Pseudomeira obscura ( Solari & Solari, 1907 )

Bellò, Cesare & Baviera, Cosimo, 2011, On the Sicilian species of Pseudomeira Stierlin (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), Zootaxa 3100, pp. 35-68 : 48-49

Pseudomeira obscura ( Solari & Solari, 1907)

( Figs. 23 , 49 , 62 , 74 )

Peritelus obscurus Solari & Solari, 1907: 117 .

Peritelus parvulus Seidlitz sensu Desbrochers, 1871 : Bertolini, 1899: 89; Vitale, 1900a: 19; Vitale, 1901: 426; Vitale, 1906b: 29.

Peritelus (Peritelus) obscurus: Luigioni, 1929: 872 .

Peritelus (Meira) obscurus: Porta, 1932: 64 .

Peritelus (Pseudomeira) obscurus: Lona, 1937: 264 .

Pseudomeira obscura (Solari & Solari) : Pierotti & Bellò, 1994: 111; Abbazzi et al., 1995: 23; Pierotti & Bellò, 1998: 105; Sparacio, 1999: 138; Colonnelli, 2003: 48; Osella et al., 2005; Abbazzi & Maggini, 2009: 62.

Type locality: Sicily, Messina (see below).

Diagnosis: Small (2.6–3.8 mm), globose, elytral disc gibbous anteriorly. Epistoma impressed, clypeus flat and longitudinally impressed in middle. Elytra clothed with earth-brown or silvery scales and short almost almost recumbent setae with moderately widening apex. Aedeagus with quite rounded apex.

Description: Body globose. Dorsal vestiture of earth-brown scales, usually forming two longitudinal darker stripes on each side of pronotum and a patch around scutellum, here and there paler, sometimes silvery, and of short setae with moderately widening apex which are recumbent on frons and pronotum and more or less suberect on elytra.

Rostrum strongly transverse, sided hardly (Ƥ) or distinctly (3) converging towards apex. Epistoma concave with bulging edges; pterygia not or just slightly protruding; clypeus subrectangular and with a longitudinal depression. Eyes nearly hemispherical, slightly protruding from head. Antennae quite robust; basal half of scape not or weakly thickening; second funicular segment as long as or shorter than the combined length of the following two, segments 3–7 pearl-shaped; club rather elongate and with the first segment widely conical.

Pronotum more (3) or less (Ƥ) transverse, anterior margin as wide as basal one, sides weakly sinuate, disc with obvious dense punctures.

Elytra oval, globose, humeri wanting. Striae punctured, interstriae feebly convex.

Legs moderately robust; external margin of protibiae straight, shortly rounded at apex.

Aedeagus: see Figs. 62 , 74 .

Lectotype: Solari & Solari (1907) described this species from: “Sicilia (Messina, coll. Vitale); Calabria (Santa Eufemia, Aspromonte, coll. Paganetti); Salernitano (Vallo di Lucania, coll. nostra)”. In accordance with the priority criterion, according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, considering that all Palaearctic Peritelini are wingless species consisting of populations which is some cases are now being separated as different taxa, it seems suitable to select lectotypes of with more than one type locality species to avoid possible future misinterpretations. We thus checked the Solari and the Vitale collections where we found 27 type specimens (males only from Messina) from which we select here a male lectotype (SOL) labeled as follows: [genitalia glued on a white label], "Messina, F. Vitale" [white, printed], "co-Typus" [white, partly printed], " Pseudomeira obscura (A. & F. Solari, 1907), Lectotypus, det. Bellò 2010 " [red, handwritten], "foto Bellò 2011" [yellow, handwritten].

Paralectotype: Two specimens (VIT), both with "Messina, F. Vitale" [white, printed], " Peritelus obscurus , det. F. Solari" [white, partly printed], " Pseudomeira obscura Sol. , det. C. Pesarini 2001" [white, printed], " Pseudomeira obscura (A. & F. Solari, 1907), det. Bellò 2009 [white, printed], " Pseudomeira obscura (A. & F. Solari, 1907), Paralectotypus, det. Bellò 2010 " [red, handwritten]. One paralectotype (VIT), with "Messina, F. Vitale" [white, printed], " Peritelus obscurus nob.-cotyp" [white, handwritten], " Pseudomeira obscura (A. & F. Solari, 1907), Paralectotypus, det. Bellò 2010 " [red, handwritten], " Pseudomeira obscurella Bellò & Pierotti , det. C. Bellò 2010 "; this is a specimen of Pseudomeira obscurella Bellò & Pierotti, 1994 . Fifteen paralectotype (SOL), all with "Calabria, S.ta Eufemia" [white, printed], "Paganetti" [white, printed], "co-typus" [white, partly printed], " Pseudomeira obscura (A. & F. Solari, 1907), Paralectotypus, det. Bellò 2010 " [red, handwritten]. Five paralectotype (SOL), all with "Calabria, Aspromonte" [white, printed], "Paganetti" [white, printed], "co-typus" [white, partly printed], " Pseudomeira obscura (A. & F. Solari, 1907), Paralectotypus, det. Bellò 2010 " [red, handwritten]. One paralectotype (SOL) with "Vallo Lucano, Sambiase, V 1902, Solari" [white, partly printed], 2 co-typus" [white, partly printed], " Pseudomeira obscura (A. & F. Solari, 1907), Paralectotypus, det. Bellò 2010 " [red, handwritten]. Two paralectotype (SOL), both with "Sicilia, Messina, Calamarà, 3 1 1903, Vitale" [white, partly printed], "co-typus" [white, partly printed], " Pseudomeira obscura (A. & F. Solari, 1907), Paralectotypus, det. Bellò 2010 " [red, handwritten]. With the present selections, Messina becomes the type locality of this species.

Distribution: Central and southern Apennines, Sicily.

Material from Sicily: A total of 24 specimens were examined; genitalia of 4 were studied.

Localities in Sicily: Messina (BIN, DOD, HOF, LUI, SOL, VIT); Calamarà ( SOL, VIT).

Ecology: In spite of our efforts, we were unable to collect this species in the surroundings of Messina, Sicily, although we found it innearby Aspromonte, Calabria sifting leaf-litter taken under Fagus sylvatica L., Castanea sativa Miller , Astragalus sp., and turning stones in the nearby meadows.

Reproduction: Amphigonic.

Notes: Specimens under this name from other Sicilian localities in RAG, SOL and VIT, are actually P. obscurella Pierotti & Bellò , a parthenogenetic species described subsequently.

Figures

FIGURES 19 – 26. Habitus of Pseudomeira ssp. (scale bar: 1 mm).

FIGURES 45 – 52. Lateral view of Pseudomeira ssp. (scale bar: 1 mm).

FIGURES 53 – 64. Aedeagus of Pseudomeira ssp.

FIGURES 65 – 76. Apex aedeagus of Pseudomeira ssp.