Leschenius NIGRANS (OLIFF 1891
Creators: name: Río, María Guadalupe Del
name: Malvardi, Adriana Elena
name: Lanteri, Analia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Leschenius

description: LESCHENIUS NIGRANS (OLIFF, 1891) COMB. NOV.   
(FIGS 9–10, 21–22, 33–34, 41, 47–48, 51)  
 Naupactus nigrans Oliff 1891: 66.   
 Asymmathetes nigrans: Kuschel in Wibmer & O’Brien 1986: 53.   
 Redescription: Female. Species large (LB, 11.5 mm) (Fig. 9). Tegument visible, reddish- brown, shiny. Vestiture with very sparse setae on head and pronotum; whitish on head, pronotum, legs, and venter, pale ocher on elytra; setae on elytra only visible on posterior third. Rostrum short (Fig. 9) (LR/WRa, 1), sides slightly convergent towards apex (WRb/WRa, 1.33), dorsum slightly depressed, foveolate–strigose, with longitudinal wide striae; median groove narrow, deep, slightly exceeding posterior margin of eyes. Epistome slightly depressed. Eyes large, moderately convex. Frons foveolate–puncticulate. Vertex densely foveolate. Antennae (Fig. 21) (LB/LA, 2.94); scape reaching posterior margin of eyes. Funicular article 2 about 1.15¥ as long as article 1, funicular articles 3–5, 2¥ longer than wide, and funicular articles 6–7 slightly longer than wide; club oval (LC/WC: 2.15).   
 Pronotum (Fig. 9) slightly conical and slightly wider than long (WP/LP, 1.14); flanks moderately curved; disc densely punctuate; median groove absent; anterior margin slightly curved anteriad, slightly thickened; base posteriorly ‘V’–shaped. Scutellum small.   
 Elytra (Fig. 9) short (LE/WE, 1.5), with maximum width at anterior third, slightly convex; base slightly curved backwards on middle; striae with mediumsized punctures; striae 9–10 closer on posterior twothirds; intervals slightly convex to flat and slightly wider than striae; apex acute, divided, and projected.   
 Legs. Procoxae almost reaching anterior margin of prosternum; protibiae with row of between eight and ten acute medium-sized denticles and large hook-like mucro; meso- and metatibiae without denticles and mucro; metatibial apex with broad corbel covered with small setiform scales; apical comb slightly longer than dorsal comb (1.25¥).   
 Abdomen (Fig. 22). Intercoxal portion of ventrite 1 broader than metacoxal cavities (1.28¥); ventrite 2 longer than ventrites 3 and 4 combined (1.39¥); posterior margin of ventrite 5 slightly pointed; tergites I– VII moderately sclerotized.   
 Terminalia. Sternite VIII (Fig. 33) subrhomboidal, not elongate, with apical tuft of long setae and shorter setae on apical third, and ‘V’–shaped sclerotization, with wide lateral arms reaching half of plate; apodeme 2.42¥ longer than plate. Ovipositor (Fig. 34) shorter than ventrites 1–5 (0.63¥), with setae on sides of baculi; ventral baculi subparallel; styli thin, directed backwards. Spermathecal body (Fig. 41) subcylindrical, elongate; nodulus conical, short; ramus indistinct; cornu very long; spermathecal duct (Fig. 41) mediumsized, as long as two-thirds of ovipositor (~ 2.2 mm), membranous, and moderately wide.   
Male (Fig. 10). Smaller than female (10 mm); rostrum (L/W, 1.07; Wb/Wa, 1.30); antenna longer (LB/LA, 2.46), club slightly more elongate (L/W, 2.48); pronotum (W/L, 1.11) more strongly curved on sides, with base slightly bisinuate and posterolateral angles projected and directed backwards; elytra more slender and elongate (L/W, 1.52), with thickened ‘V’– shaped base; humeral angles slightly projected anteriad, shoulders absent; metatibiae with small mucro; posterior margin of ventrite 5 blunt.  
 Genitalia (Figs 47–48). Median lobe with slightly pointed apex, forming an angle of about 90° with its apodemes; median lobe plus apodemes shorter than abdomen (0.72¥); apodemes shorter than remaining part of median lobe (0.55); endophallus with two wing-shaped sclerites.   
 Comparative notes and diagnosis   
 Leschenius nigrans comb. nov. and L. silviae sp. nov. are sister species, sharing a similar sculpture of the rostrum (foveolate–strigose), the frons (foveolate), and the pronotum (densely foveolate); funicular article 2 longer than 1; medium-sized scutellum; apical comb of metatibiae longer than the dorsal comb; posterior margin of ventrite 5 of males blunt; median lobe about twice shorter than its apodemes; and angle between the longitudinal axis of median lobe and its apodemes obtuse. It differs from L. silviae sp. nov. by its larger body size; oval club; longer than wide pronotum; divided and acute elytral apex; elytral intervals flat, slightly wider than striae; smaller denticles of the protibiae; broader corbel of metatibiae; ventrite 5 of females with slightly pointed apex; and spermatheca with truncated–conical nodulus.   
 Type material   
 It was not possible to study the type material of Naupactus nigrans; however, we have examined specimens from Kuschel’s collection currently held in the NZAC, identified by the specialist G. Kuschel by comparison with the type material.   
 Material examined   
 ECUADOR. No loc. Baron (1♀ NZAC). Imbabura: Ibarra, 30–XII–1930 (1♂ NZAC). Pichincha: Puembo, 2480 m, 20–XI–1931, nigrans Olliff comp. c. type Kuschel 1954 (1♂ NZAC).   
 Distribution: Ecuador (Imbabura and Pichincha), about 2500 m a.s.l.
description: Published as part of Río, María Guadalupe Del, Malvardi, Adriana Elena & Lanteri, Analia, 2012, Systematics and cladistics of a new Naupactini genus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae) from the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, pp. 54-71 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166 (1) on pages 68-69, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00833.x, http://zenodo.org/record/4720266