Stenotarsus militaris Gerstaecker
Creators: name: Arriaga-Varela, Emmanuel
name: Zaragoza-Caballero, Santiago
name: Tomaszewska, Wioletta
name: Navarrete-Heredia, Jose Luis
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Stenotarsus
Stenotarsus militaris

description: Stenotarsus militaris Gerstaecker
(Figs. 26–27, 46, 65, 101, 121, 169, 189, 194, 197, 220 –221, 264)
Stenotarsus militaris Gerstaecker, 1858: 325; Gorham 1890: 137; Blackwelder 1945: 440; Strohecker 1953: 54; Arriaga-Varela et al. 2007: 15; Shockley et al. 2009a: 83.
Stenotarsus pilatei Gorham, 1873: 53. Gorham 1890: 135; Blackwelder 1945: 440; Strohecker 1953: 55; Arriaga-Varela et al. 2007: 15; Shockley et al. 2009a: 84. New synonym.
Diagnosis. The uniformly brown members of this species (Figs. 27, 64) resemble those of Stenotarsus nigricans Gorham. Stenotarsus militaris differs from S. nigricans by the emarginate ventrite V of females, and the median lobe constricted preapically, in lateral view (Fig. T21). Contrastly colored specimens of S. militaris superficially resemble the members of S. mexicanus sp. nov. but S. militaris is distinguished by having the shorter terminal antennomere (Fig. 65).
Description of males. Body 5.4–5.7 mm long, long oval, moderately convex (Figs. 26–27), 1.77–1.82X as long as wide, 3.00–3.45X as long as high. Uniformly brown except antennomeres 8–11 black, 6–7 infuscate (Figs. 27, 64) or contrastly colored (Fig. 26); head red; antenna red with antennomeres 8–11 black; pronotum red with a very large semicircular to subrectangular black macula reaching anterior margin and surpassing basal pores at base, lateral margins and angles ferruginous red; hypomeron and prosternum red; scutellum red; elytra red, each with a large, oval, black macula; epipleura red; mesothorax red, metaventrite red with a central black or infuscate macula; legs orange-red; abdomen orange-red with intercoxal process of first ventrite black or infuscate. Densely covered with long, suberect, golden to coppery setae.
Head: Clypeus transverse, 2.0X wider than long. Terminal labial palpomere narrow, acuminate, narrowly truncate apically. Interocular distance 0.58–0.69X as wide as head. Antenna moderately long and somewhat stout (Fig. 65), 0.40–0.44X as long as body; scape 1.4X as long as wide, 1.7X longer than pedicel; pedicel 1.1X longer than wide; third antennomere 1.5X as long as wide, 1.3X as long as pedicel; fourth 1.5X as long as wide, 1.3X as long as pedicel; fifth to seventh subequal to fourth; eighth 1.1X as long as wide, 1.2X longer than pedicel; antennal club 0.4X as long as total antennal length, with antennomeres almost symmetrical; ninth antennomere widened apically, 1.1X as long as wide, 2.1X as long as pedicel; tenth strongly widened apically, 0.9X as long as wide, 2.1X as long as pedicel; terminal antennomere short, subovate, widest near midlength, 1.4X as long as wide, 3.5X as long as pedicel.
Prothorax: Pronotum widest at base, strongly transverse (Fig. 101), 2.3–2.4X wider than long, 1.90–1.95X wider at base than at front angles, 2.22–2.26X wider than head. Sides almost continuously rounded, less convergent in basal half. Front angles produced, right-angled to briefly obtuse, briefly rounded at tip. Hind angles right-angled. Anterior margin narrow, slightly arcuate medially. Lateral margins raised, markedly wide, weakly narrowing posteriorly, more strongly near base; width of margin at base less than 1/4 of the distance between basal pore and hind angle; area between marginal line and pronotal edge flat to weakly concave. Disc moderately convex, finely and closely punctate. Longitudinal sulci moderately deep, lacking anteriorly, short, weakly curved. Basal pores moderately large, slightly curved, markedly oblique. Basal sulcus comparatively wide, complete, slightly feeble near scutellum. Pronotal base lobed medially. Prosternal process moderately wide at base, widened posteriorly; as wide as longitudinal procoxal diameter apically.
Pterothorax: Scutellum triangular, moderately large, 1.75–2.20X wider than long, 0.14–0.18X as wide as pronotum. Elytra 3.5–3.9 mm long, 1.16–1.20X longer than wide, 3.48–3.68X longer and 1.29–1.41X wider than pronotum; long ovoid, widest before basal third, subparallel in medial third, then roundly convergent to the acuminate apex. Densely punctate with foveolate punctures comparatively large and deep (Fig. 121), separated by 1.5–3.0 diameters, sparser and shallower apically and near scutellum. Humerus moderately prominent. Epipleuron moderately wide at base, 0.8–0.9X as wide as the intercoxal process of metaventrite. Mesoventrite deeply excavated in front; bearing small setose pores laterally; mesoventral process wider than longitudinal coxal diameter, without medial carinae. Metaventrite moderately convex, without modifications on anterior margin; with pair of small setose pores of approximately same diameter posterior to each mesocoxa. Metepisternum with small setose pore.
Legs: moderately long (Fig. 169). Trochanters simple. Meso- and metafemora moderately widened at midlength, unarmed; metafemur as long as mesofemur, bearing moderately long decumbent setae. Meso- and metatibiae moderately slender; metatibia as long as metafemur, 0.30–0.34X as long as elytra, continuously widened distally, linear, unarmed. Metatarsus 0.56–0.61X as long as metatibia; second tarsomere produced and lobed, 2.5X as wide apically as fourth tarsomere at midlength.
Abdomen: ventrite I slightly shorter than metaventrite and ventrites II–V combined, with moderately coarse foveolate punctation, without protuberances. Ventrite V almost 1.5X longer than IV, with apex slightly emarginate; ventrite VI rounded apically. Tergite VIII truncate. Median lobe very slender, curved, gradually narrowing apically, in ventral view (Fig. 221); slightly sinuate, weakly widening apically with a preapical constriction, in lateral view (Fig. 220). Tegmen with distinctly large submembranous tegminal plate (Fig. 97).
Description of females. Body 5.6–6.6 mm long, 1.80–1.94X as long as wide, 3.00–3.23X as long as high. Antenna 0.35–0.37X as long as body. Pronotum 2.15–2.30X wider than long, 1.84–1.98X wider at base than at front angles, 2.22–2.30X wider than head. Elytra 4.10–4.65 mm long, 1.25–1.35X longer than wide, 3.8–4.1X longer and 1.35–1.50X wider than pronotum. Metatibia 0.27–0.29X longer than elytra. Metatarsus 0.55–0.57X as long as metatibia. Ventrite V (Fig. 1894) and tergite VIII emarginate (Fig. 194). Ovipositor with proctiger rounded, coxites moderately wide, without styli.
Sexual dimorphism. Females have longer and wider elytra. Ventrite V and tergite VIII are clearly emarginate in females instead of truncate as in males.
Variation. There are two basic color patterns in this species: a uniformly reddish brown form and a red colored form with large black maculae on elytra and pronotum.
Material examined. Type. Lectotype of Stenotarsus militaris Gerstaecker (present designation) (female): [triangle shaped white label] / 138 / [heart shaped red label] / Mexico [blue label] / Mus. Zool. Polonicum, Warszawa / militaris Gerst, Mex / Syntype MIZ 103152 n (MIZ); Holotype of Stenotarsus pilatei Gorham (male): Holotype [round, red bordered label] / Type [round, red bordered label] / Type pilatei [square, red bordered label]/ Gorham 91–50/ B.C.A., VII, Stenotarsus [p] pilatei Gorh. [h] (NHM).
Other material. Trece aguas 9.4 (2 females: NMNH); Livingston, Guate, 4.5, H.S Barber, Collector / St. pilatei Gorham / Stenotarsus pilatei Gorham, dt. Stroh (1 female: NMNH) Malpaso, Chis., 20-VII-72, O. Hecht / Stenotarsus discipennis Gorh. (1 male: ENCB); Q. Roo, Rancho El Ramonal, 13-VI-83. O. Canul (2 males, 1 female: CNIN); Tamazunchale, SLP, Mex, XI-16-46, Laredo–1870, Talbert inspc. / orchid plant, 47–810 (2 females: NMNH); Los Tuxtlas, Est. Biol., 2–10/VII/85, C. Mayorga (1 female: CNIN); S. And. Tuxtla / Stenotarsus rubrocinctus Gerst. Mexique (1 male: MNHN); Stenotarsus rubrocinctus Gerst. Mexique (1 female: MNHN); Stenotarsus militaris? (female) Gerst. det. H.F. Strohecker (1 female: MNB).
Distribution. GUATEMALA: Izabal; MEXICO: Chiapas, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Yucatán (Fig. 264).
Biological Notes. Altitudinal range: 1– 900 m. Period of activity: June to November. Habit: once collected in orchid plants.
Remarks. The holotype of Stenotarsus pilatei Gorham differs only in coloration, being uniformly brown instead of contrastly colored as in S. militaris. Hence, these species are here synonymized. In the original description of S. pilatei, Gorham (1873) pointed out its resemblance to S. militaris. To further compound the problems with the identity of this species, Gorham (1890) assigned this identity to a variety of unrelated species (Arrow 1920).
description: Published as part of Arriaga-Varela, Emmanuel, Zaragoza-Caballero, Santiago, Tomaszewska, Wioletta & Navarrete-Heredia, Jose Luis, 2013, Preliminary review of the genus Stenotarsus Perty (Coleoptera: Endomychidae) from México, Guatemala and Belize, with descriptions of twelve new species, pp. 1-79 in Zootaxa 3645 (1) on pages 27-29, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3645.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/283702