Styphlus eteocretus Germann &amp; Winkelmann, 2016, sp. n.
Creators: name: Germann, Christoph
name: Winkelmann, Herbert
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Styphlus
Styphlus eteocretus

description: <i>Styphlus</i> (<i>s. str.</i>) <i>eteocretus</i> sp. n. (Figs 1–6) <i>Description</i> <i>Size</i>: &amp;male;&amp;male;, 2.3–2.5mm; &amp;female;&amp;female;, 2.3–2.8mm. <i>Habitus:</i> Fig. 1. <i>Colour</i>:dark brown, antennae and legs, especially tibiae and tarsi auburn, apex of rostrum darkened. <i>Head, rostrum and antennae</i>: head globular, rostrum strongly constricted just before frons. Rostrum 4 × longer than wide, surface striolate-punctate, in lateral view strongly curved, somewhat flattened from insertion to tip, in dorsal view weakly converging from insertion of antennae to the tip. Eyes below level of rostral dorsum, oval, weakly bulging. Antennae inserted at last fourth of rostrum, scrobes lateral, well pronounced, directed towards the eyes, upper margin weakly bisinuate. Antennal scape clubbed, 2 × as long as breadth of rostral dorsum at antennal insertion. Antennal funiculus consisting of 7 segments with following measurements (length/width): 1: 2.6; 2: 1.5; 3 and 4: globular,as long as wide; 5to 6 transverse; 5: 0.6; 6 and 7: 0.5 (7 widest). Club twice as wide as last segment, oval. Vestiture: frons and rostrum with oval, strong, curved, scale-like bristles with apearl-like lustre. White hairs sparse on antennal scape and funiculus, denser on club. <i>Pronotum</i>: longer than wide (length/width: 1.04–1.08), widest in the middle, constricted towards fore and hind margins, irregularly and coarsely punctate. Vestiture consisting of oval, strong, curved, scale-like bristles with apearl-like lustre, denser along the middle and on both sides. Scutellum not visible. <i>Elytra</i>:oval to elongate egg-shaped (length/width: 1.4–1.6), diverging from base to shortly behind the middle, from there rounded to apex. Base constricted, humeral angles acute, apterous. In lateral view regularly rounded at declivity.Striae coarsely and deeply,regularly punctate, stria 10 more strongly,coarsely punctate towards apex. Intervals narrow,uneven ones (3, 5and 7) more strongly elevated, interval 3 most strongly elevated just at base. Intervals set with oval, strongly curved, scale-like bristles with apearl-like lustre. Bristles denser at base of third interval and at acute humeral angle. <i>Legs</i>:femora edentate, strong; tibiae strong, all with spine at inner angle of apex. Three visible strong tarsal segments; first one third longer than second; third bilobed, about equal to first. Claw segment gracile and elongate, claws simple. Vestiture consisting of oval, strong, curved scale-like bristles with apearl-like lustre. &amp;male; <i>genitalia</i>: Figs 2–4. Penis almost rectangular in dorsal/ventral view,tip laterally flattened with opening just before apex and three tiny sclerites inside the median lobus, no sclerites in the internal sac. &amp;female; <i>genitalia</i>: Figs 5–7. Spermatheca with long, C-shaped cornu, and very short nodulus and ramus (Fig. 5). Gonocoxite very simple –as in the closely related genera <i>Styphlidius</i> Penecke, 1936, and <i>Orthochaetes</i> Germar, 1824, (Germann, 2015) –with one sclerotized pair of segments, without styli, apex lateral with atiny tuft of 2–3 sensillae (Fig. 6). Spiculum ventrale with short apodeme and plate separated into two separate branches each with afin-shaped plate at apex (Fig. 7). <i>Sexual dimorphism</i>:The upper side of the tip of the rostrum is dull in males, and glossy in females. The elytra of males are slender,those of females are somewhat swollen towards the apex. <i>Etymology</i>: The new specific name ‘ <i>eteocretus</i> ’ derives from Greek and means ‘true cretan’, as it is very likely the only endemic <i>Styphlus</i> -species on the island. <i>Ecology</i>: <i>Styphlus eteocretus</i> sp. n. was sieved from leaf litter,plant debris, mosses and cushion plants in different habitats and altitudes in Chania province, Crete (Fig. 8). The occurrence of all three <i>Styphlus</i> -species (<i>eteocretus</i> sp. n., <i>oros</i> (Reitter, 1899), and <i>jonicus</i> (Reitter, 1899)) in one single sample of sieved litter is remarkable (see Winkelmann, Bahr &amp; Bayer, 2012). As no details regarding these species’ biology are known, this find may simply be based on similar requirements of humidity at that locality.However,small feeding holes on leaves of <i>Picris</i> spp. (Asteraceae) sometimes indicate the presence of <i>Styphlus jonicus</i> in Greece, and <i>Styphlus penicillus</i> Schoenher, 1826, was collected at night by beating aspecies of <i>Reichardia</i> (also Asteraceae; see Germann <i>et al</i>., 2015) on Samos Island. All <i>Styphlus</i> -species can be found in early spring; often as freshly emerged, immature individuals. <i>Material examined</i> Holotype, &amp;male;, [collection number:] 166 _ 12.13 GREECE, Crete Island, Chania, W-Asfendos, Nähe Radar Station [close to the radar station], N 35 º 15 ′ 13 ″ / E 24 º 11 ′ 20 ″, 1228m, 12.4. 2012, leg. C. Germann (deposited in NMBE). Red label: Holotype <i>Styphlus</i> (s.str.) <i>eteocretus</i> sp. n. des. C. Germann &amp;H. Winkelmann, 2015 (NMBE). Paratypes, 3 &amp;male;&amp;male;, 2 &amp;female;&amp;female; same data as holotype (deposited in cCG and NMBE). 2 &amp;male;&amp;male;, 1 &amp;female;, 7 ex. [partly freshly emerged, immature specimens] GREECE, Crete: Chania: Georgioupoli, 17.– 30.4. 2011, leg. H. Winkelmann (FO 1) (cFB and cHW). 2 &amp;male;&amp;male; [collection number:] 166 _ 12.1 GREECE, Crete Island, Chania, Askifou-Plateau, Petres, N 35 º 16 ′ 58 ″ / E 24 º 10 ′ 37 ″, 780m, lockere <i>Quercus</i>, <i>Acer</i>, <i>Rhamnus</i>, <i>Phlomis</i> Buschformation [loosely standing trees and bushes], 6.4. 2012, leg. C. Germann (cCG). 3 &amp;male;&amp;male;, 1 &amp;female; [collection number:] 166 _ 12.6 GREECE, Crete Island, Chania, W-Asfendos, unterh. Radar Station [under the radar station], N 35 º 15 ′05″ / 24 º 11 ′ 17 ″, 1100m, GS Moos, Polsterpflanzen [mosses, cushion plants], 9.4. 2012, leg. C. Germann (cCG and NMBE). 1 &amp;male; [collection number:] 166 _ 12.11 GREECE, Crete Island, Chania, E-Chora Sfakion, Schlucht [gorge], N 35 º 12 ′ 22 ″ / E 24 º07′ 36 ″, 140m, 10.4. 2012, leg. C. Germann (cCG). All with additional red labels: Paratype <i>Styphlus</i> (s.str.) <i>eteocretus</i> sp. n. des. C. Germann &amp; H. Winkelmann, 2015. DISCUSSION (INCLUDING DIAGNOSIS) Before the discovery of <i>Styphlus eteocretus</i> sp. n. on Crete, the subgenus <i>Styphlus s. str.</i> Schoenherr, 1826, (type species: <i>Styphlus penicillus</i> Schoenherr, 1826) included seven species: <i>jonicus</i> (Reitter, 1899), (France (Provence, Gard), southwestern Greece and Crete), <i>lederi</i> Chevrolat, 1881, (Caucasus Mountains), <i>penicillus</i> Schoenherr, 1826, (Spain (Mallorca), France, Greece (Samos), Cyprus), <i>syriacus</i> Stierlin, 1881, (Israel, Lebanon), <i>transjonicus</i> Osella &amp; Zuppa, 1994, (southeastern Italy,Sicily), <i>ursus</i> (Desbrochers des Loges, 1892) (Greece (Attica, Peloponnese), Kazakhstan (Alay Mountains), Turkmenistan (Kopet Dagh)), and <i>vidanoi</i> Osella &amp;Zuppa, 1994, (Italy (Sicily)). Reitter (1899) investigated species related to the genus <i>Orthochaetes</i>. He provided a key to the related genera and a key to the species, discriminating <i>Orthochaetes s. str.</i> and <i>Styphlus</i>.Today the combination of the illustrated key by González (1967) and the additional key by Osella &amp;Zuppa (1994) for the Italian species can be used for the determination of species belonging to <i>Styphlus</i>. <i>Styphlus eteocretus</i> sp. n. belongs to the subgenus <i>Styphlus s. str.</i>,as characterized in the introduction, and is morphologically most similar to <i>S. vidanoi</i> from Sicily (Monti Nebrodi, Ficuzza) based on the vestiture of the body: recumbent bristles without long erect bristles (as <i>e.g.</i> present in <i>jonicus</i>, <i>penicillus</i> and <i>transjonicus</i>). <i>Styphlus eteocretus</i> sp. n. differs from <i>S. vidanoi</i> in the much broader,scale-like bristles (in <i>S. vidanoi</i> the vestiture consists of small and inconspicuous narrow bristles), and in the shape of the penis, which is rectangular in <i>S. eteocretus</i> sp. n., and rounded in <i>S. vidanoi</i>. The occurrence of closely related species across the Adriatic Sea is no surprise and acommonly observed and discussed theme known as the ‘transadriatic problem’ (Gridelli, 1950). In Styphlini the species-pairs <i>Styphlus jonicus – S. transjonicus</i>, and <i>Styphlidius italicus</i> Osella, 1981, – <i>S. corcyreus</i> (Reitter, 1884) show a comparable distribution (see Osella, 1981; Osella &amp;Zuppa, 1994). In Greece, <i>S. eteocretus</i> sp. n. is the fourth species of the genus <i>Styphlus</i>.Recently Germann <i>et al</i>.(2015) recorded <i>S. penicillus</i> from Samos Island (Greece), where only records from Cyprus were known before. On Crete, <i>S. oros</i> and <i>S. jonicus</i> were recorded by Winkelmann, Bahr &amp;Bayer (2012).
description: Published as part of <i>Christoph Germann &amp; Herbert Winkelmann, 2016, Styphlus (s. str.) eteocretus sp. n. from Greece (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), pp. 53-58 in Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 152</i> on pages 54-57, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.166537
description: {"references": ["Germann, C., Muller, G., Muller, U. &amp; Schon, K., 2015, An annotated checklist of the weevil fauna of Samos Island with new records for Greece (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea), Contributions to Natural History, 27: 1 - 26.", "Reitter, E., 1899, Die Arten der Coleopteren-Gattung Orthochaetes Germ. (Styphlus Schonh.) aus Europa und den angrenzenden Landern, nebst einer Uebersicht der mit ihr zunachst verwandten Gattungen, Wiener Entomologische Zeitung, 18: 1 - 11.", "Winkelmann, H., Bahr, F. &amp; Bayer, C., 2012, Ergebnisse der Osterexkursion 2011 nach West-Kreta zur Erforschung der griechischen Russelkafer, Funfter Beitrag zur Fauna von Griechenland, Weevil News, 80: 1 - 6.", "Osella, G. &amp; Zuppa, A. M., 1994, Gli Orthochaetini italiani, Memorie della Societa entomologica italiana [1993], 72: 277 - 309.", "Gonzalez, M., 1967, El genero Orthochaetes Germar (Col. Curculionidae), Publicaciones del Instituto de Biologia Aplicada, 42: 49 - 85.", "Gridelli, E., 1950, II problema delle specie adiffusione attuale transadriatica con particolare riguardo ai Coleotteri, Italian Journal of Zoology, 17: 421 - 441.", "Osella, G., 1981, Il genere Styphlidius Penecke, 1936 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), Bollettino del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona [1980], 7: 57 - 67."]}