Afrosmicronyx angolanus Haran & Perrin 2017, comb. n.
Creators: name: Haran, Julien
name: Perrin, Hélène
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Afrosmicronyx
Afrosmicronyx angolanus

description: Afrosmicronyx angolanus (Hustache, 1935) comb. n.
Figs 2D, 3D, 5D, 6D
Smicronyx (Chalybodontus) angolanus Hustache, 1935b: 186
Material examined. Holotype ♂: [Angola] ‘Ebanga nov.’ ‘Angola, Mission sc. Suisse. 1932–1933 ’ ‘Museum Paris. 1968. col. A. Hoffmann’ ‘ Smicronyx (Chalybodontus) angolanus Hust’ (fitted with a red holotype label reading: “HOLOTYPE/ Afrosmicronyx angolanus / Hustache, 1935/ Haran & Perrin des. 2017”; MNHN, Hoff.coll). Other material. Angola, Kalukembe, xii.1932, Mission sc. Suisse (1 ♂, MNHN, Gene.coll).
Redescription. (♂) Body length 4.6 mm. Colour. Body integument black; vestiture consisting of short rounded recumbent scales, black with a copper shine. Head. Rostrum as long as head plus prothorax, thick, moderately downcurved, densely punctuate, smooth at apex, sides bearing two carinas merged near antennal insertion, transversal furrow at base of rostrum shiny, head short; antennae with segment 1 as long as 2 + 3. Prothorax. Isodiametric, widest proximally near middle, greatly narrowed at apex, densely and coarsely punctuate, median line present and slightly raised. Elytra. Sides rounded, widest near middle (ratio w/l: 0.65), humeri raised, declivital callosities present but weak, followed by a depression, striae narrow, interstriae flat and wide; scutellum small, shiny. Abdomen. Underside covered with dark scattered scales with a metallic-copper shine, ventrites 1–2 sub-equal, shorter than 3+ 5. Legs. Femora clavate, armed with one ventral tooth; pro- and mesotibiae straight, armed with one ventral tooth proximally near middle; fore-tibiae bisinuate, thickened near middle. Genitalia. Penis short (ratio w/l: 0.56), sides rounded, converging apically, apex rounded, curvature in lateral view stronger in apical half (Fig. 6D). Female not known.
Life history. Unknown. Adults collected in November and December.
Distribution. Angola.
Discussion. This species is most similar to Afrosmicronyx maerens Marshall. The two species can be distinguished by the colour of the coating (black in A. angolanus, variegated grayish and brownish in A. maerens), the tooth on the protibiae (present in A. angolanus, tibiae only thickened in A. maerens) and the shape of the penis (sides rounded in A. angolanus, narrowed in apical half in A. maerens). Hustache placed this species, with doubts, in the subgenus Chalybodontus of Smicronyx (Hustache, 1935). It is here transferred to Afrosmicronyx due to the presence of scales on all of its elytra, the presence of a ventral tooth on the femora and tibiae as well as its Afrotropical distribution. Contrary to what is stated in the description, the rostrum bears a ventral tooth at its base. This condition is encountered in all species of Afrosmicronyx and therefore not restricted to the subgenus Chalybodontus. Of the several type specimens mentioned by Hustache, the one used for description (with labels corresponding to the type locality) was located in the Hoffmann collection (Perrin, 1998).
description: Published as part of Haran, Julien & Perrin, Hélène, 2017, Revision of the genus Afrosmicronyx Hustache (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Curculioninae), pp. 132-148 in Zootaxa 4365 (2) on pages 137-138, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4365.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/1117506