Epistomius wanati Borovec & Skuhrovec 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Borovec, Roman
name: Skuhrovec, Jiří
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Epistomius
Epistomius wanati

description: Epistomius wanati sp. nov.   
(Figs 3G, 11A–G)  
 Type locality. South Africa, Mpumalanga, Berlin Forest near Kaapsehoop, Barretts trail, 25°57′22″S, 30°74′34″E, 1360 m a.s.l.   
 Type material. HOLOTYPE: ♂, ‘ RSA (N) [South Africa, North] Mpumalanga, 25.5722S / 30.7434E, Berlin Forest nr. Kaapsehoop, sifting, 1360 m, Barretts trail, rainforest, 4.11.2013, leg. M. Wanat’ (TMSA). PARATYPES: 8 ♂ ♀, the same data as holotype (MNHW, RBSC).   
 Description (Figs 11A–G). Body length 1.94–2.13 mm, holotype 2.06 mm. Body dark brownish to blackish, antennae reddish brown but club blackish, sometimes apical part of scape slightly darker, short apical part of tibiae and tarsi yellowish red to reddish brown. Elytra sparsely covered with appressed scales of irregular shape, 3 across width of one interval, subrounded to star- to fan-shaped, with short fringes, leaving short distances between scales. Pronotum and head with rostrum with fan-shaped scales with fringes, scales on pronotum sparse, on head with rostrum dense, almost covering integument. Appressed scales on scape, femora and tibiae identical to elytral ones but smaller. Setae on elytra semierect, at apex bent posteriad, subspatulate, tip apically rounded, on basal half somewhat longer than half width of one interval, on posterior declivity slightly shorter than width of one interval, about twice longer than setae on disc, distance between two setae on posterior declivity somewhat longer than length of one seta. Setae on pronotum and head with rostrum about equally long as setae on anterior part of elytra, semierect, subspatulate, setae on interocular space slightly longer than the others. Scape, femora and tibiae with short, long-oval semiappressed setae, hardly prominent from outline. Body vestiture light greyish brown, elytra with dark brownish spot on inner 1–2 intervals and moderately large spot on each half of elytra at midlength; pronotum with two longitudinal wide dark brownish stripes on disc.   
 Head (Figs 11A–D). Rostrum in both sexes identical (Figs 11B–C), in basal half slightly tapered apicad with straight sides, in apical half indistinctly enlarged around scrobes, not prominent laterally, 1.09–1.14× as wide as long, at base 1.02–1.04× as wide as at apex, at apex distinctly narrower than head including eyes. Epifrons with faintly visible longitudinal median stria along whole length, when cleared of scales shiny, smooth, unpunctured, shallowly longitudinally depressed, with wide and shallow, ill-defined median longitudinal stria. Frons deepened, longitudinally striate. Epistome in both sexes narrow, about equally wide as epifrons at midlength. Head when cleared of scales shiny and smooth, unpunctured, with slender longitudinal fovea. Eyes weakly prominent from outline of head.   
 Antennae (Fig. 11A). Antennal scape 5.6–5.9× as long as wide and 1.4× as long as funicle, at apex 0.8–0.9× as wide as club. Funicle segment I 1.6–1.7× as long as wide and 1.6–1.7× as long as segment II, which is 1.3–1.4× as long as wide; segments III–V 1.1× as wide as long; segments VI and VII 1.2–1.3× as wide as long. Club 1.6–1.7× as long as wide.   
 Pronotum (Fig. 11A) 1.52–1.61× as wide as long, widest in posterior third, with distinctly rounded sides, behind anterior margin weakly constricted. When cleared of scales regularly convex, shiny, sparsely irregularly coarsely punctured, punctures very large, 5–6 along the whole length, on posterior half larger than on anterior half, distance between two punctures shorter than diameter of one puncture. Pronotum in lateral view weakly convex, behind anterior border lowered.   
 Elytra (Fig. 11A) 1.19–1.25× as long as wide with identical shape in both sexes.   
 Legs (Figs 11A, E). Tarsomere II 1.5–1.6× as wide as long; tarsomere III 1.4–1.5× as wide as long and 1.4–1.5× as wide as tarsomere II; onychium 1.6–1.7× as long as tarsomere III.   
 Male genitalia (Figs 3G, 11G). Penis short and wide, about isodiametric, somewhat squared, with slightly convex sides, with apex obtuse with small but distinct tip; laterally curved, slender, with short separated tip.   
 Etymology. The new species is dedicated to our friend Marek Wanat (MNHW), an eminent specialist in Apionidae and collector of several species of Epistomius gen. nov.   
 Biology. The type material was sifted from rainforest litter.   
 Distribution. South Africa: Mpumalanga (Fig. 4).   
 Differential diagnosis. The species is characterized by elytral setae on apical declivity semierect to erect, rostrum in both sexes subparallel-sided with epistome in both sexes equal, as wide as epifrons at midlentgh similar to E. natalensis sp. nov., from which it can be distinguished by the following characters: elytral setae on basal half longer, semierect, on apical half shorter than width of one interval, subspatulate, laterally at apex bent, twice as long as setae on basal half; funicle segments III–V 1.1× as wide as long; club short and wide, 1.6–1.7× as long as wide; and penis wide, about as long as wide, subsquared, widest at midlength, laterally slender.
description: Published as part of Borovec, Roman & Skuhrovec, Jiří, 2017, Epistomius, a new genus of African forest litter Trachyphloeini, with descriptions of seven new species (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), pp. 645-676 in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae) (Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae) 57 (2) on pages 671-674, DOI: 10.1515/aemnp-2017-0094, http://zenodo.org/record/5318667