Curculio flavescens (Roelofs)

Frank W. Pelsue, Jr. & Zhang, Runzhi, 2000, A Review Of The Genus Curculio L. From China With Descriptions Of New Taxa. Part I (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Curculioninae: Curculionini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 54 (2), pp. 125-142 : 133-134

Curculio flavescens (Roelofs)

Figs. 14–15 , 35

Balaninus flavescens Roelofs 1874

Recognition Characters. Broadly oval; first segment of funiculus almost three times as long as second segment. Club of antennae longer than first and second segments combined with a fringe of fine setae on the anterior margin; rostrum as long as body; color of derm black with decumbent ocherous and white scales; elytra with two mid and posterior ocherous fascia; legs black with elongate, decumbent, white scales.

Description. Female. Length: 4.4–4.8 mm (mean = 4.6). Width: 2.3–2.7 (mean = 2.5). Head. Large slightly convex; derm piceous; punctures small, nude dorsally; a few small decumbent white scales around ventral margin of eyes; eyes large, oval with fine facets; frons 0.28 as broad as head across eyes, narrower than base of rostrum; punctures small and close together with few scales. Rostrum. Length 4.5–4.8 mm (mean = 4.65); as long as body; fuscous basally, more furugino­testaceous apically; cylindrical, sides parallel past base; abruptly emerging from head; lacking dorsal carina; punctures small, oval, denuded; straight with a dip midway then abruptly curving in last one quarter of its length; scrobe lateral, inserted in basal one third. Antennae. Length: Scape 1.2 mm; funicular segment one 0.7 mm; two 0.25 mm; three 0.1 mm; four 0.1 mm; five 0.1 mm; six 0.1 mm; seven 0.1 mm; club 1.0 mm; funicle 1.45 mm; scape 0.83 as long as funicle; derm fuscous; densely clothed with narrow, elongate, decumbent, white scales, a few semierect setae toward apex of each segment; club elongate, linear with fringe of fine setae on anterior margin; first two segments 0.3 mm each, last two short. Thorax. Length 1.5 mm. Width 2.2 mm. 0.69 as long as broad; derm fuscous; disc convex in lateral view, sides angled to constriction, base almost as broad as base of elytra; punctures small, close together, clothed with ocherous, clavate, decumbent scales basoanteriorly, narrower elongate, decumbent, white scales dorsolaterally with mixture of ocherous and white scales, impressed laterally; base sinuate; ocherous macula present proximal to scutellum; scutellum small about as broad as long, set in declivity, clothed with small, narrow, white scales; mesosternal intercoxal process feebly prominent; mesepimeron, mesepisternum, metepeisternum densely clothed with ocherous, decumbent scales; two basolateral ocherous macula present not well defined; procoxae clothed with narrow, clavate, decumbent, white scales anteriorly and broader clavate, decumbent, ocherous scales posteriorly. Elytra. Length 3.0 mm. Derm piceous; striae narrow seem to lack scales; humeri not prominent, rounded; intervals broad, flat, clothed with clavate ocherous, fuscous, and narrow, elongate, white, decumbent scales, with two defuse ocherous fascia, one at the midpoint second toward apex; disc flat in lateral view; crosshatch setae short not prominent. Legs. Length of hind femur 2.4 mm, exceeding apex of abdomen, tooth medium, acute; profemur 2.5 mm in length, tooth medium; mesofemoral tooth small; all legs black with dense, narrow, elongate, decumbent white scales; hind tibia straight, distal comb long ascending up posterior margin one­quarter of length; pro­, meso­, and metauncus large longer than tarsal claw; tarsal segments one to three broad, clothed with elongate, white, decumbent setae. Abdomen. Derm piceous; sternite one longer than two behind coxal cavity; sternite two ascending to three; sternites three and four approximately same length, combined longer than sternite five; sternite five with acute apex and narrow apical declivity; sternites one and two clothed with clavate decumbent ocherous scales, three through five with narrow elongate white scales. Pygidium . Slightly exposed with short fringe of setae. Genitalia. Spermatheca: Ramus bluntly rounded, collum just a knob with cornu thick and curved with blunt apices ( Fig. 35 ).

Plant Associations. Unknown.

Distribution. Japan; Russia; China, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna, 650 M, 08–21 June 1958, F. Pu; Vietnam, Tonkin, Hoa­binh, July 1940, A. Cooman. Two specimens examined.

Remarks. This species was described by Roelofs from Japan and has since been discovered in China. This represents a new distribution record.

Figures

Figs. 14–15. Curculio flavescens female, habitus, dorsal and lateral views. Various scales.

Fig. 35. Curculio flavescens. Spermatheca, lateral aspect.