Cionus tuberculosus ( Scopoli, 1763 )

Košťál, Michael & Caldara, Roberto, 2019, Revision of Palaearctic species of the genus Cionus Clairville (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cionini), Zootaxa 4631 (1), pp. 1-144 : 16-18

3. Cionus tuberculosus ( Scopoli, 1763)

Figs 3 a–f.

Curculio tuberculosus Scopoli, 1763: 27 . Reitter, 1904: 48 ( Cionus ). Wingelmüller, 1914: 183 ( Cionus ); 1921: 104 ( Cionus ); 1937: 163. Hustache, 1932: 340. A. Hoffmann, 1958: 1215 ( Cionus ). Caldara, 2013: 214 ( Cionus ). Alonso-Zarazaga et al., 2017: 186 ( Cionus ).

Curculio verbasci Fabricius, 1787: 107 . Reitter, 1904: 64 (syn. n.) ( Cionus ). Wingelmüller, 1914: 232 ( Cionus ); 1937: 215 ( Cionus ). Hustache, 1932: 340. A. Hoffmann, 1958: 1215 ( Cionus ). Caldara, 2013: 214 ( Cionus ). Alonso-Zarazaga et al., 2017: 186 ( Cionus ).

[ Cionus tuberculosus ab. suturalis Tenenbaum, 1927: 152. Zumpt, 1937: 223. (unavailable)]

Type locality. Trojane , Orehovica env. ( Slovenia) .

Type series. The type of C. tuberculosus , described from Carniola (present-day Slovenia) does not exist due to the destruction of Scopoli´s collection in 1766 ( Horn et al. 1990). Therefore, in order to fix the taxon, we designated a typically colored specimen from Slovenia as the neotype of Curculio tuberculosus Scopoli, 1763 . It is a perfectly preserved male with dissected genitalia in glycerin, 3.88 mm long, labeled “ SLOVENIA c. Michael Košťál leg. / Orehovica env. pr. Trojane 350 m N 46°10.2’ E 14°54.3’ 22.vii.2016 / NEOTYPUS Curculio tuberculosus Scopoli M.Košťál et R.Caldara des. 2016 [printed red label]”. The neotype is deposited in MSNM.

Synonyms. Curculio verbasci was described based on unspecified number of specimens from “Kilia” (presently Kiel, Germany). In coll. Fabricius ( ZMUK), there are five specimens under a common label “Verbasci”, which we considered syntypes. One female belongs to C. hortulanus , whereas one male and three females are conspecific. The author apparently described Curculio verbasci based on the last four mentioned specimens, because he mentioned “thoracis lateribus flavescentibus” (i.e. yellowish pronotum sides) in his original description. Therefore, the male was designated as the lectotype, and the females and the specimen belonging to C. hortulanus as paralectotypes of Curculio verbasci Fabricius. The lectotype is pinned but sufficiently preserved, with complete antennae, disconnected elytra, and several missing tarsal claw segments, 3.36 mm long, labeled “Verbasci / LECTOTYPUS ♂ Curculio verbasci Fabricius M.Košťál et R. Caldara des. 2011 [printed red label]”. It is conspecific with the neotype of Curculio tuberculosus Scopoli.

Tenenbaum (1927) described “ Cionus tuberculosus a. suturalis nov. ab.” from Warsaw. According to Article 45.6.2 of the ICZN (1999) and its following guidelines, we treat this name as infrasubspecific, and hence unavailable.

Redescription. Male. Body stout, subrotund. Head: rostrum moderately stout, medium long (l/ w 4.1, Rl/Pl 1.31), black; in lateral view slightly evenly curved, same width from base to antennal insertion, then parallel and very slightly narrower than in basal part; in dorsal view moderately broadened to antennal insertion, then parallelsided to very slightly broadened to apex, in basal half of rostrum moderately laterally constricted, in distal part from antennal insertion to apex moderately dorsoventrally flattened; completely sparsely covered with recumbent to suberect, in apical part whitish, long thin hair-like scales with very few intermixed broader whitish scales and suberect dark seta-like scales, shortly before apex with small bare area; except shiny apical area densely longitudinally rugulosely punctured, with indistinct, very thin carina in basal part of rostrum. Head between eyes very narrow, about 1/4 rostrum width at base. Eyes round, very slightly protruding from head outline. Antennae completely dark brown, inserted at 0.6–0.7 of rostrum length; funicle of about 0.7 scape length, segment 1 clearly wider than segment 2, of about its length, segment 1 twice, segment 2 2.5 × as long as wide, segments 3–5 subquadrate; club elongate, approximately 3 × as long as wide, of about 1.2 funicle length, completely covered with recumbent light brown setae and sparsely distributed brown to whitish erect sensilla. Pronotum: black, markedly wider than long (Pl/Pw 0.60), semidensely covered with small round, evenly distributed punctures, on sides covered with overlapping, mostly forwardly oriented reddish and yellowish elongate (l/w 3–6) scales, in broad median part basally nearly scale-free, with sparse recumbent, forwardly oriented, small elongate whitish scales giving impression of naked longitudinal band in medial and anterior part; widest at base, in basal half moderately conically convergent, in anterior half first abruptly rounded, then slightly concavely narrowed to anterior margin, in lateral view in basal part flat on disc, then falling to anterior margin. Prosternum: Anterior margin with very deep, half-round, sharply bounded emargination separated from coxae by narrow strip of prosternum, with impression between anterior part of coxae. Scutellum: black, subtriangular, with rounded apex, at apex with comb of backwardly oriented whitish scales. Elytra: black, in their basal half subparallel to slightly rounded, in apical half broadly rounded, moderately elongate (El/Ew 1.16), widest at 1/4 of their length, at base nearly straight, markedly wider than pronotum (Ew/Pw 1.85), humeri prominent, bluntly rectangular, elytra moderately convex on disc; interstria 1 at 1/3 of medial length markedly, in preapical part slightly broadened, interstria 2 at anterior 1/3 of elytra narrowed and constricted laterally, in preapical part solely narrowed encompassing clearly bounded, black tomentous, oval dorsal and apical maculae, odd and even interstriae of about same width, odd interstriae with unevenly distributed, black tomentous oblong to subquadrate patches alternating with clusters of gray thin recumbent scales forming only indistinct gray patches, odd interstriae slightly vaulted, seeming more convex due to black patching; striae very shallow, formed by single rows of unevenly large deep, densely arranged punctures; entire surface, especially even interstriae, covered with same type of elongate (l/ w 4–7), gray hair-like scales, same as in gray patches, leaving integument visible, on anterior humeral margin scales similar to those on sides of pronotum, at posterior margin of dorsal and anterior margin of apical macula clusters of very densely arranged, overlapping, yellowish, broad elongate scales. Venter: sparsely covered with gray hairlike scales, only on epimera, lateral parts of mesosternum and mes- and metepisternum scales similar to those on pronotal margins; mesosternal process very short, wide and slightly concave at apex; metasternum unevenly flat, with densely arranged rows of large transverse punctures; ventrite 1 and very proximal part of ventrite 2 with less deep, densely punctured impression, covered with densely arranged, variously oriented, long gray hairs; ventrite 1 1.8 × as long as ventrite 2, ventrites 1–2 combined 5 × as long as ventrites 3–4 combined, ventrites 3–4 combined of 0.6 length of ventrite 5. Legs: black except for brown tarsi, profemora with large sharp teeth, meso- and especially metafemora with very large sharp triangular teeth; femora and tibiae covered with whitish and reddish recumbent elongate scales, arranged in indistinct transverse bands, tarsi covered with light seta-like scales being suberect on tarsomeres 1–3 and recumbent on onychia; onychia of anterior legs of about 0.8 length of tarsomeres 1–3 combined; lateral claws of anterior legs of 2/3 length of medial ones, medial claws of meso- and metatarsi not markedly shorter than lateral ones. Penis: Figs 3 d–f, its body evenly tapered, blunt at apex.

Female. Rostrum longer (Rl/Pl 1.57), apical part slightly narrowed in mid-length, antennal insertion before 0.6 of rostrum length. Ventrites 1 and 2 without impression. Onychia of anterior legs slightly shorter than in male, lateral claws of anterior legs only very slightly shorter than or as long as medial ones.

Variability. Length ♂♂ 2.82–4.08, ♀♀ 3.56–4.32 mm. Cionus tuberculosus is very variable in body size, moderately variable in the pattern of the vestiture and in the color of the integument. Other characters do not vary considerably. In some specimens, antennae and tarsi are lighter, from light brown to reddish-yellow, in other specimens, they are darker. Also the tibial apices may be lighter, from dark brown to brown. The dorsal macula may be elongate.

Diagnosis. This species is recognizable in both sexes by a cluster of the following characters: visible elytral integument, very long antennal club, naked medial longitudinal area on pronotum, light patches on posterior margin of dorsal macula and anterior margin of preapical macula. Males have normally long protarsal onychia.

Comparative notes. This species is most closely related to C. scrophulariae , which differs from this species by a shorter antennal club and the pronotum of fresh specimens completely covered with scales. Cionus tuberculosus differs from C. osmanlis by larger size, not yellow or light red distal tibial half, and shape of penis.

Biological notes. Wingelmüller (1937) reported Scrophularia nodosa and S. auriculata (as S. aquatica ) as host plants, Hoffmann (1958) confirmed the species from S. nodosa and S. auriculata , quoted also S. canina and from Pyrenees in elevations 1,500 –1,600 m a. s. l. S. alpestris . Smreczyński (1976) confirmed S. nodosa and added Li- mosella aquatica . The first author collected the species mostly in shaded places along torrents on S. nodosa . Read (1977) confirmed S. nodosa as a host plant and reported preliminary biological observations including immatures. We examined specimens collected from lowlands up to 2,000 m a. s. l. (Lake Sevan, Armenia, Borovec leg.).

Distribution. Practically the entire Europe, the Caucasus and Transcaucasus, Asia Minor and Siberia. Unlike C. scrophulariae not present in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Non-type material examined. We examined 280 specimens from the above mentioned regions. We did not see any specimen from Portugal and Sweden.

Figures

FIGURES 3–4. FIGURE 3. Cionus tuberculosus. a: body in dorsal view (male), b: body in lateral view (male), c: rostrum in lateral view (female), d: penis in ventral view, e: penis in lateral view, f: apex of penis in dorsal view. Not to scale. FIGURE 4. Cionus osmanlis sp. n. a: body in dorsal view (male), b: body in lateral view (male), c: penis in ventral view, d: penis in lateral view, e: apex of penis in dorsal view. Not to scale.