Strattis Pascoe 1883
Creators: name: Devi, Salam Rita
name: Ray, D. C.
name: Ramamurthy, V. V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Strattis

description: Strattis Pascoe
(Figs 3, 6, 9, 16–18, 24, 27, 29, 35, 38, 40, 46, 51, 55, 59, 60, 66, 74, 75–80, 86, 91, 92, 94, 97, 102–105, 107, 111, 114–117, 119, 120, 121, 123–139)
Strattis Pascoe 1883:129. Gender masculine. Type species: Strattis biguttatus Pascoe, 1883, here designated. = Strattus Haly 1890: 153. [Incorrect spelling]
Redescription. Body form ovate (Figs 3, 6, 9). Rostrum 1/2 to 2/3 as long as pronotum (Figs 103, 104); scrobes ventrolaterally set (Figs 104, 117). Scutellum bare (Figs 16–18, 119). Elytra with small glossy tubercles along median suture, just posterior to scutellum (Fig. 120); interstria 9 not costate at base, stria 9 reaching base. Mesosternal receptacle transverse, not passing middle of meso-coxae (Figs 91, 102, 114–116). Pro and meso-coxae almost contiguous (Figs 91, 102, 114–116). Femora edentate, sulcate ventrally, with sulci bare (Fig. 121); femora clavate, conspicuously narrowed basally (Figs 75–77). Meso-tibiae with a small flange at base with an adjacent pitted area (Figs 51, 74). Abdominal suture between ventrites 1 and 2 weak and fine; ventrite 2 nearly as long as ventrites 3 and 4 combined (Figs 78, 91, 102). Abdomino-femoral stridulatory structure present; stridulatory files present on the inner lateral aspect of meta-femora (Figs 123 –139), stridulatory plectrum laterally on ventrite 1 (Figs 123 124, 128, 129, 134, 135). Aedeagus always with Y or V shaped endophallic sclerite (Figs 27, 38, 59, 79, 92, 105). Tegmen with apodeme either absent or very small (Figs 29, 40, 60, 80, 94, 107). Female eighth sternite pouch shaped (Figs 24, 35, 46, 55, 66, 86, 97).
Remarks. Since Pascoe did not designate a type species for this genus, the present study designates Strattis biguttatus Pascoe as the type species. This species was selected as the type species because it appears first following the generic description (as ratified by Article 69. A. 8–10 of the ICZN). Selection of this species also fits the characters given by Lyal (1993) and key characters by Morimoto (1978) as distinctive for the genus.
Lyal (1993) in his systematic description states that the genus Sympedius (which is divided into two groups: group I and group II) is morphologically close to Orochlesis and Strattis. The common characters that indicate a close relationship of these three genera are the form of mesosternal receptacles, presence of a small tooth or flange at the base of the meso-tibiae, generally with an adjacent pitted area, presence of a supra-uncal projection on the meta-tibiae and an inverted Y-shaped sclerite in the male endophallus of some species. He also states that Orochlesis and Sympedius group-I have a roughly striate area on either side of ventrite I and sculpture on the ventral side of the meta-femora, but these structures are not mentioned for Strattis.
In comparison with Sympedius, Strattis is more closely allied with group I based on its general body shape, head, rostrum, pronotum, elytral concavity, small glossy tubercles along median suture, just posterior to scutellum, and some structures of male and female genitalia. It can be distinguished from Sympedius as follows: antennae inserted medially or basally (in distal half in Sympedius); scutellum bare, large and subquadrate (clothed with dense scales in Sympedius); male tergite VII with microsetae (lacking in Sympedius).
Strattis can be distinguished from Orochlesis by the following characters: interstria 9 of elytra costate at the base, forming outer margin of shoulder and joined with interstria 10 a little behind the base, whereas interstria 9 of elytra not costate at the base, stria 9 reaching the base in Strattis. Also, two species out of these three new species have a reduced tegminal apodeme, uniting them with the previously two described species by this apomorphic virtually complete reduction of the male tegminal apodeme. Strattis pascoei sp. nov. is only known from female specimens, but based on other characters it is grouped with the other two new species in Strattis.
description: Published as part of Devi, Salam Rita, Ray, D. C. & Ramamurthy, V. V., 2016, Descriptions of three new species of Strattis Pascoe, 1883 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cryptorhynchinae) from the Indian subcontinent, pp. 199-218 in Zootaxa 4085 (2) on pages 199-200, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4085.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/1052589