Pseudoperitelus senex (Boheman) Pierotti & Bellò & Alonso-Zarazaga, 2010

Pierotti, Helio, Bellò, Cesare & Alonso-Zarazaga, Miguel A., 2010, 2376, Zootaxa 2376, pp. 1-96 : 45-46

Pseudoperitelus senex (Boheman) comb. n.

( Figs. 9b, 44a–c, 57b)

Peritelus senex Boheman in Schoenherr, 1834: 516; Iglesias Iglesias, 1922: 6; Torres-Sala, 1962: 360; Pierotti & Bellò, 1998: 104; Alonso-Zarazaga, 2002: 24.

Peritelus (Peritelus) senex Boheman : Seidlitz, 1866: 290, 295; Stierlin, 1883: 186; Lona, 1937: 259.

Peritelus marqueti Gautier, 1858 : CXXXVI; Lona, 1937: 260 (synonymy).

Diagnosis. Species of small to medium size (3.0– 5.1 mm), characterised by short, usually subglobular body outline, desmomere 1 ca. twice as long as wide and characteristic endophallic structures.

Redescription. Body outline subglobular. Dorsal vestiture of rounded scales, weakly imbricate, silvery, grey, greenish, coppery or ochreous, always with metallic sheen, forming on pronotum a median and two darker lateral bands, on elytra some sparse paler fasciae and nebulous darker spots on even interstriae, and of narrow setae, reclinate on head, appressed on pronotum, raised to suberect on elytra. Rostrum transverse, narrower at base than at apex, epistome raised, clypeo-frontal keel present. Metarostrum a little wider than prorostrum, this not or weakly depressed in middle; pterygia prominent; frontal sulcus distinct. Frons narrow, a little wider than metarostrum, slightly depressed with respect to vertex. Eyes large, subconvex, weakly elongate, prominent beyond genae. Antennae with scape normally incrassate from base to apex, funicle short and robust, desmomere 2 a little shorter than 1, subequal to a little shorter than 3+4, 6 and 7 (and sometimes also 5 in female) transverse; club with first segment widely cup-shaped. Pronotum transverse, wider at base than at apex, strongly rounded at sides, slightly depressed behind apical margin, disc with moderately deep and dense faint punctures. Elytra subrotundate, very weakly depressed at base, striae with closely set punctures, obscured by vestiture, interstriae flat to very weakly convex. Tibiae widened at apex, fore tibiae less markedly so in male, hind tibiae with more robust teeth on inner margin in male. Aedeagus in dorsal view scutiform in preapical region ( Fig. 44a), in lateral view ventrally bent ( Fig. 44b); endophallic structures as in Fig. 9b. Spiculum ventrale as in Fig. 44c; spermatheca as in Fig. 57b.

Distribution. North-western and central Mediterranean; locally common from Styria and northern Italy to Mediterranean France and Eastern Pyrenees; rare or very scarce in western and northern France (type locality: “Gallia meridionalis” = southern France). Spanish literature records: Gerona: Rovas; Zaragoza: Cariñena ( Iglesias Iglesias, 1922); Castellón: Segorbe; Valencia: Burjasot ( Torres Sala, 1962). Its occurrence in Spain is likely, at least in Catalonia, although not confirmed from the material we studied in that we could find no Iberian specimens of it. The specimens from Castellón and Valencia, housed in TOS, in fact belong to Euplister .

Biology. This species has been collected on species of Quercus (Fagaceae) , Prunus (Rosaceae) , Genista , Ulex , Astragalus , Dorycnium (Fabaceae) , Elaeagnus (Elaeagnaceae) , Cistus (Cistaceae) , Thymus , Rosmarinus (Lamiaceae) and Artemisia (Asteraceae) .