Eulechriops minutus (J. E. LeConte)

Hespenheide, Henry A., 2003, A New Eulechriops for the United States (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: CONODERINAE), The Coleopterists Bulletin 57 (1), pp. 95-98 : 97

Eulechriops minutus (J. E. LeConte)

( Fig. 2 )

Eccoptus minutus J.E. LeConte 1824, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N.Y., 1:171, Pl. 11, fig. 8. Copturus minutus (J.E. LeConte), LeConte 1876, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. 15:264.

Zygomicrus minutus (J.E. LeConte), Casey 1897, Coleopterological Notices, 6: 679.

Diagnosis. Dark reddish brown to nearly black, except legs, rostrum, elytra, and apical 1/3–1/2 of pronotum paler; more or less uniformly and densely covered with white setae beneath and on legs, more densely so in separate large patch on basal lateral portions of pronotum; pattern of setae above variable, usually white in small patches along midline of pronotum at apex and anterior to scutellum and at anterior corners; setae on elytra in pattern similar to E. elongatus but less regular and precise: at basal 1/3 of interval 2, apical 1/3 of interval 1 along suture, more or less setose on bases of intervals 3–6, at base of marginal interval and on medial 1/2 of submarginal interval behind pronotum, and in more or less distinct broad, oblique fascia on intervals 4–8 behind middle (setae missing on intervals 5 and 7 in many populations); rostrum glabrous beyond antennal insertions in females or on apical 1/2–1/ 3 in males; 1.95– 2.45 mm long (mean 5 2.24 mm, N 5 12).

Pronotum broadest at base with lateral margins nearly parallel at base and then very shallowly arcuately narrowing, about 1/3 wider than long. Elytra 0.9–1.1 mm wide, slightly broader than pronotum, elongate, about 1/3 longer than wide. Anterior margin of metasternum transverse. Abdomen with shallow narrow groove on first ventral sternite in male, shallowly convex in female. Aedeagus and spiculum gastrale illustrated in Figure 2 .

Specimens have been seen from the following states: NY, NJ, PA, MD, VA, WV, DC, NC, SC, AL, IL, AR, OK, TX, and the species was described from GA.

The pattern of setae on the elytra varies considerably from very sparse and irregularly patterned to nearly completely setose in some specimens from Texas and Oklahoma. A series from Latimer Co., Oklahoma (CWOB), includes specimens that approach that typical of E. elongatus . Most specimens of E. minutus , however, have a sparser pattern of setae on the elytra, with the subapical fascia often incomplete on the odd-numbered intervals.

Figures

Figs. 1–2. Male aedeagi, dorsal and lateral views, and spiculum gastrale of North American Eulechriops. 1) E. elongatus Champion; 2. E. minutus (J.E. LeConte).