Cionus limosus Caldara & Košťál 2023, sp. n.
Creators: name: Caldara, Roberto
name: Košťál, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Cionus
Cionus limosus

description: 26. Cionus limosus sp. n. (Figs 26a–f)
Type locality. Witzieshoek (Free State, South Africa).
Type series. Holotype, male “ Orange Free State Witzieshoek 6100 ft. 24.ii.1929 / S. Africa Dr. Hugh Scott Brit. Mus 1929–290” (BMNH). Paratypes: same data as holotype (1 male and 1 female, BMNH; 1 female, RCCM).
Diagnosis. Pronotum small, distinctly conical, with two weakly pronounced protuberances. Elytra black, with brown scales being paler only on sides, with few poorly distinct spots of whitish and dark brown scales. Claws asymmetrical in both sexes.
Description. Male (Figs 26a–b). Body: robust, moderately elongated. Head: rostrum stout, short (Rl/Rw 3.17– 3.19, Rl/Pl 1.13–1.15), black, in lateral view regularly moderately curved, of same width from base to antennal insertion, then slightly gradually narrowed to apex, in dorsal view parallel-sided, slightly enlarged from antennal insertion to apex, striate-punctate; from base to near apex with dense, recumbent, elliptical, moderately short (l/w 3–5), brown scales. Head between eyes narrow, 0.3× as wide as rostrum at base. Eyes flat. Antennae dark brown, inserted between middle and apical third; scape long (l/ w 11); funicle moderately shorter than scape, S1 moderately robust, slightly more robust than and as long as S2, 2.0× as long as wide, S2 2.0 × as long as wide, S3–5 as long as wide; club oblongly oval, moderately shorter than funicle, uniformly pubescent. Pronotum: black, with dense, more or less small, irregularly arranged deep punctures, completely hidden by dense, recumbent, moderately long (l/w 5–7), rectangular scales being brown in middle and whitish on sides; conical, distinctly transverse (Pw/Pl 1.53–1.55), widest at base, with rectilinear sides, almost flat, with two small lateral protuberances. Prosternum: anterior margin distinctly emarginated. Scutellar shield: heart-shaped, densely covered with elongated brown and whitish scales. Elytra: black, short (El/Ew 1.18–1.21), subrectangular, somewhat wider than pronotum (Ew/Pw 1.67–1.70), humeri distinct, moderately prominent, sides in basal 2/3 parallel, weakly convex on disc; interstriae flattened, with small, shallow, irregular punctures completely hidden by recumbent, rectangular, brown scales and whitish scales on sides, odd interstriae with few spots formed by whitish or dark brown scales being more numerous on lateral odd interstriae; striae with moderately deep punctures, half as wide as interstriae, completely hidden by scales similar to those on interstriae. Venter: mesosternal process slightly convex, not emarginated. Metasternum densely covered exclusively with uniformly elongated, rectangular, brown (at sides) and white scales, without hair-like scales. Abdomen with dense, irregular, moderately deep punctures completely hidden by slightly elongated whitish scales; V1 1.9× as long as V2; V1+2 3.6× as long as V3+4, latter ones as long as V5. Legs: covered with dense, rectangular brown and whitish scales; femora dark brown, with robust sharp teeth; tibiae dark brown, unci absent; tarsi brown, onychium as long as T1–3 combined; claws distinctly asymmetrical, one claw 1/3 as long as other. Penis: Figs 26d–f, its body gradually narrowed from base to apex, tip short, broad, slightly emarginated. Flagellum robust, long, bifurcated at base.
Female. Rostrum longer (Rl/Rw 4.48–4.51, Rl/Pl 1.50–1.56) (Fig. 26c), claws asymmetrical as in male.
Variability. Length 2.9–3.2 mm. Spots formed by scales on elytra vary in number although always sparse. Usually, dark ones more numerous than pale ones, which may be also absent.
Etymology. The Latin adjective means “muddy” and refers to the brownish color of scales covering the dorsum.
Remarks. This species is similar to C. pustulatus and C. terrosus. It differs from both species by the longer, more arcuate rostrum and paler scales on sides of pronotum and elytra.
Biological notes. No data are available.
Distribution. South Africa (Free State).
description: Published as part of Caldara, Roberto & Košťál, Michael, 2023, A Taxonomic Revision Of The Afrotropical Species Of The Weevil Genus Cionus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), pp. 1-98 in Zootaxa 5288 (1) on page 53, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5288.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7958875