Ormiscus saltator (LeConte)

Janicki, Julia & Young, Daniel K., 2017, Nemonychidae and Anthribidae of Wisconsin (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea), Insecta Mundi 2017 (579), pp. 1-36 : 27-28

Ormiscus saltator (LeConte)

(Fig. 43–44)

Hormiscus saltator LeConte 1876: 397 .

Ormiscus angulatus Pierce 1930: 6 .

Ormiscus piercei Sleeper 1954: 117 .

Ormiscus saltator (LeConte) ; Blatchley and Leng 1916: 26.

Description. Length 1.5–2.0 mm (head excluded). Integument light to dark reddish-brown; legs generally lighter. Elytral vestiture consisting of white or grey with dark brown setae, white or grey setae usually more abundant, forming vague transverse line on basal 1/3, apical 1/3 variously mottled; with brown setae making up basal spot and large transverse median spot, and scattered spots on apical 2/3. Rostrum flattened, broad; surface with large, shallow, coarsely placed punctures. Frons strongly convex, with large, shallow, closely placed punctures. Pronotal width 1.2X length, widest at basal angles, sides arcuate to broadly rounded apex; disc weakly convex before transverse carina; transverse carina antebasal, remote from base, acutely elevated, emarginate; pronotal surface smooth, with dense, shallow, rather large punctures. Elytral length 1.3X width, sides parallel in basal 2/3, broadly rounded apically; striae punctate, with deeply impressed, moderately large punctures; interstriae 2.0X strial width, smooth, with scattered minute points.

Diagnosis. Ormiscus saltator can be distinguished from Eusphyrus species by the antebasal transverse pronotal carina that is incapable of contacting the elytral bases. It can be distinguished from other Ormiscus species by the solidly fused antennal club, transverse pronotal carina that ends without turning (as opposed to turning downwardly, apically), and by the males having a small black lobe on the inner apical angles of the mesothoracic tibiae.

Natural history. Adults breed in dead wood of deciduous trees. Some Ormiscus species are also known to inhabit seeds and galls. In Wisconsin, it has been recorded from dead oak leaves and dead branches in general.

Phenology. In Wisconsin, adults have been collected from June – August.

Collecting methods. The 29 Wisconsin specimens examined during this study from 18 counties represent a NEW STATE RECORD. Adults are most commonly collected by beating dead twigs, vines,

branches of deciduous trees, or understory bushes, or by sweeping dead herbaceous stems. In Wisconsin, they have also been collected from a Malaise trap at the edge of a mixed hardwood forest, a turpentinebaited Lindgren funnel trap in a mixed hardwood forest, beating dead oak branches with dried brown leaves, and by sweeping foliage in hardwood-dominated forest and in oak barrens.