Picia syriaca (Reitter)

Caldara, Roberto, 2008, A taxonomic revision of the weevil genus Picia Tournier, 1895 (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Erirhinidae), Zootaxa 1959 (1), pp. 39-57 : 51-52

Picia syriaca (Reitter)

Ephimeropus syriacus Reitter, 1889: 125 .

Hydronomus syriacus (Reitter) : Reitter, 1890: 146.

Echinocnemus syriacus (Reitter) : Schilsky, 1907: 34.

Picia syriaca (Reitter) : Solari, 1930: 46.

Type locality. Kaifa (= Haifa, presently in Israel) .

Redescription ( Fig. 3 ). Length 4.0– 5.4 mm (rostrum excluded).

Rostrum moderately robust, slightly (0.72–0.80x) shorter than pronotum, in lateral view almost of same width from base to apex, densely covered with brown scales, except apical quarter glabrous, scales partly imbricate, rounded to polygonal, flattened to slightly convex.

Antennae reddish, integument of funicle and segments of club barely visible as covered with dense greyish scales; funicle with segments 1 and 2 twice as long as wide, 1 1.5 times longer than 2, 3–7 about as long as wide.

Pronotum slightly wider than long (width / length 1.15–1.22), with sides nearly rectilinear and distinctly divergent from base to beyond middle, widest beyond middle then gradually narrowed and somewhat rounded to apex, distinctly convex, with integument completely hidden by scales, which are partly imbricate, dark brown and greyish, flattened, on disc partly distinctly concave, dark brown, shining with metallic reflection, subcircular to polygonal.

Elytra long (length / width 1.52–1.58), distinctly wider than pronotum (elytral width / pronotum width 1.33–1.38), oval, with base nearly rectilinear, humeri distinct but not protruding, sides slightly divergent to just beyond middle then distinctly and slightly sinuously narrowing to apex, interstriae nearly flat to weakly convex, striae distinctly narrower than interstriae, densely covered with partly imbricate, brown and greyish brown, flattened, polygonal to lanceolate scales: the greyish brown ones forming some irregular spots, the brown ones partly shining with metallic reflection around scutellum.

Legs fine, long, densely covered mainly with brown and greyish scales; femora long, moderately robust, subclavate; tibiae long, slightly sinuous at basal three quarters; tarsi ( Fig. 8 ) with segment 1 3.0 times longer than wide, segment 2 and 3 2.5 times as long as wide, together twice as long as segment 5 excluding claws; segment 5 5.0 times as long as wide; claws slightly longer than half of segment 5.

Male terminalia. Apical portion of tergite 8 with rounded narrow lip (as in P. mesopotamica , Fig. 11 ). Aedeagus and sternite 8 as in P. mesopotamica ( Figs. 18, 19 ). Female terminalia. Nodus of spermatheca moderately globose ( Figs. 24, 25 ). Sclerotised part of basal portion of sternite 8 subrectangular ( Fig. 28 ).

Variability. The specimen from Greece differs from the others examined by having the tarsi slightly shorter and the elytra less ogival and nearly parallel-sided in the anterior two thirds.

Material examined. Type series.

Ephimeropus syriacus was described from specimens collected in Syria but without indications of precise localities. I examined one female labelled “Syrien, Kaifa, Reitter / Ephimeropus syriacus m. 1889 / gr. Hydronomus / Holotypus 1888, Ephimeropus syriacus Reitter [label arbitrarily placed by a curator of NHNM]" (here designated as lectotype) .

Non-type specimens. GREECE: Thessaloniki, Vardarbene , leg. Schatzmayr (1, MSNM) . CYPRUS: Famagosta, 12.IV.1932, leg. Shiakides (4, BMNH) . TURKEY: Adana (1, JPCM) . SYRIA: Syrie , ex Bonnaire (1, MNHN) ; Homs, Qattinah lake , 6.V.2002, leg. Pelletier (1, JPCM) .

Distribution ( Fig. 29 ). Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Israel.

Remarks. This species appears very closely related to P. mesopotamica , from which it differs only by its shorter tarsi, slightly wider pronotum, especially in relation to the width of the elytra at base, and the more distinct humeri. There are no substantial differences between the male terminalia of these two species, whereas there are slight differences in the shape of the spermatheca (nodus slightly more globose in P. syriaca , Figs. 22–25 ) and sternite 8 (basal part slightly shorter in P. syriaca ).

Figures

FIGURE 29. Distribution (confirmed localities) of Picia sinuatocollis (dots); P. mesopotamica (stars); P. syriaca (squares)

FIGURES 1–4. Habitus of Picia sinuatocollis (1); P.mesopotamica (2); P. syriaca (3); Echinocnemus femoralis (4). Not to scale.

FIGURES 5–11. Hind tarsi of Echinocnemus femoralis (5); Picia sinuatocollis (6); P. mesopotamica (7); P.syriaca (8). Rostrum of P. sinuatocollis (9). Tergite 8 of P. sinuatocollis (10); P. mesopotamica (11). Scale-bars 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 12–19. Picia sinuatocollis: aedeagus in dorsal (12) and lateral (13) view; tegmen (14); sternite 8 (15); spiculum gastrale (16). P. mesopotamica: tegmen (17); aedeagus in dorsal view (18); sternite 8 (19). Scale-bar 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 20–28. Ovipositor of Picia sinuatocollis (20). Spermatheca of Picia sinuatocollis (21); P. mesopotamica (22, 23); P.syriaca (24,25). Sternite 8 of Picia sinuatocollis (26); P.mesopotamica (27); P.syriaca (28). Scale-bar 0.5 mm.