Solariola pesarinii Baviera, 2015, n. sp.
Creators: name: Baviera, Cosimo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Solariola
Solariola pesarinii

description: Solariola pesarinii n. sp.
Fig. 6: A–F; Fig. 10–11: F; Fig. 12: (6).
Solariola vitalei: Osella et al., 2004: 107 not S. vitalei A. Solari & F. Solari, 1923.
Type locality. Sicily, Messina, Montalbano Elicona, Peloritani Mounts, Malabotta Forest.
Holotype. ♂ With following labels: 1) Sicilia, Messina, Monti Peloritani, Montalbano Elicona, Bosco di Malabotta 1200–1300 m s.l.m. 24.IV.2006 vaglio sub Fagus, C. Baviera Leg. 2) Solariola pesarinii Baviera, 2013 HOLOTYPE. [red printed] (MZCU).
Paratypes. 63 ♂♂♀♀ With following labels: Sicilia, Messina, Monti Peloritani, Montalbano Elicona, Bosco di Malabotta 1200–1300 m s.l.m. 24.IV.2006, vaglio Leg. Baviera C.; same data, 12.XI.2005; same data, 02.X.2007; same locality, 27.IV.1982, M2 Leg. Osella G.; same locality, 24.V.1984, Leg. Sabella G.; Sicilia Malabotta M4a, 20.VII.1982, Leg. Brandmayr; Malabotta ceppaio, 24.V.1984, Leg. Sabella; Malabotta, 22.XI.1982, Leg. Sabella; Sicilia Bosco di Malabotta, 10.VIII.1992 Leg. Sabella; Sicilia Montalbano Elicona Bosco di Malabotta, 6.VI.1990, Leg. Sabella; Sicilia, Bosco di Malabotta, 8-IV-2013, 1260 m, Leg. Paladini; Sicilia, Bosco di Malabotta, 8-IV- 2013, 1260 m, Leg. Colacurcio; (CBA, CBE, GOS, MSNG, MSNM, ECO, APA, LCO, LDI, LFO). All with label: Solariola pesarinii Baviera, 2013 PARATYPE. [red printed]
Diagnosis. A small brownish-red Solariola, with elytral surface with deep and dense punctures, elytral setae of the same length of pronotal ones, strongly inclined towards elytral surface (angle with elytral surface 0–15°), antennae with all funicular segments wider than long.
Holotype description. Body length 2.72 mm, maximum width of elytra 0.85 mm. Rostrum almost as wide as long, confusedly and deeply wrinkled, with narrow furrow, subparallel rostral carinae very slightly arched and closest at base. Antennae with scape less than seven times longer than wide, slightly curved at proximal third, regularly thickened from base to apex, funicle short, less than seven times longer than wide, segment 1 of funicle clavate, slightly less than two times longer than wide, segment 2 shorter and about 2 times longer than wide, 3 to 7 and wider than long, 7 strongly transverse (width/length ratio 1.15); club three-segmented, oval, less than twice long its width (width/length ratio 0.63), densely covered with short setae. Prothorax almost as long as wide (width/ length ratio 0.93), strongly convex, widest at middle, disc with large deep punctures merged with smaller shallower ones which bear long recumbent seta, these pairs of points are more distant from each other on disc than on sides, their interspaces smooth, strongly inclined centripetal setae inserted in smaller punctures are on average less than 3 times the average diameter of the larger points. Elytra oblong elongate, oval, narrower at base than maximum width of prothorax, length twice their overall width (width/length ratio 0.52), humeri obliquely rounded, subparallel sides regularly convergent to apex, scarcely and very regularly curved, maximum width at mid length, narrowing apically. Punctures of striae robust, large, deep, almost square, each bearing inside a short seta, slightly less in length than average diameter (≤ 0.03 mm) of points. Interstriae flat, clearly demarcated by points of striae, minutely punctured, points lower in number than those of striae, each bearing a fairly long (average 0.08 mm) almost curved, laterally flattened and not much raised, often strongly inclined towards elytral surface (angle with elytral surface 0–15°) seta, some of those setae on elytral apex are spatulate and recumbent on elytral surface. Legs thin, elongate, with rather long flattened setae, half-lifted on tarsi. Tibiae slightly curved in side view, protibiae more widely curved and with setae and very small tooth-like tubercles on inner edge, tubercles more evident on meso- and metatibiae. Apex of tibiae strongly mucronate and with a fringe of thick golden setae. Femora edentate, clubbed in the middle and narrowed at apex. Aedeagus long, slightly curved, sclerotisation of sides broadened on basal half, sides parallel from base to middle, and thereafter suddenly widened, with slightly arched apex regularly curved; long lamella triangular shaped, covered on sides, medially raised.
TL SL SW FL FW CL CW PL PW PW EL EW EW PS ES --- ---
PL EL
♂ holotype 2.72 0.53 0.08 0.46 0.07 0.22 0.14 0.63 0.58 0.93 1.62 0.85 0.52 0.08 0.08 Female genitalia and variabilty. Spermatheca broad with very short nodulus and cornu, arched, distally constricted. Other males slightly differ only by size, while females differ by the usual sexual dimorphism observed in others species.
Etymology. The new species is named after Carlo Pesarini, former curator of the Natural History Museum of Milan, for his great help in the course of many years of research on Sicilian Curculionidae.
Distribution. Peloritani Mounts, Malabotta Forest (Fig.12).
Affinities. Morphologically very similar to S. hirtula because of pronotal and elytral punctuation and short funicle, differing from it by inclination of elytral setae, shape of funicular segments and apex of aedeagus. Also related to S. vitalei from which differs by inclination of elytral setae, aedeagus and spermatheca shape, and deeper pronotal and elytral punctuation.
Ecology. Osella et al. (2004, sub S. vitalei) consider this species a typical humid and sub-humid Mediterranean forest dweller, thus a relict species related to palaeoclimates characteristic of the tertiary Mediterranean forests. Adults of S. pesarinii have been sifted from the soil or, in number, hand collected under stones in April (Colacurcio and Paladini, personal communication), of an old Quercus forest growing on a moist limestone soil.
description: Published as part of Baviera, Cosimo, 2015, A review of the genus Solariola Flach, 1908 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae, Peritelini), pp. 401-430 in Zootaxa 3920 (3) on pages 417-419, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3920.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/240750