Pseudomeira grenierii (Seidlitz)

Pierotti, Helio, Bellò, Cesare & Alonso-Zarazaga, Miguel A., 2010, 2376, Zootaxa 2376, pp. 1-96 : 23-24

Pseudomeira grenierii (Seidlitz)

( Figs. 20a–b, 51a, 72)

Peritelus (Peritelus) grenierii Seidlitz, 1866: 291 , 332; Stierlin, 1883: 591, 597; Lona, 1937: 257.

Peritelus grenieri Seidlitz : Roudier, 1957: 24; Pierotti & Bellò, 1994: 290.

Pseudomeira grenieri (Seidlitz) : Pierotti & Bellò, 1998: 105.

Pseudomeira grenierii (Seidlitz) : Alonso-Zarazaga, 2002: 24.

Diagnosis. Species of medium size (4.5–5.7 mm), characterised by plumper body outline with subovoid elytra and obsolete humeral calli, with elytra rather fusiform posteriorly, by not or weakly prominent pterygia, by desmomeres 2–7 progressively widened, by flattened eyes and by vestiture of golden scales with some greenish metallic shimmer, rarely silvery-grey in colour.

Redescription (holotype). Body outline robust, moderately short. Dorsal vestiture of pale ochreous scales with evident metallic bronze shimmer, darker on two lateral, vague stripes on pronotal dorsum and on base of first interstria, strongly imbricate on elytra, and of fine setae, not or hardly widened at apex, reclinate, a little upright on sides of frons, on base of first interstria and on apex of declivity. Rostrum transverse, sides weakly convergent apicad; epistome widely notched; pterygia short, hardly prominent; metarostrum with a weak median keel in front; prorostrum slightly impressed longitudinally in middle. Frons narrow, hardly wider than metarostrum, with a median fovea. Eyes large, weakly ovoid, flattened. Antennae with scape normal, scarcely incrassate from base to apex, funicle robust, desmomere 1 not longer than 2, this subequal to 3+4, desmomeres 6 and 7 transverse, first three with pale, slightly broader setae; club moderately elongate, first segment widely cup-shaped. Pronotum markedly transverse, wider at base than at apex, almost regularly rounded at sides, on disc a little impressed transversely in front, punctures double. Elytra ovoid, fusiform at apex, hardly impressed at base, convex on dorsum, humeral calli obsolete, elytral striae evident in spite of vestiture, interstriae flat. Tibiae robust, protibiae rounded before apex on outer margin. Aedeagus in lateral view weakly curved, more strongly so at apex, in dorsal view widely cordiform at apex ( Fig. 20a); endophallic structures as in Fig. 20b. Spermatheca as in Fig. 51a.

Variability. Dorsal vestiture sometimes composed of paler scales with greenish shimmer, somewhat darker on third and fifth elytral interstriae, rarely uniformly silvery-greyish.

Distribution. Trans-Pyrenaean: southern France (Hérault, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales) and northern Spain (Catalonia) (type locality: Narbonne, Aude). Spanish literature records: Gerona: left bank of Ter river ( Roudier, 1957); Figueras ( Pierotti & Bellò, 1994).

Material examined ( Fig. 72). Holotype, labelled: 1) Narb.; 2) ♀; 3) grenieri n. sp.; 4) type, Pter. (sic!) grenieri Seidl. ; 5) Zool. Staatsslg. München; 6) Peudomeira grenieri Seidl. , dett. Pierotti & Bellò; 7) holotypus ( SEI). Other specimens: Spain: Gerona: Roses, IX.1984, leg. Hyman ( RUS); Río Ter, 17. V.54, leg. González ( GON); do., 8.7.54, leg. González ( GON, MAG, TEM); do., 27. V.54, leg. González ( MAG, TEM); Figueras, 15. V.92, leg. Bellò (BEL); do., leg. Pierotti ( PIE); Olot, 28.VII.29, leg. Gelabert (MBA); do., estiu 34, leg. Gelabert (MBA); do., 18. V.16, leg. Codina (MBA); do., 27.X.17, leg. Codina (MBA); La Sellera [de Ter], VI.34, leg. Ferrer Bravo (MBA); Hostalets d’en Bas, VII.23, leg. Codina (MBA); do., 20.VII.24, leg. Gelabert (MBA); Alp San Juan, 12.VII.03 (MBA); Sils, 10. VI.17, leg. Museu (MBA); desemboc. río Fluviá, 17. VI.84, leg. Vázquez ( ALZ); S. Clemente de Amer , 7.VII.72, leg. de Ferrer ( ALZ); San Juan de las Abadesas, 5.VII.55, leg. González ( GON); Camallera, 1. VI.98, leg. Pierotti (BEL, PIE); Torroella de Fluviá, 14. V.00, leg. Pierotti (BEL, PIE). Barcelona: Balenyá, 5.IX.02, leg. Vilarrubia (MBA).

Biology. We have collected adults from Verbena supina L. ( Verbenaceae ) in Figueras ( Pierotti & Bellò, 1994), among graminaceous plants under old olive trees in Camallera and on bushes in Torroella de Fluvià.