Cionus helleri Reitter, 1904

Košťál, Michael & Caldara, Roberto, 2019, Revision of Palaearctic species of the genus Cionus Clairville (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cionini), Zootaxa 4631 (1), pp. 1-144 : 101-102

61. Cionus helleri Reitter, 1904

Figs 61 a–f.

Cionus helleri Reitter, 1904: 56 . Wingelmüller, 1914: 182; 1921: 104; 1937: 161. Zumpt, 1937: 222. Caldara, 2013: 123. Alonso-Zarazaga et al., 2017: 185.

Type locality. Japan .

Type series. The original description refers to a single male specimen from Japan given for description to E. Reitter by K. M. Heller from MTD. In coll. Faust ( MTD), there is a well-preserved, 4.76 mm long specimen labeled “typus! / Japan...[illegible] / Coll. J. Faust Ankauf 1900 / Staatl. Museum für Tierkunde Dresden / C. Helleri m Type–1904,”. We remounted this specimen, dissected its genitalia and realized that it is a female. For clarity, we provided this specimen with a label “ HOLOTYPUS Cionus helleri Reitter M.Košťál et R.Caldara vid. 2017 [printed red label]”.

Synonyms. None.

Redescription. Male. Body stout, subrotund. Head: rostrum stout, medium long (l/ w 3.5, Rl/Pl 1.20), black; in lateral view clearly, at upper outline almost evenly curved, in basal part very slightly narrowed to antennal insertion, in apical part moderately narrowed to apex; in dorsal view moderately broadened from base to apex, in basal part slightly laterally constricted, in apical part dorsoventrally flattened; longitudinally, densely punctured except median longitudinal smooth area at apex; basal part with upwardly oriented, recumbent to subrecumbent, thin, whitish hair-like scales, apical part with subrecumbent, forwardly oriented, relatively short whitish seta-like scales. Head between eyes very narrow, of not more than 0.2 rostrum width at base. Eyes very large, broadly rounded, slightly protruding from head outline. Antennae black to dark brown, inserted at 2/3 of rostrum length; funicle of 0.7 scape length, segment 1 slightly wider than segment 2, segment 1 almost, segment 2 more than twice as long as wide, segments 3–5 as long as wide; club spindle-shaped, slightly more than twice as long as wide, completely covered with recumbent and subrecumbent, thin, dark and pale hairs, and sparse, erect light sensilla. Pronotum: black, somewhat wider than long (Pl/Pw 0.68), unevenly densely punctured, punctures subrotund, of slightly unequal size, spaces between punctures mostly smaller than puncture diameter; unevenly densely covered with subrecumbent, elongate (l/w 4–7), intermixed white and gingery scales; widest at base, very slightly conically narrowed to half of its length, then abruptly concavely narrowed to anterior margin, with striking bulge in middle and two smaller lateral tubercles, in lateral view in basal half flat, then abruptly falling to anterior margin. Prosternum: anterior margin with sharply incised, semicircular emargination not bounded by tubercles, separated from coxae by very narrow prosternal area. Scutellum: subtriangular, blunt at apex, covered with gingery and more sparse white scales, punctured. Elytra: black, in basal 2/3 moderately rounded, in apical part broadly slightly unevenly rounded, short (El/Ew 1.12), widest shortly before half of their length, at base somewhat wider than pronotum (Ew/Pw 1.67), humeri subquadrate, distinctly prominent, with marked posthumeral impression; strongly convex on disc; interstria 1 narrow, flat, at 2/3 of medial length and in preapical area with longitudinal narrow patches of dense, moderately elongate gingery scales, without broadening, with strip of dark scales between gingery patches; interstriae of markedly different width, even ones reduced to sinuous, unevenly narrow to invisible among punctures forming striae; odd interstriae, especially interstria 3 and 5 in anterior part markedly vaulted, with variously large, unevenly distributed alternating patches of whitish and black scales; striae indistinct, formed by irregular single rows of very large, deep, very densely arranged punctures; entire surface covered with small thin, tipped, recumbent, elongate (l/w 4–6) intermixed white and gingery hair-like scales leaving majority of integument visible. Venter: covered with semidensely arranged, subrecumbent, thin, hair-like scales except metepisterna, lateral parts of metasternum and margins of ventrites 3 and 4 covered with dense, recumbent, shortly elongate gingery scales; mesosternal process slightly convex, very broad, emarginate at posterior margin, covered with whitish hair-like scales, transversally ribbed; metasternum flat to slightly convex, with paramedial protruding tubercles, transversally ribbed, ventrite 1 with broad, subtriangular impression anteriorly and laterally bounded by linear elevation, ventrite 2 with shallow impression bounded laterally by two distinct tubercles, both ventrites finely transversally ribbed and punctured; ventrite 1 1.6 × as long as ventrite 2, ventrites 1–2 combined 5.2 × as long as ventrites 3–4 combined, ventrites 3–4 combined of 0.8 length of ventrite 5. Legs: black except brown claws, profemora with sharp subtriangular teeth, meso- and metafemora with protruding sharpened teeth; protibiae without mucro, mesotibiae at apex with large sharp mucro, metatibiae with smaller inwardly oriented sharp mucro; femora and tibiae covered with subrecumbent to suberect white, gingery and black elongate scales, on femora indistinctly clustered into feeble transverse bands, tarsi on tarsomeres 1–3 with suberect, onychia with recumbent, long, hair-like whitish and sparsely intermixed dark seta-like scales; anterior onychia of same length as tarsomeres 1–3 combined, anterior tarsomere 1 with downwardly oriented spine, tarsomere 3 wider than long; claws of equal length. Penis: Figs 61 d–f, its body medium long, lancet-like shaped, tipped at apex.

Female. Rostrum slightly longer (Rl/Rl 1.25), in lateral view more apparently narrowed from base to apex, antennal insertion closer to mid-length of rostrum, at about 0.6 of rostrum length. Ventrites 1 and 2 without impression. Protarsal segment 1 and apices of meso- and metatibiae without spine or mucro.

Variability. Length ♂♂ 3.82–5.29 mm, ♀♀ 4.36–5.43 mm. This species does not show remarkable variability except for the body size.

Diagnosis. Cionus helleri is characterised by large size, visible elytral integument and characters unique in Palaearctic species i. e. three tubercles on pronotum, spines on anterior tarsomere 1 and mucronate apices of meso- and metatibiae in males.

Comparative notes. Cionus helleri belongs to a monotypic morphological group unique among Palaearctic species, without close relatives.

Biological notes. The first author collected three specimens in Japan (Honshu, Kamikawa pr. Ichikawa, 21. v. 2014, 600 m 1 ♂; Honshu, Nagashino pr. Toyokawa, 20.v. 2014, 100 m 2 ♀♀) by beating a blue blossoming treegrown Paulownia sp.

Distribution. Japan, China (eastern provinces).

Non-type specimens examined. Additionally to the above mentioned specimens from Honshu, we examined 42 specimens. JAPAN: Shikoku, Mt. Otaki, Tokushima Pref., 2.viii.1972, M. Yoshida leg. (2 ♂♂ CA) ; Honshu, Heta pass, Izu-Toi , Shizuoka Pref., 13.vi.2010, Y. Notsu leg. (1 ♂ CA) ; CHINA: Jiangxi, Jinggang Shan Mts., Jinggangshan Zhufeng , 29.iv. 2011, 805 m, M. Fikáček & J. Hájek leg. ( NMPC) ; Guangxi, Shengtang Mt., Jinxiu, Laibin , 19.v. 1999, 700 m, ( IZCAS) ; Fujian, Laizhou, Yanping, Nanping , 29.v.1981 ( IZCAS) ; Fujian, Fu´an, Ningde , 1.vi.1981 ( IZCAS) ; Guangxi, Longsheng, Guilin , 10.v.1983 ( IZCAS) .

Figures

FIGURES 61–62. FIGURE 61. Cionus helleri. 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 62. Cionus thapsus. Prosternum, head and coxae in ventral view. Not to scale.