Protoconnus andicola Franz

(Figs 18, 24–25, 90, 101)

Protoconnus andicola Franz, 1967: 717, Fig. 84a, b.

Type material. Lectotype (here designated): PERU (La Convención Province): ♂, three labels (Fig. 90): "Sierra Garavito / b. Quillabamba, 1800 m / Nebelwald,Peru" with "Sa 84" on the reverse side [white, printed], " Protoconnus / andicola / m. / det.H.Franz" [white, handwritten and printed], "Typus" [red, handwritten] (NHMW). Paralectotypes: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same data as for lectotype (NHMW).

Revised diagnosis. BL 1.08–1.13 mm; body stout, elytra 1.6 4–1.71 times as broad as strongly transverse pronotum; frons in male flat between supraantennal tubercles; vertex unmodified; pronotal base with distinct pits and groove; lateral pronotal carinae diffuse; humeral carinae indistinct, rounded; aedeagus in ventral view gradually narrowing from the broadest site of basal capsule to narrowly rounded apex; each paramere abruptly and strongly bent mesad in subapical region.

Redescription. Body of male (Fig. 18) strongly convex, brown with indistinctly lighter stripe along elytral suture, covered with setae distinctly lighter than cuticle; BL 1.13 mm.

Head broadest at very large, strongly convex and coarsely faceted eyes, HL 0.18 mm, HW 0.25 mm; tempora in lateral view as long as 1/4 of the longest diameter of eye; vertex distinctly convex, its posterior margin slightly elevated, laterally confluent with evenly rounded tempora; frons flat between large supraantennal tubercles. Punctures on frons and vertex very fine and shallow but dense; setae short, sparse and suberect. Antennae slender, AnL 0.48 mm, less than half as long as body, club distinctly delimited; antennomeres I and II each about twice as long as broad; III–IX each about as long as broad or indistinctly transverse, X distinctly transverse, XI slightly longer than X, about 1.1 × as long as broad.

Pronotum strongly transverse, nearly semicircular, broadest at base; PL 0.28 mm, PW 0.35 mm. Anterior margin weakly convex, lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior half and nearly straight posteriorly; lateral carinae diffuse; transverse antebasal groove and five pits distinct. Punctures on pronotal disc slightly more distinct than those on frons and vertex but still inconspicuous, very shallow and diffuse; setae sparse, short, suberect.

Elytra much more convex than pronotum, oval, broadest in front of middle; EL 0.68 mm, EW 0.60 mm, EI 1.13; humeral carinae indistinct, rounded. Punctures and setae similar to those on pronotum.

Legs moderately long and slender, unmodified.

Aedeagus (Figs 24–25) slender; AeL 0.18 mm; in ventral view basal capsule shorter than distal region, gradually narrowed distad; distal region laterally confluent with sides of basal capsule, slender, subtriangular, with narrowly rounded apex, in lateral view its distal half straight; in lateral view area above parameral bases forming an obtuse, blunt angle; parameres with apices strongly bent mesad and narrowed, each with one apical and one subapical seta of equal lengths.

Female. Similar to male but with slightly smaller eyes; tempora in lateral view about as long as 1/3 of the longest diameter of eye. BL 1.08 mm; HL 0.18 mm, HW 0.25 mm, AnL 0.50 mm; PL 0.25 mm, PW 0.35 mm; EL 0.65 mm, EW 0.58 mm, EI 1.13.

Distribution. Southern Peru (Fig. 101).

Remarks. This species is externally unremarkable and the primary diagnostic character is the shape of the aedeagus; this is the only species with the median lobe in ventral view gradually narrowing toward narrowly rounded apex, also apices of parameres are uniquely bent, especially in lateral view (Figs 24–25).

In the original description, Franz (1967) gives additional collecting data for the type series, not included in the labels: 0 4.09.1965.

Lectotype designation. Franz (1967) mentioned four specimens, but he did not fix the holotype. Three of these specimens are preserved in NHMW; two males and one female. The male illustrated in Fig. 18 bearing labels illustrated in Fig. 90 is here designated as a lectotype.