Miloderes tingi Tanner 1974
Creators: name: Van Dam, Matthew H.
name: O'Brien, Charles W.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Miloderes
Miloderes tingi

description: Miloderes tingi Tanner, 1974
(Figs. 1–5 E, 7A, C, 8A, C, E, 9A–D, G, 17)
Miloderes tingi Tanner, 1974: 293. Holotype female, CA: San Bernardino Co. Essex, 29 April 1937, P.C. Ting, M. Cazier, examined (BYU). O’Brien & Wibmer, 1982: 60.
Description. Body clothed in long dense setae. Head with scales on frons convex. Pronotum without vitta, lateral margins strongly convex. Elytra dark green to light green to gray and brown pattern to blue and brown pattern to pearl color. Legs with front tibial shape flat expanded, tibial brush elongate; hind tibial apex truncate. Median lobe curved. Endophallus with basal lobe not recurved and distended, dorsal lobe absent, distal projection absent, endophallus terminal not recurved, median ventral lobe present, subapical lobe resting on posterior dorsal surface, middle thick, ventral apical lobe absent, transfer apparatus not sclerotized or absent. Spermatheca with basal lobes of relatively equal length.
Specimens examined. CA: Los Angeles Co.: Piute Butte, 5 April 1970, M.S. Mispagel coll. (2 BYU, 1 CWOB) [N34.660533, W-117.847756]; Antelope Valley, W. slope Piute Butte, 31 March 1971, M.S. Mispagel coll. (2 BYU). San Bernardino Co.: Essex, 29 April 1937, P.C. Ting, M. Cazier (1 CAS) [N34.735851, W- 115.248323]; Essex, 1700’ 3 April 1966 P. Opler coll. (1 CWOB); 2 mi. N. Essex, 5 April 1966, P. Opler coll. (1 CAS, 1 EMEC) [N34.765399, W-115.251263]; 4 mi. N. Essex, 3 April 1966 J. Doyen coll. (1 CWOB); Kelso Sand Dunes, 4 April 1966, J. Doyen coll. (4 EMEC) [N34.887009, W-115.722366]; same location information: 1 February 1977, Doyen, Rude, Bentzien coll. Lot # 77B1 (1 EMEC); sand dunes 7 mi. SW Kelso, 20–21 April 1969, beating Larrea divaricata, M.S. and J.S. Wasbauer coll. (2 CDFA) [N34.983256, W-115.757758]; Kramer Hills, 21 March 1964, M.E. Irwin coll. (1 UCR) [N34.915381, W-117.458503]; 1 mi. N Pisgah Lava Flow, 14 May 1988, pitfall, Alexis Schuler coll. (1 UCR) [N34.788509, W-116.326573]; Daggett 5 March 1986, D.G. Kissinger coll. (16 CDFA) [N34.869463, W-116.884079]; Daggett, 7 mi. E Barstow, Mojave River dunes, sand under Larrea, 19 March 1988, D.G. Kissinger coll. (10 CDFA); same location information: 11 February 1990, D.G. Kissinger coll. (31 CDFA); Minneola Rd. 13 mi. E Barstow, Mojave River, 5 March 1986, D.G. Kissinger coll. (7 CDFA) [N34.890868, W-116.772027]: same location information: 8 December 1990, D.G. Kissinger coll. (11 CDFA); 3 mi. NE Mojave Riv. Wash, Minneola Rd sifting dunes under creosote, 1852 feet, N34°53’30” W116°46’05”, C.W.O’Brien coll. (30 CWOB); S end El Mirage dry lake Shadow Mountain, 4 May 1991, D.G. Kissinger coll. (18 CDFA) [N34.618503, W-117.626972]; New Berry Springs. Valley Center Rd. 44 mi. E New Berry on Larrea, N34°52’7.2” W116°34’51.3” 1779ft., March 13, 2011, M. Van Dam coll. (3 MVD, EMEC); ~ 7 mi. E of Ludlow, N of Hwy 40 on Larrea 13 March 2011, N34°43’42.9” W116°04’50.9”, M. Van Dam coll. (15 MVD, EMEC); 0.5 mi. W of Ludlow on hillside, N34°43’18.5” W116°10’38.7” 1790ft., 13 March 2011, M. Van Dam coll. (4 MVD, EMEC); Basin Rd. 15 mi. W Baker, under Larrea, 25 February 1985, D.G. Kissinger coll. (12 CDFA): Basin Rd. 16 mi. W Baker 5 March 1986, D.G. Kissinger coll. (10 CDFA) [N35.10477, W-116.265146]: same location information: 14 March 1987, D.G. Kissinger coll. (3 CDFA); sand under Larrea, 24 February 1988, D.G. Kissinger coll. (20 CDFA); 26 February 1989, D.G. Kissinger coll. (12 CDFA); 8 December 1990, D.G. Kissinger coll. (3 CDFA); 9 April 1991, D.G. Kissinger coll. (1 CDFA); 23 March 1993, D.G. Kissinger coll. (3 CDFA); 26 March 1995, D.G. Kissinger coll. (1 CDFA).
Distribution. (Fig. 19) This species is found in sand dunes of the southern Mojave Desert primarily along the Mojave River watershed. Distribution is partially sympatric with M. setosus.
Intra- and interspecific morphological variation. The color variation of M. tingi is quite extensive, ranging from nearly pearl white to dark blue, with green in between (Fig. 9 G). This may have led to many of these color variations being labeled as new species in museum collections. Each population is typically represented by a single color morph, with occasional color variation occurring in a minority of individuals. For example those near Barstow, California tend to be green in color, while those of the Cronise Dry Lake (Basin Road) tend to be more copper in color, although green color morphs occur there as well. The type specimen from Essex, California exhibited characteristics typical of smaller individuals in other populations. In these individuals, the lateral margins of the elytra tend to be more parallel than in larger specimens. Additionally the apical comb on the front tibia, present as a narrow row of fine setae (Fig. 7 A), is aligned more closely to the longitudinal axis of the tibia than in larger specimens (Fig. 7 C). Specimens from 2mi. N of Essex had an endophallus lacking a sclerotized transfer apparatus as in all other M. tingi examined. Males from the type locality are unknown.
description: Published as part of Van Dam, Matthew H. & O'Brien, Charles W., 2015, Review of the genus Miloderes Casey, 1888 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), with desciptions of three new species, pp. 247-284 in Zootaxa 4006 (2) on pages 265-271, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4006.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/254116