposited in the Coleção Entomológica Pe. Jesus Santiago Moure, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba (DZUP) and Laboratório de Ecologia e Taxonomia de Artrópodes Terrestres, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá (LETA), were directly examined for comparison.

Other species were compared through images: N. (Neotropion) peculiare and N. (Neotropion) americanum are available in Kissinger (1968); photographs of the holotype of N. (Neotropion) xanthoxyli (Fall, 1898) - type species of the subgenus Neotropion - are available in The Database of the Zoological Colletions (CVZBASE), Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (available at: http://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/name/Apion); and images of the holotype of N. (Neotropion) clarki, provided by the United States National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (USNM).

Terminology for external general morphology and genitalia followed Alonso-Zarazaga (1990) and Alonso-Zarazaga & Wanat (2014). Measurements followed Kissinger (1968) and De Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa (2018).

For dissection, specimens were soaked for 24 hours in lukewarm water with a drop of detergent. The genitalia was extracted after removing the abdomen, which was opened laterally along the pleural region and the tapered tergites. Genitalia were then placed in lukewarm 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution, to dissolve fat and soft tissue, and then mounted on flat or concave slides for examination under a stereomicroscope and optical microscope. After drying, the abdomen was glued to the body of the original specimen, and the genitalia was placed in a separate microvial, for long term conservation.

Photographs of external morphology were taken with a LEICA DFC 500 digital camera attached to a LEICA MZ16 microscope and then processed with the LEICA Application Suite 3D viewer module and version montage 4.7 (software) of TAXonline - Rede Paranaense de Coleções Biológicas in the Zoology Departament, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR). Illustrations of genitalia were made using a stereomicroscope or a microscope coupled with a camera lucida.

Neapion (Neotropion) cleidecostae sp. nov.

(Figs. 1, 4, 5, 6)

Figures 1-3
Neapion (Neotropion) species. (1) Neapion (Neotropion) cleidecostae sp. nov., holotype male, habitus, lateral. (2-3) Neapion (Neotropion) marquesae De Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa, habitus: (2) holotype male, lateral; (3) paratype female, dorsal.

Figures 4-6
Neapion (Neotropion) cleidecostae sp. nov. (4) penis, dorsal; (5) tegmen, dorsal; (6) spiculum gastrale.

Type material: Holotype ♂ (DZUP): [red border printed label] dissected, glued on paper triangle, with genitalia placed in a separate microvial: Paraguay, Misiones: Villa Florida, 17.IV.1988, Col R.C. Aguilar, Apion sp. G.H. Rosado Neto det. 1997.

Diagnosis: This new species resembles N. (Neotropion) marquesae (Figs. 2-3) in the shape of the head, antennae, thorax, and the position of the raised areas on the elytra: two in interval 2, four in interval 4 and one in each posterior ⅓ of intervals 5 and 6; in North American N. (Neotropion) clarki, two raised areas in posterior ½ of intervals 2, 4, and 6 and one at the basal ⅓ of intervals 3 and 5. Furthermore, N. (Neotropion) cleidecostae sp. nov., differs from N. (Neotropion) marquesae by characteristics given in the key.

Description: Similar to N. (Neotropion) marquesae (c.f.,De Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa, 2018), except as described below.

Measurements (in mm), male holotype: Length 2.8, rostrum length 0.76, maximum width 0.32, pronotum length 0.80 and maximum width 0.96, elytra length 1.8 and maximum width 1.16. Integument black dorsally, antennae dark brown and abdomen black. Vestiture on rostrum, head, pronotum disc and elytra of thin, dark tan or brown scales; pronotal lateral scales thicker and light tan; scales on legs off-white and brown; scales around the eyes, mesanepisternum, mesepimeron, metanepisternum and coxae off-white.

Rostrum: Mesorostrum about 1.6 times wider than apex.

Male terminalia and genitalia (Figs. 4-6): Manubrium ca. 1.6 times longer than arm (Fig. 5); temones about 0.32 times pedon length; internal sac with two long (0.54 mm) parallel sclerites, obliquely joined (Fig. 4), shaped like a tuning-fork; tegmen (Fig. 5) with parameroid lobes shorter in the membranous area; fenestrae as wide as long, separated by about 0.3 times fenestral width; prostegium protruding medially, rounded; manubrium widened apically.

Female: Unknown.

Etymology: This species is named in honor of Dr. Cleide Costa, Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, who first encouraged the study of immature beetles in Brazil. The specific epithet is a noun in the genitive case.

The new species is placed below in the key to South American species of Neapion (Neotropion) adapted from De Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa (2018):

1. Vestiture dense (Figs. 1-3); elytral intervals convex, with raised areas in intervals 2, 4, 5, 6 1A

- Vestiture sparse; elytral intervals flat, without raised areas 2

1A. Elytra with vestiture heterogeneously colored, basal half with light tan scales, posterior half with one macula short, oblique, with dark scales from interval 1 to 2; internal sac with two long (0.52 mm) and parallel sclerites, transversely joined; prostegium protruding medially in a squared shape N. (Neotropion) marquesaeDe Sousa & Ribeiro-Costa, 2018

- Elytra with vestiture homogeneously colored, dark tan and/or brown scales, without macula; internal sac with two long (0.54 mm) and parallel sclerites, obliquely joined (Fig. 4), prostegium protruding medially in a rounded shape N. (Neotropion) cleidecostae sp. nov.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Mato Grosso (FAPEMAT - № 10/2016) for providing a postdoctoral fellowship, and Programa de Pós-Graduação em Entomologia of the Universidade Federal do Paraná for all the support. I am grateful to the following curators for granting access to the specimens: Lúcia Massutti de Almeida (DZUP), Marinêz Isaac Marques (LETA), and Sônia A. Casari (MZSP). I also thank Lourdes Chamorro and Ashton Smith (USNM) for providing images of the type listed in Material and Methods.

REFERENCES

• Alonso-Zarazaga, M.A. 1990. Revision of the supraspecific taxa in the Palaearctic Apionidae Schoenherr, 1823 (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea). 2. Subfamily Apioninae Schoenherr, 1823: Introduction, keys and descriptions. Graellsia, 46: 19-156.
• Alonso-Zarazaga, M. & Wanat, M. 2014. Apioninae Schoenherr, 1823. In: Leschen, R.A.B. & Beutel, R.G. (Eds.). Coleoptera, Beetles. Vol. 3: Morphology and systematics: Phytophaga. Berlin, Walter de Gruyter. p. 395-415. (Handbook of Zoology, Arthropoda: Insecta)
• De Sousa, W.O. & Ribeiro-Costa, C.S. 2018. Two new Brazilian species of Neapion Alonso-Zarazaga, 1990, subgenus Neotropion Alonso-Zarazaga, 1990 with a key to South American species (Brentidae: Apioninae). Zootaxa, 4402(3): 551-562.
• De Sousa, W.O.; Ribeiro-Costa, C.S. & Rosado-Neto, G.H. 2019. A preliminary overview of the Brazilian Apioninae (Coleoptera: Brentidae) with an illustrated key for genera, and a checklist with distribution information. Biota Neotropica, 19(4): 1-18.
• Kissinger, D.G. 1968. Curculionidae subfamily Apioninae of North and Central America with reviews of the world genera of Apioninae and world subgenera of Apion Herbst (Coleoptera). South Lancaster, Mass., Taxonomic Publications. 559p.
• Kissinger, D.G. 1990. Apionidae from North and Central America. Part 2. Description of a new subgenus and two new species of Apion from Mexico. (Coleoptera). Insecta Mundi, 4(1-4): 33-40.
• O’Brien, C.W. & Wibmer, G.J. 1982. Annotated checklist of the weevils (Curculionidae sensu lato) of North America, Central America, and the West Indies (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 34: 1-382.
• Sainte-Claire Deville, J. 1924. Faune des Coléoptères du Bassin de la Seine par Louis Bedel. Supplément aux Rhynchophora Rédigé d’après les notes de L. Bedel. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, Publications Hors Série, 6: 1-80, 1923; 81-159, 1924.
• Wibmer, G.J. & O’Brien, C.W. 1986. Annotated checklist of the weevils (Curculionidae sensu lato) of South America (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 39: 1-563

• 1
  Edited by: Sônia A. Casari / Gabriel Biffi
• 2
  http://zoobank.org/8260C635-FAC3-43F8-B626-E2307B308416
• Published with the financial support of the "Programa de Apoio às Publicações Científicas Periódicas da USP"

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  03 June 2020
• Date of issue
  2020

History

• Received
  26 Oct 2019
• Accepted
  10 Jan 2020
• Published
  04 Mar 2020