Miloderes nelsoni Kissinger 1960
Creators: name: Van Dam, Matthew H.
name: O'Brien, Charles W.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Miloderes
Miloderes nelsoni

description: Miloderes nelsoni Kissinger, 1960
(Figs. 1–5 D, 10B, D, F, 15)
Miloderes nelsoni Kissinger, 1960: 25. Holotype male, CA: Inyo Co. Eureka Valley, on Coldenia plicata, 10 April 1955, J. Roos Family coll., examined (CAS). Tanner, 1966: 15. Tanner, 1974: 296. O’Brien & Wibmer, 1982: 60. Anderson, 2002: 48. Evans & Hogue, 2006: 288.
Description. Body clothed in long dense setae. Head with scales on frons flat. Pronotum without pattern, lateral margins strongly convex. Elytra blue to copper without pattern. Legs with front tibial apex flat, tibial brush elongate; hind tibial apex truncate. Median lobe curved. Endophallus with basal lobe not recurved and distended, dorsal lobe present weakly divided, distal projection present highly conical, endophallus terminal not recurved, median ventral lobe absent, middle of endophallus thick, ventral apical lobe present not pointed ventrally, position of ventral apical lobe low, subapical lobe free, transfer apparatus weakly sclerotized. Spermatheca with basal lobes relatively equal in length.
Specimens examined. CA: Inyo Co.: Eureka Valley, SE sand dunes, elev. 3000’, 25 March 1970, E.L. Sleeper coll. (3 BYU, 2 CWOB) [N37.112222, W-117.679444]; Eureka Dunes, 10 January 1972, Derham Giuliani coll. (1 BYU); same collecting data: 29 January 1973, (3 USNM); 5 July 1978, (2 CDFA); 7 August 1978, (4 CDFA); 1 October 1978, (6 CDFA); Ex. Swallenia alexandrae July-February 1978, (1 CDFA); 6 March 1979, (5 CDFA); 5 May 1980, (3 CDFA); 23 May 1980, (1 CDFA); 24 December 1981, (2 CDFA); 7 April 1982, (14 CDFA); 1 May 1982, cereal bowl trap, L.G.Bezark coll. (36 CWOB); 21 February 1983, (2 CDFA); 6 April 1985, (1 CDFA); 13 April 1983, (2 CDFA); on Dalea polyadenia, 2 May1985, (1 CDFA); 5 May 1983, (4 CDFA); 2 February 1985, (2 CDFA); Eureka Valley Dunes 6 April 1978 A.J. Gilbert F.G. Andrews coll. (3 CWOB); Eureka Valley Dunes 35 mi. SE Big Pine, 6 April 1988 D.G. Kissinger coll. (13 CWOB); Eureka Dunes, 31 March 1991, R. and J. Robertson coll. (10, EMEC); Death Valley National Park, Eureka Dunes under Astragalus April 9, 2010 N37°06’44” W117°40’46” 2844ft, M Van Dam coll. (10 MVD, EMEC); Death Valley 1.5 mi. NNE Ubehebe Crater, 2300’, sand dunes, 26 October 1986, Derham Giuliani coll. (4 CDFA); Death Valley 2 mi. NNE Ubehebe Crater, 2200ft., sand dunes, March to August 1988, Derham Giuliani coll. (8 CDFA) [N37.032108, W-117.440303]; same collecting data: 6 April 1989, (10 CDFA); April 1989 to August 1989, (2 CDFA); August 1989 to March 1990, (28 CDFA); Eureka Dunes, 3706/11714 878m, (DstSanDunes), BandS/Sift, 15–16 April 1991 E. L. Sleeper coll. (47 CWOB); Eureka Valley, Saline Range, 2 mi. S Marble Canyon, dunes, 4200’, 17 April 1994, Derham Giuliani coll. (2 CDFA) [N37.138792, W-117.842802].
Distribution. (Fig. 19) Known only from the sand dunes of the Eureka Valley and neighboring Ubehebe dunes. Distribution is sympatric with M. setosus.
Intra- and interspecific morphological variation. Miloderes nelsoni exhibits little morphological variation. Individuals are uniform in color, which ranges from blue to pearl white to copper in the red extreme. Miloderes ubehebensis is similar to M. nelsoni except for the shape of the endophallus. The dorsal lobes are more pronounced in M. ubehebensis and the central portion of the endophallus is not as expanded.
description: Published as part of Van Dam, Matthew H. & O'Brien, Charles W., 2015, Review of the genus Miloderes Casey, 1888 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), with desciptions of three new species, pp. 247-284 in Zootaxa 4006 (2) on pages 264-265, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4006.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/254116