Metapocyrtus smeraldinus Bollino 2025, new species
Creators: name: Bollino, Maurizio
name: Ersoy, Doğan Erhan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Metapocyrtus
Metapocyrtus smeraldinus

description: Metapocyrtus smeraldinus Bollino, new species
http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 2C2CFBEF-F6ED-434E-929A-61E6EBEA72B0
(Figure 2A–D; 9A–D)
Holotype (Figure 2A–B) male: Philippines — Central Visayas / Mt. Talinis (Dumaguete) / Negros I.— Negros Oriental / 1–5.XI.2023 / Lg. D. Mohagan —coll. M. Bollino (typed on white card) // HOLOTYPE / Metapocyrtus smeraldinus / BOLLINO, 2025 (typed on red card) (SMTD).
Paratypes (170 ♂♂, 94 ♀♀): 104 ♂♂, 61 ♀♀, Philippines — Central Visayas / Mt. Talinis (Dumaguete) / Negros I.— Negros Oriental / 1–5.XI.2023 / Lg. D. Mohagan —coll. M. Bollino; 47 ♂♂, 22 ♀♀, Philippines — Central Visayas / Mt. Talinis (Dumaguete) / Negros I.— Negros Oriental / february 2023 / Lg. D. Mohagan —coll. Bollino (MBLI); 7 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, Philippines — Central Visayas / Mt. Talinis (Dumaguete) / Negros I.— Negros Oriental / 1–5.XI.2023 / Lg. D. Mohagan —coll. M. Bollino (CFS); 6 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀, Philippines — Central Visayas / Mt. Talinis (Dumaguete) / Negros I.— Negros Oriental / 1–5.XI.2023 / Lg. D. Mohagan —coll. M. Bollino (CMNC); 6 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀, Philippines — Central Visayas / Mt. Talinis (Dumaguete) / Negros I.— Negros Oriental / february 2023 / Lg. D. Mohagan —coll. Bollino (SMTD). The additional label: “PARATYPE / Metapocyrtus smeraldinus / BOLLINO, 2025” (typed on red card) was added to all paratypes.
Diagnosis. The new species has distinct elytral markings that do not match any existing Metapocyrtus sensu strictu species in the Visayas, and the morphology of both the aedeagus and the everted endophallus is diagnostic.
Description. Male. Head, pronotum, elytra and legs black. Body subglabrous, upper part with short white hairs at base of rostrum, on forehead, prediscal portion of pronotum, and parasutural area of elytral declivity; sparse bristles between green and blue colour on procoxae and mesocoxae, between mesocoxae and on ventrites. Head subglabrous, with short whitish hairs on forehead, base of rostrum with thin hairs, ventral and lateral part of rostrum with longer hairs between green and blue, adpressed under eye. Apex of rostrum with brownish bristles. Pronotum with anterior and posterior slightly thickened edges; discal portion and central posterior part black, remainder covered in round aqua green scales. Elytra completely covered in round aqua green scales. Femora with whitish adpressed bristles, slightly thicker, more elongate towards distal part. Tibiae covered in external part by short whitish bristles, inner edge indented with series of small teeth (absent on hind tibiae), and fringe of dark bristles. Eyes slightly protruding from contour of head, very flattened with convexities more accentuated backward. Antennae with scape thin and longer than the funicle; segment I elongate, about 4 times longer than wide, almost 1.3 times longer than II; segment II elongate, about 3 times more long than wide, 2.5 times longer than III; segments III and IV about 1.2 times longer than wide; segments V, VI and VII as long as wide; club swollen, covered with thick brown pubescence, about 2.3 times longer than wide. Rostrum longer than wide (LR/WR 1.4), enlarged at apex with scrobe clearly visible from above; dorsum wrinkled and covered with coarse spots, with central area flat. Pronotum spherical (LP/WP: 1), subtuberculate, with convex dorsal profile highest at anterior third. Elytra ovate (LE/WE 1.58), larger than pronotum, (WE/WP 1.16), with largest width just before middle, convex dorsal profile, higher at middle where convexity decreases. Ventrites I–III with marked axial concavity. Legs slender, with clavate femora; fore tibiae curved at apex, mid- and hind tibiae with slightly less pronounced curvatures, fore tibiae with straight inner edge, series of short tubercles more evident in distal half, and blackish mucrones; mid-tibiae with several small tubercles, and black small mucrones; hind tibiae without tubercles, with thin inner fringe of dark-colored bristles. Genitalia as illustrated (Figure 9A–D).
Dimensions: LB: 6.4–8.3 (HT: 7.0 mm; â: 7.4); LR: 1.1–1.6 (1.4 mm; â: 1.4); WR: 0.8–1.2 (1.0 mm; â: 1.0); LP: 2.2–2.9 (2.5 mm; â: 2.5); WP: 2.1–2.9 (2.4 mm; â: 2.5); LE: 4.0–5.3 (4.3 mm; â: 4.6); WE: 2.5–3.4 (2.8 mm; â: 2.9). N=7.
Female. Elytra more convex than the male, with a more regular convexity; on average larger than males (â LB ♀♀ / â LB ♂♂: 1.19) with more oval elytra and a more elongate apex; the declivity is less steep, with sparse parasutural dark setae at the beginning of it; ventrites I–III with a flat surface. Hind femora shorter than in the male, just slightly extended beyond the elytral apex. Other characters as in the male.
Dimensions: LB: 7.5–9.7 (â: 8.8); LR: 1.1–1.5 (â: 1.3); WR: 1.0–1.2 (â: 1.1); LP: 2.3–3.0 (â: 2.6); WP: 2.4–3.1 (â: 2.8); LE: 5.2–6.6 (â: 6.0); WE: 3.0–3.9 (â: 3.6). N=7.
Variability. The species is quite variable, with a distribution of green scales ranging from specimens with the entire surface of the pronotum and elytra covered, to specimens where the colored scales of elytra are organized into a narrow basal transverse band, a broader post-median band, and the apical fourth entirely green; the intermediate areas may have very sparse scale coverage or a total absence of scales, clearly revealing the black integument.
Chorology. To the best of our knowledge, Metapocyrtus smeraldinus is only found on Mt. Talinis, where it is very common, and perhaps other peaks in the “Cuernos de Negros” mountain range. Sampling conducted further north, from Mt. Irene to the northern ranges of the island, have not yielded additional specimens.
Etymology. The Latin term “ smeraldinus ” means “of emerald color” referring to the intense emerald green color of the scales.
description: Published as part of Bollino, Maurizio & Ersoy, Doğan Erhan, 2025, New Pachyrhynchini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae) from the Visayas, Philippines, pp. 143-162 in Zootaxa 5620 (1) on pages 147-149, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5620.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/15218981