A new weevil species (urn:lsid:zoobank.org: act:2D5E9E4A-A250-4D0A-AF69-CF4753436686),
The leaf-rolling weevils of the family Attelabidae comprise a monophyletic
group of curculionoid beetles adapted to roll leaves to provide food and
protection for their larvae (Zuppa et al., 1994; Legalov, 2005b). Almost
1300 species are in the modern fauna (Legalov, 2007, 2010). Centers of their
biodiversity are in the Oriental, Neotropical and Ethiopian regions. Fossil
Attelabidae are rare (Legalov, 2015), with the oldest a Paleocene species
from the Menat of France (Piton, 1940; Legalov, 2015). Representatives of
the tribe Euscelini are known from the late Eocene of Florissant (Scudder,
1893; Legalov, 2007). One species of the extant Oriental genus
Dorsal view of
“En face” view of
The specimen was obtained from an amber mine in the Cordillera Septentrional
of the Dominican Republic. Dating of Dominican amber is controversial, with
the latest purported age of 20–15 Mya based on foraminifera
(Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1996) and the earliest of 45–30 Mya based on
coccoliths (Schlee, 1990). In addition, Dominican amber is secondarily
deposited in sedimentary rocks, which makes a definite age determination
difficult (Poinar Jr. and Mastalerz, 2000). A range of ages for Dominican amber
is possible as the amber is associated with turbiditic sandstones of the
upper Eocene to lower Miocene Mamey Group (Draper et al., 1994). Dominican
amber was produced by the leguminous tree
Family: Attelabidae Billberg, 1820
Subfamily: Attelabinae Billberg, 1820
Tribe: Pilolabini Voss, 1925
Genus:
Holotype: Male, deposited in the Poinar amber collection (accession # CW-161) maintained at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.
Type locality: Amber mine in the northern portion of the Dominican Republic.
Diagnosis: The new species is close to the extant
Lateral view of
Remarks: The single gular suture, homonomous ventrites and claws lacking teeth that
are connate at base, as well as tibiae with the uncus serrated on the inner edge (but
lacking spurs), suggest placement in the family Attelabidae. The elytra with
scutellar striae, head without a groove in front of the neck and pronotum
without a distinct pronotal groove suggest placement in the subfamily
Attelabinae. Placement of this species in the tribe Pilolabini is based on
the triangular scutellum and long oval body with a metallic luster. The new
species is placed in the genus
Description (Figs. 1–4): Size: length of body (without rostrum), 3.7 mm; length of rostrum, 0.4 mm. Body long, oval, bronzed with metallic luster, without scales.
Head: without groove in front of the neck; rostrum short, 0.5 times as long as pronotum, equal in length and width at apex, 1.4 times longer than wide in middle, 1.8 times longer than wide at base, widened from base to apex, almost straight, with dense punctures; forehead narrow, flattened, punctured, 0.4 times as wide as rostral basal width; eyes large, 1.3 times longer than wide, rounded, protruding from the head contour, with transverse diameter 1.3 times as wide as rostral basal width; vertex weakly flattened, coarsely punctured; temples long, 1.1 times as long as eye; gular suture single; antennae inserted in middle of rostrum, reaching to middle of pronotum; scape short, 2.3 times longer than wide; funicle with first to seventh conical antennomeres; first antennomere 1.8 times longer than wide, 0.7 times as long and 0.9 times as wide as scape; second antennomere 2.3 times longer than wide, 1.3 times as long as and equal in width to first antennomere; third antennomere 1.9 times longer than wide, 0.7 times as long and 0.9 times as wide as second antennomere; fourth antennomere 2.1 times longer than wide, 1.3 times as long as and 1.1 times as wide as third antennomere; fifth antennomere 1.9 times longer than wide, 0.9 times as long as and equal in width to fourth antennomere; sixth antennomere 1.4 times longer than wide, 0.9 times as long and 1.1 times as wide as fifth antennomere; seventh antennomere 0.9 times longer than wide, 1.2 times as long as and 1.2 times as wide as sixth antennomere; club compact, 3.3 times longer than wide, 0.9 times as long as funicle; first club article equal in length and width, 1.5 times as long and 1.3 times as wide as seventh antennomere; second club article 0.9 times longer than wide, 0.9 times as long as and equal in wide as first club article; third club article 1.4 times longer than wide, 1.3 times as long and 0.8 times as wide as second club article.
Ventral view of
Pronotum: bell-shaped; 1.1 times longer than wide at apex, 0.8 times longer than wide in middle and at base; without distinct pronotal groove; disk weakly flattened, narrowed at apex, rarely and finely punctured; distance between punctures much larger than diameter of punctures; scutellum triangular, flattened.
Elytra: with scutellar striae; elongated and weakly convex, 1.4 times longer than wide at base and in middle, 1.8 times longer than wide at apical fourth, 2.6 times as long as pronotum; greatest width at humeri and middle, elytral base 1.4 times as wide as pronotal basal width; humeri weakly convex; punctate striae regular; intervals weakly flattened, almost smooth and wide, 1.3–2.0 times as wide as striae; apex of elytra rounded.
Thorax: weakly punctured; postocular lobes absent; precoxal portion of prosternum short, 0.3 times as long as procoxa length; procoxal cavities connected; postcoxal portion of prosternum 1.3 times as long as precoxal portion and 0.4 times as long as procoxa length; middle coxal cavities quite narrowly separated; metathorax 1.3 times as long as metacoxa length; metepisternum wide, 3.6 times longer than wide in middle.
Abdomen: convex ventrally, densely punctured; ventrites almost homologous; first ventrite 1.2 times as long as metacoxa length; second ventrite 0.9 times as long as first ventrite; third ventrite 0.8 times as long as second ventrite; fourth ventrite 0.9 times as long as third ventrite; fifth ventrite 0.5 times as long as fourth ventrite. Pygidium exposed beyond elytra.
Legs: long; procoxae conical; mesocoxae spherical; metacoxae transverse; femora weakly clavate, without teeth; profemora 4.4 times longer than wide in middle; mesofemora 4.6 times longer than wide; metafemora 4.8 times longer than wide; tibiae straight, with uncus, without spurs, serrate on inner edge; protibiae 11.0 times longer than wide in middle; metatibiae 9.5 times longer than wide in middle; tarsi long; first to second tarsomeres conical; third tarsomere bilobed; fifth tarsomere elongate; tarsomeres with pulvilli on underside; metatarsus: first tarsomere 2.4 times longer than wide at apex; second tarsomere 1.3 times longer than wide at apex, 0.8 times as long and 1.4 times as wide as first tarsomere; third tarsomere 0.9 times longer than wide at apex, equal in length and 1.4 times as wide as second tarsomere; fifth tarsomere 4.3 times longer than wide at apex, 1.9 times as long and 0.4 times as wide as third tarsomere; claws connate at base, without teeth.
The tribe Pilolabini occurs in Central America (Hamilton, 1994) and is the
most primitive in the family based on the unique apical structure of the
tibiae with the mucro and uncus located on different sides of the tibial
apex in females (Legalov, 2005a). Representatives of this tribe are not
known in Hispaniola (Perez-Gelabert, 2007) or the entire West Indies
(O'Brien and Wibmer, 1982). Two genera (
This family of weevils is unusual in that many of the females show sophisticated behavior in caring for their young. This is especially true with those species that lay their eggs in self-made nests inside rolled up leaves. While most members of the family are tropical, some occur in eastern North America and have been observed making “nests” for their young (Blatchley and Leng, 1916). In some species, the female beetles go to much trouble severing portions of the leaves so they will fold inward and enclose a mass of plant material that serves as food for the young. The larvae develop in these compact, thimble-shaped leaf rolls that often remain hanging on the tree by a narrow strip of leaf tissue. The larvae pupate in the “nest” that either remains on the tree or falls to the ground. A number of tree species are involved, including oaks, alders, walnuts, butternuts, hickories, sumacs and hazelnuts. It is curious that there are no records of these beetles developing in leaves of herbivorous plants. Other members of this weevil family deposit eggs in fruit and buds; however these beetles are too scarce to cause serious damage to forest trees (Craighead, 1950).
The discovery of
We are grateful to L. Chamorro (USA: Washington), J. Frisch (Germany: Berlin), O. Jaeger (Germany: Dresden), K.-D. Klass (Germany: Dresden), B. A. Korotyaev (Russia: St. Petersburg), P. Limbourg (Belgium: Brussels), S. W. Lingafelter (USA: Washington), and J. Willers (Germany: Berlin) for the opportunity to study comparative material of the tribe Pilolabini deposited in the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique; Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin; Museum für Tierkunde, Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden; Smithsonian Institution – National Museum of Natural History; and Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The study was partially supported by the Federal Fundamental Scientific Research Programme for 2013–2020 (grant number VI.51.1.7) and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant number 15-04-02971a). Edited by: D. Korn Reviewed by: C. O'Brien and A. Kirejtshuk