Geraeus petilior Prena 2009, new species
Creators: name: Prena, Jens
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Geraeus
Geraeus petilior

description: Geraeus petilior Prena, new species   
(Figs. 27, 28, 73)  
Holotype male, dissected, labeled ‘‘AZ. Sta. Cruz Co. / Peña Blanca Cyn./ 22-7- 2006, swept/ day, CW. O’Brien,’’ ‘‘TYPUS/ Geraeus petilior / Prena, 2009’’ (California Academy of Sciences, currently as long-term loan to CWOB).  
Paratypes: 17 males, 12 females. United States: Arizona, Santa Cruz Co., Peña Blanca Canyon, 22 Jul 2006, C. W. O’Brien (CWOB 2); Arizona, Santa Cruz Co., Patagonia Mts., Duchesne Rd., 9 Sep 2007, C. W. O’Brien (CWOB 1); Santa Cruz Co., 2 mi S Canola Pass, 18 Aug 2008 (CWOB 1, JPPC 2); Arizona, Cochise Co., Chiricahua Mts., Rustler Park, 5 Sep 2007, C. W. O’Brien (CWOB 1). Mexico: Durango, 22 mi NE Durango, 20 Aug 1974, C. W. & L. O’Brien, B. Marshall (BMNH 2, CWOB 6, JPPC 2); Jalisco, 13 mi SE Lagos de Moreno, 16 Aug 1974, C. W. & L. O’Brien, B. Marshall (CWOB 2); Mexico, 13 mi N Acambay, 15 Aug 1974, C. W. & L. O’Brien, B. Marshall (CWOB 1); Michoacán, Morelia, Jun 1965, N. L. H. Krauss (JPPC 2, USNM 3); Morelos, Cuernavaca, Wickham (USNM 2); Sonora, 3 km E Yecora, Puente La Ventana, 2 Aug 2007, 1,510 m, D. G. Furth (USNM 1); interception at El Paso, TX, 15 Jul 1948 (USNM 1).  
 Description. Total length 2.0– 3.3 mm, standard length 1.9–3.0 mm; body elongate rhomboidal (Fig. 27); integument black, distal portion of appendages often brownish; scales whitish, elongate on dorsal side of body, ovate on ventral side but denser and coarser on metepisternum, plumose in ventral depression of male; rostrum stout, evenly curved, gradually tapered, dorsal profile between rostrum and head slightly depressed, male 1.05–1.23X length of pronotum, female 1.12–1.22X length of pronotum, anteantennal portion of male 0.51–0.57X length of rostrum, of female 0.60–0.63X length of rostrum, male without tubercle on submentum, funicle stout, club rather large; pronotum with greatest width at base, sides roundly narrowed to front, apical constriction moderate, dorsal punctation shallow and separate; prosternum unmodified, spines and folds absent, posterior line of tubulate constriction with moderately deep punctures, scales not radiating from central pore; elytral interstriae mostly with 2 more or less regular rows of appressed, elongate, white scales; male with ventrites 1 and 2 deeply depressed, ventrite 5 at most with inconspicuous depression; all legs with ventrodistal tibial spine; body of aedeagus dorsoventrally compressed, slightly shorter and wider than in Fig. 60, internal sac very short, gonopore without sclerite.   
 Distribution. This species is known from central Mexico and extends into southern Arizona (Fig. 73).   
 Temporal occurrence. July to September [5 dates].   
 Plant associations. Unknown.   
 Specific epithet. The name is a comparative of Latin petilus meaning thinner or more slender.   
 Note. The type series includes five comparatively large specimens with rather dense vestiture from Morelia, Michoacán. However, they agree in all other characters with G. petilior and are considered conspecific. I have seen slightly less elongate specimens with a more medially inserted antenna, and those probably represent a different species.
description: Published as part of Prena, Jens, 2009, A Review of the Species of Geraeus Pascoe and Linogeraeus Casey Found in the Continental United States (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Baridinae), pp. 123-172 in The Coleopterists Bulletin 63 (2) on pages 149-150, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065x-63.2.123, http://zenodo.org/record/10101089