Tychius flavus Becker, 1864

Jiang, Chunyan, Caldara, Roberto & Zhang, Runzhi, 2020, The genus Tychius Germar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Curculioninae) in China, with description of three new species, Zootaxa 4856 (1), pp. 1-62 : 18

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4856.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0C2E90FC-25FD-455D-86A7-0BA8210C0A30
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4411295
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/632E87E8-FFAE-FFE0-E6D5-FCA0FF3A859D
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Tychius flavus Becker, 1864
status

Treatment

14. Tychius flavus Becker, 1864 View in CoL

( Figures 35–38 View FIGURES 19–36 View FIGURES 37–54 , 159–162 View FIGURES 149–172 , 263–264 View FIGURES 243–274 , 317 View FIGURES 307–339 , 374 View FIGURES 372–379 , 407 View FIGURES 397–431 , 439 View FIGURES 432–457 , 465 View FIGURES 458–484 )

Tychius flavus Becker, 1864: 488 View in CoL . Caldara, 1985a: 344; 1990: 173.

Tychius difficilis Tournier, 1874: 490 View in CoL . Franz, 1942: 117. Caldara, 1985a: 344; 1990: 173.

Material examined. CHINA: Xinjiang: Fukang Observatory Ecol. Syst. Desert (44°17’N; 87°56’E, 474m), 23-V- 2007, leg Ye Liu (1); GoogleMaps Jimunai County (47°22’N; 85°53’E, 1089 m), 3-VII-2014, leg Chunyan Jiang (4); GoogleMaps Baihaba grassland (1153 m), 23-VII-2009, leg Xinlei Huang (2) GoogleMaps .

Redescription. Length 1.90–2.50 mm ( Fig. 35–38 View FIGURES 19–36 View FIGURES 37–54 ). Integument reddish brown, usually darker on pronotum, basal third of elytra and abdomen; on dorsum covered with uniformly pale brown to yellowish scales, those of elytral striae wide subelliptical, of same size and width as scales of interstriae. Rostrum ( Fig. 159–162 View FIGURES 149–172 ) in lateral view distinctly tapered distad of antennal insertion (Rl/Rw 3.50–3.61 in male, 3.61–4.17 in female; Rl/Pl 0.77–0.86 in male, 0.78–0.90 in female). Antennal funicle 7-segmented. Eyes large, globose, distinctly convex. Pronotum moderately transverse (Pw/Pl 1.10–1.23), with slightly rounded sides, widest between basal and middle third, somewhat convex. Elytra short (Ew/Pw 1.17–1.28; El/Ew 1.40–1.60), suboval, with slightly rounded sides, widest in basal half, convex. Femora ( Fig. 263–264 View FIGURES 243–274 ) with very small tooth. Profemora and protibiae ( Fig. 317 View FIGURES 307–339 ) without sexual characters. Claws with robust medial teeth, slightly longer than half of claw. Male genitalia: body of penis ( Fig. 374 View FIGURES 372–379 ) wide and short, on dorsal view slightly narrow at middle and with a transverse more sclerotized band, slightly narrowed only near to apex, with a distinct blunted tip ( Fig. 407 View FIGURES 397–431 ), as long as apodeme. Female genitalia: spermatheca ( Fig. 439 View FIGURES 432–457 ) with distinct ramus curved inward, distinct short collum, robust nodus, thin cornu narrowed in apical part; spiculum ventrale ( Fig. 465 View FIGURES 458–484 ) with arms moderately spaced each other and sinuous at middle.

Remarks and comparative notes. Due to the shape of the scales of the elytral striae (wide and not seta-like) and the shape of the male genitalia, this species was placed by Caldara (1990) in a distinct group together with T. argentatus Chevrolat, 1859 , a species with a large circum-Mediterranean distribution living on Loteae. Otherwise, the general habitus is very similar to several species of the T. stephensi group, mainly T. aureolus , T. medicaginis and T. junceus .

Biology. In China, this species lives mainly on introduced Medicago , specifically M. sativa L. and M. falcata L. It was also reported as collected on Melilotus officinalis L., but this needs to be confirmed.

Distribution. This species was known from central and eastern Europe to Central Asia. New record from China (XIN).