Aphanerostethus distinctus Lewis & Kojima & Suenaga & Petsopoulos & Fujisawa & Truong & Warren 2024, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Lewis, Jake H.
name: Kojima, Hiroaki
name: Suenaga, Miyuki
name: Petsopoulos, Dimitrios
name: Fujisawa, Yusuke
name: Truong, Xuan Lam
name: Warren, Dan L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Aphanerostethus
Aphanerostethus distinctus

description: Aphanerostethus distinctus (Morimoto & Miyakawa, 1985) comb. nov.
Figs 1 E – H, 3, 5 A – C, 10 E, 15 C, D, 17 A, B, 18 A
Darumazo distinctus Morimoto & Miyakawa, 1985.
Specimens examined.
Holotype: Japan: Tokyo City: • Miyake Island, Sabigahama, 2. V. 1975, T. Mikage, deposited in ELKU, JHLHY_DAR_002. Paratypes: Japan: Kagoshima Prefecture: • Akuseki Is., 24. IV. 1971, M. Sakai, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_069; • Nagasaki Prefecture: Nagasaki City, Mt. Kompira, 25. III. 1953, H. Kamiya, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_003; • Okinawa Prefecture: Iriomote Is., Ushikumori, 9. III. 1964, Y. Miyatake, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_009; • Yonaguni Is., Sonai, 25–29. VIII. 1969, H. Makihara, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_010; • Tokyo City: Izu Oshima Is., Sashikiji, 3. V. 1979, S. Miyakawa, (1, PCHY), JHLHY_DAR_004; • Izu Oshima Is., Mt. Atagoyama, 30. IV. 1979, S. Miyakawa, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_005; • Miyake Is., Sabigahama, 2. V. 1975, T. Mikage, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_006; • Aogashima Is., Ike no Sawa, 23. V. 1979, J. Okuma, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_007; • Hachijo-jima Is., Mihara rindo, 20. IV. 1978, S. Miyakawa, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_008; • Miyake Is., Nanto rindo, 27. IV. 1978, Jun Okuma, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_068.
Non-type material examined.
Japan: Fukui Prefecture: • Mikata-chou, Ongami Is., 5. X. 1986, T. Ueno, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_071, JHLHY_DAR_072. Kagoshima Prefecture: • Iwayadomari, Kuchinoerabu-jima Island, 28. VII. 2013, H. Kojima, on Boehmeria sp., (50, TUA), JHLHY_DAR_200 – JHLHY_DAR_249; • Sato, Nakanoshima Is., 7–9. VII. 2019, S. Imada, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_067; • Yoriki, Nakanoshima Island, 15. III. 2013, H. Kojima, (2, TUA), JHLHY_DAR_105 (EGP 0160 C 05), JHLHY_DAR_143; • Mt. Otake, Nakanoshima Island, 13–16. III. 2013, H. Kojima, (3, TUA), JHLHY_DAR_144; • Ookizaki, Nakanoshima Island, 30. IX. 2015, H. Kojima, (1, TUA), JHLHY_DAR_145; • Mt. Negamiyama, Akuseki Island, 7–8. III. 2013, H. Kojima, (2, TUA), JHLHY_DAR_146, JHLHY_DAR_147; • Mt. Birouyama, Akuseki Island, 6–8. III. 2013, H. Kojima, (4, TUA), JHLHY_DAR_106 (EGP 0160 C 06), JHLHY_DAR_148 – JHLHY_DAR_150; Okinawa Prefecture: • Kunigami, 20. IV. – 12. VI. 2006, H. Goto, (1, FFPRI), JHLHY_DAR_011; • Okinawa Is., Kunigami, Oku (26.83604°N, 128.27191°E), 27. V. – 10. VI. 2016, L. Iha, S. Iriyama, (1, OIST), OKENT 0089219, EGP 0160 B 10; • same locality, 8–22. VII. 2016, Y. Tamaki, I. Maehira, (4, OIST), OKENT 0089411 – OKENT 0089414, EGP 0160 B 09; • Okinawa Is., Kunigami, Oku (26.83630°N, 128.27051°E), 8–22. VII. 2016, Y. Tamaki, I. Maehira, (3, OIST), OKENT 0087604 – OKENT 0087606; • same locality, 22. VII. – 5. VIII. 2016, T. Kinjo, K. Uekama, (1, OIST), OKENT 0087637; • same locality, 5–19. VIII. 2016, Y. Tamaki, K. Uekama, (1, OIST), OKENT 0087658; • same locality, 19. VIII – 2. IX. 2016, K. Uekama, T. Yoshida, (1, OIST), OKENT 0087677; • Iriomote Is., Funaura, 8. X. 1977, S. Azuma, (1, RUMC), JHLHY_DAR_020; • Iheya Is., Koshi-dake, 4. V. 1988, T. Ueno, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_060; • Yonaguni Is., Mt. Urabu, 29. XII. 1988, T. Ueno, (2, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_061, JHLHY_DAR_073; • Yonaguni Is., Mt. Kubura-dake, 26–31. III. 1997, Tadashi Ishikawa, (1, PCHY), JHLHY_DAR_062; • same locality, 6. VII. 1993, K. Shigematsu, (2, TUA), JHLHY_DAR_151, JHLHY_DAR_152; • Ishigaki Is., Nosko, Mt. Nosoko-dake, 24.4889°N, 124.2487°E, 16. III. 2013, H. Yoshitake, (2, PCHY), JHLHY_DAR_063 (EGP 0160 E 07), JHLDAR_DAR_064 (EGP 0160 E 08); Tokyo City: • Hachijo-jima Is., 25. X. 1962, R. Aoki, (1, KUM), JHLHY_DAR_128.
Diagnosis.
Body length 1.5–2.0 mm. Cuticle coated in dark, sandy gray, and white scales in contrasting pattern. Funicle with six articles. Procoxae contiguous. Only odd-numbered elytral intervals with recumbent scales. Erect elytral scales evenly distributed, not concentrated in bundle. Femora without ventral teeth. Scutellum reduced. Aedeagus short, with two sclerotized structures apico-laterally (one on each side) in internal sac. Prosternal cavity prominent and with steep lateral ridges. Metaventrite with a distinct elevated transverse ridge separating the meta- and mesocoxae (Fig. 18 A). Metatibial uncus simple in both sexes (Fig. 1 E – H). Aedeagus weakly tapering in apical half, and evenly curved in lateral view (Fig. 15 C, D). Internal sac lacking prominent basal protruding structure (Fig. 15 C, D).
Distribution.
This species is currently known from the Izu Islands (Miyake Is., Hachijo-jima Is., Aogashima Is.), Nagasaki Prefecture, Fukui Prefecture, Kagoshima Prefecture (Nakanoshima), and the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa Is., Ishigaki Is., Yonaguni Is.) (Kojima and Morimoto 2004; Lewis and Yoshitake 2022). The A. distinctus records from Taiwan in Alonso-Zarazaga et al. (2023) and Kojima and Morimoto (2004) are more likely A. taiwanus as no specimens of A. distinctus were encountered in examined collections.
Comments.
Fujii et al. (2012) reared A. distinctus from the galls of Asteralobia sasakii (Monzen, 1937) on Ilex crenata Thunb. var. hachijoensis Nakai, and Kojima (2013) reared specimens from the galls of A. sasakii on Ilex integra Thunb. Kojima (2014) also collected 50 specimens from Boehmeria sp. on Kuchinoerabu-jima Island. On Okinawa Island, specimens of A. distinctus were only collected from Oku, Yambaru National Park (Lewis and Yoshitake 2022) despite several years of continuous, year-long malaise trapping at 24 sites (3 traps per site) across the island. This suggests that A. distinctus is sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance and, coupled with the apparent cecidophagous habits of the species, may be the reason for its relative rarity in collections.
description: Published as part of Lewis, Jake H., Kojima, Hiroaki, Suenaga, Miyuki, Petsopoulos, Dimitrios, Fujisawa, Yusuke, Truong, Xuan Lam & Warren, Dan L., 2024, The era of cybertaxonomy: X-ray microtomography reveals cryptic diversity and concealed cuticular sculpture in Aphanerostethus Voss, 1957 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), pp. 1-45 in ZooKeys 1217 on pages 1-45, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1217.126626