Pseudomeira exigua ( Stierlin, 1861 )

Bellò, Cesare & Baviera, Cosimo, 2011, On the Sicilian species of Pseudomeira Stierlin (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), Zootaxa 3100, pp. 35-68 : 37

Pseudomeira exigua ( Stierlin, 1861)

( Figs. 1, 2 , 27, 28 , 53 , 65 , 77 , 91 )

Otiorhynchus exiguus Stierlin, 1861:133 .

Peritelus exiguus: Rottenberg, 1871: 227 .

Peritelus (Meira) exiguus: Seidlitz, 1868: 31 ; Bertolini, 1872: 168; Marseul, 1872: 91; Stierlin, 1883: 600; Bertolini, 1899: 89; Ragusa, 1904: 59; Porta, 1932: 63; Lona, 1937: 266.

Meira exigua: Heyden et alii, 1883: 151.

Meira exiguus: Vitale, 1890: 39 ; Vitale, 1892: 225; Vitale, 1900a: 19.

Peritelus (Peritelus) exiguus: Seidlitz, 1865: 291 ; Luigioni, 1929: 873.

Pseudomeira exigua: Abbazzi et al., 1995: 23 ; Pierotti & Bellò, 1998: 105; Sparacio, 1999: 138; Colonnelli, 2003: 48; Osella et al., 2005; Pierotti, 2006: 25; Pierotti, 2009: 481; Abbazzi & Maggini, 2009: 61.

Type locality: Sicily, Palermo, Monte Pellegrino ( Fig. 107 ).

Diagnosis: Small (2.9–3.8 mm), elongate-subcylindrical. Epistoma slightly depressed, clypeus slightly gibbous and longitudinally impressed in middle. Elytra clothed with pale brown scales and recumbent slanted setae. Apex of aedeagus sub-triangular and quite sharp.

Description: For a complete redescription see Pierotti (2009).

Distribution: Known only from the surroundings of Palermo.

Material: A total of 118 ex, male and female. Genitalia of 11 were studied, and molecular preparations of 2 (1 male, 1 female) were made.

Localities: Palermo (BIN, DOD, HOF, LET, LUI, ROT); Monte Pellegrino 400 m ( BAV, BEL, MSNG, MGI, PIE, RAG, SOL). All literature records from localities other than the above refer to different species.

Ecology: Adults are found from late autumn to late spring, although some specimens appear early in autumn. We collected adults of P. e x i g u a and P. pfisteri together, always while sifting leaf litter under Rubus sp. and Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris Brok. in the grazed land of Monte Pellegrino at 400 m a.s.l. ( Fig 107 ).

Reproduction: Amphigonic.

Notes: The lectotype and the two paralectotypes are in STI. Although in the original description Stierlin (1861) gave as locality “Sicilien”, and the label under the lectotype reads “Sicilien”, we are sure that the type locality is Palermo, Monte Pellegrino. This is not only because adults of the species are common there, but also because this was the exact locality where entomologists collected at those times ( Rottenberg, 1871; Ragusa, 1874; Ragusa, 1904). In the Ragusa collection there is a specimen with the green label “m. exigua ex tipo Strl. non pfisteri ” to point out how difficult it has always been to distinguish the two close species.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 9. Habitus of Pseudomeira ssp. (scale bar: 1 mm).

FIGURES 27 – 35. Lateral view of Pseudomeira ssp. (scale bar: 1 mm).

FIGURES 53 – 64. Aedeagus of Pseudomeira ssp.

FIGURES 65 – 76. Apex aedeagus of Pseudomeira ssp.

FIGURES 77 – 90. Spiculum ventrale of Pseudomeira ssp.

FIGURES 91 – 104. Spermatheca of Pseudomeira ssp.

FIGURES 107 – 108. 107: Palermo, Monte Pellegrino, type locality of Pseudomeira exigua (Stierlin, 1861) and Pseudomeira pfisteri (Stierlin, 1864). 108: Palermo, Madonie mountain, Piano Battaglietta type locality of Pseudomeira petrensis sp. n.