Cleopomiarus distinctus (Boheman, 1845)

Gültekin, Neslihan, Caldara, Roberto & Gültekin, Levent, 2021, Miarus Schoenherr and Cleopomiarus Pierce (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Species Associated with Campanula L. (Campanulaceae) Plants in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey, The Coleopterists Bulletin 75 (3), pp. 505-511 : 506-510

Cleopomiarus distinctus (Boheman, 1845) ( Figs. 2A–C )

Material Examined. TURKEY: Trabzon Prov., Zigana Mountain, Hamsiköy, Zitaş Road , 40°40′21′′N, 39°26′05′′E, 1,700 m, 13.7.201 9, 12♂, 6♀, N. GÜltekin leg .

Diagnosis. Length 2.2–3.0 mm. Dorsal vestiture comprising subrecumbent, whitish to light brown, seta-like scales. Rostrum in male long, in female very long, weakly curved in lateral view, cylindrical, of same width from base to apex. Pronotum distinctly transverse, subconical, with rounded sides. Elytra distinctly globose, short, slightly longer than wide, weakly wider than pronotum, at base distinctly directed forward from interstria 5 to humeri, with rounded sides. Metafemur with small tooth, uncus of metatibia in male distinctly enlarging at apex and directed outward. Body of penis gradually narrowed from base to apex.

Remarks. This is one of the most variable species in terms of the color of the dorsal vestiture (which varies from whitish gray to light brown), the density of the elytral scales (sometimes completely covering the integument), and the length of the rostrum. The latter character is especially variable in the females of Anatolian populations, which need further detailed biological and molecular studies (Caldara and Legalov 2016). This species is similar to C. caucasicus , with which it shares the enlarged uncus of the male metatibia. Apart from this character, the two species clearly differ in the shape of the rostrum and that of the penis.

Distribution. Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, China, South Korea, Turkey ( Alonso-Zarazaga et al. 2017; Caldara and Legalov 2016), Norway ( Steinert et al. 2018).

Plant Association. According to literature, this species has been collected on various species of Campanula : Campanula cervicaria L. C. glomerata , Campanula incurva Auch. , C. latifolia , C. persicifolia , C. rapunculus , C. rhomboidalis , Campanula thyrsoides L., and C. trachelium in central Europe (Caldara and Legalov 2016; Hoffmann 1958; Skuhrovec et al. 2018; Smreczyński 1976). The larvae are seed feeders developing inside seed capsules of Campanulaceae (Caldara and Legalov 2016) .

We collected C. distinctus on two Campanula species never previously reported as host plants: Campanula alliariiafolia Willd. (native to Turkey and the Caucasus) and C. rapunculoides ( Fig. 2D ) (widely distributed in southern and central Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus) in the eastern Black Sea Region in open areas within forest habitats. According to Caldara and Legalov (2016), nothing was known about its host plants in Turkey hitherto. Therefore, with this current finding, we have also determined two host plants from Turkey for the first time.

Figures

Fig. 2. Cleopomiarus distinctus and host plants. A) Adult male, dorsal view, B) Adult female, dorsal view, C) Aedeagus, front view, D) Campanula alliariiafolia (white) and Campanula rapunculoides, host plants, E) Egg, deposited in the ovary of a flower, F) Larvae feeding in ovary with young seeds.