Tychius kaszabi
Creators: name: Jiang, Chunyan
name: Caldara, Roberto
name: Zhang, Runzhi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Tychius
Tychius kaszabi

description: 32. Tychius kaszabi (Bajtenov, 1977)
(Figures 103–108, 225–230, 229–300, 335–336, 348, 360, 391–392, 427–428, 454, 481)
Lepidotychius kaszabi Bajtenov, 1977: 160. Caldara, 1986: 189 (Tychius).
Material examined. CHINA: Xinjiang: Habahe County (47°50’N; 86°16’E, 456 m), 2-VIII-2013, leg You Li (35). Tibet: Linzhi, Hedysarum sp., 11-VIII-1987, leg Naifei Wang (1). Inner Mongolia: Otog Qianqi, Aozhen (38°9’N; 107°30’E; 1337 m), Hedysarum fruticosum var. mongolicum, 19-V-2019, leg Chunyan Jiang, Xiaoliang Yang (1); Chengchuan (37°53’N; 108°1’E, 1360 m), Hedysarum fruticosum var. mongolicum, 21-V-2019, leg Chunyan Jiang, Xiaoliang Yang (3); Dashatou (38°9’ N 107°34’E, 1345 m), Hedysarum fruticosum var. mongolicum, 22-V-2019, leg Chunyan Jiang, Xiaoliang Yang (4). Shaanxi: Jingbian, Niuyuqin desertification control farm (37°38’N; 108°32’ E, 1347 m), Hedysarum fruticosum var. mongolicum, 21-V-2019, leg Chunyan Jiang, Xiaoliang Yang (4); Yulin Dingbian (1400 m), Hedysarum fruticosum var. mongolicum, 13-VII-1987 (1).
Redescription. Length 2.60–3.00 mm (Fig. 103–106). Vestiture pale yellow in colour, pronotum with flat moderately imbricated rectangular and subelliptical scales, elytral interstriae both with wide subelliptical scales in double to triple rows and narrower scales in a median row. Rostrum (Fig. 225–228) elongate (Rl/Rw 5.00– 5.77 in male, 6.36–6.64 in female; Rl/Pl 0.70–0.88 in male, 0.80–0.88 in female), curved, distinctly sexually dimorphic. Eyes slightly convex. Pronotum subquadrate (Pw/Pl 1.08–1.17), parallel-sided in basal half. Elytra elongate (El/Ew 1.47–1.56; Ew/Pw 1.32–1.42), subrectangular.Femora (Fig. 229–300) unarmed, tibiae (Fig. 335–336) without sexual characters. Third tarsomere distinctly wider than second tarsomere (Fig. 348). Claws (Fig. 360) with robust medial teeth, as long as 2/3 of claw, fastened to claw in basal half. Male genitalia: body of penis (Fig. 391) moderately wide and with sides slightly convergent in basal 2/3, then distinctly narrowed and parallel to apex, with wide and blunted tip (Fig. 427), with apex in lateral view upturned, a little longer than apodeme. Female genitalia: spermatheca (Fig. 454) with long parallel-sided ramus, short robust collum, robust nodulus, cornu gradually narrowing to apex; spiculum ventrale (Fig. 481) with arms slightly spaced and convergent in basal third, then joined to apex.
Remarks and comparative notes. This species is peculiar due to the dorsal vestiture which is overall less characteristic than that of the other species in the group, and more similar to other unrelated species. The vestiture of the pronotum, although somewhat variable and more or less dense, is composed by weakly overlapped, rectangular to subelliptical (not rounded) scales. Also, the elytral interstriae are covered with 2–3 irregular rows of broad scales with a median row of seta-like scales and not with only broad, very dense overlapped scales not arranged in rows. We identified the single male specimen collected at Yulin Dingbian (Fig. 107–108, 229–230) doubtfully as T. kaszabi, mainly differing from the other specimens by the shape of the aedeagus. In fact, the body of penis (Fig. 392, 428) is distinctive, moderately wide and with sides slightly convergent in basal 2/3, then distinctly narrowed and parallel sided to apex, with wide and blunted tip and apex downturned in lateral view. Notably, we did not find the apodemes of the penis in this specimen, as with three specimens of T. gracilitubus (see Discussion).
Biology. Living on Hedysarum sp. (Karasjov 1991). Very recently collected from Hedysarum fruticosum Pall. var. mongolicum (Turcz) B. Fedtsch.
Distribution. This species was previously known only from Mongolia. New record from China (NMO SHA XIN XIZ). It is interesting to note he great distance between this single specimen from Tibet and from all other known specimens of T. kaszabi and, actually, from all of the other members of the group. However, we did not find morphological differences and the host plant belongs to the genus Hedysarum.
description: Published as part of Jiang, Chunyan, Caldara, Roberto & Zhang, Runzhi, 2020, The genus Tychius Germar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Curculioninae) in China, with description of three new species, pp. 1-62 in Zootaxa 4856 (1) on pages 35-36, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4856.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4411319