Pseudolechriops Champion, 1906 : 60

Hespenheide, Henry A. & Lapierre, Louis M., 2006, A review of Pseudolechriops Champion (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Conoderinae), Zootaxa 1384, pp. 1-39 : 3

Pseudolechriops Champion, 1906: 60

Type: P. megacephala Champion , by monotypy.

Champion cited the “broad head, the somewhat widely separated eyes, the almost straight, flattened rostrum, [and] the short, subcylindrical prothorax” as distinctive. Champion compared his new genus with the genera Tachylechriops Heller and Lechriops Schoenherr , although it is probably not closely related to either genus. The legs of Pseudolechriops species are proportionately much longer and more slender than those of most Lechriops , but we have seen South American specimens that appear to be intermediate between the two genera. The genus Tachylechriops has the posterior legs disproportionately enlarged and the posterior tibiae broadly, laterally flattened and arcuately rounded on the posterior margins, a trait that occurs in several unrelated conoderine genera ( Zygops Schoenherr , Paramnemyne Champion , Macrolechriops Heller , etc.) and in Tachygonus Schoenherr. It is found in a less extreme form in the part of the genus Pseudolechriops that includes P. megacephala , but not uniformly throughout the genus. The relationships of Pseudolechriops will have to wait for a more general review of New World conoderine genera and subfamilies.

As interpreted here there are two relatively well defined species groups. In the group that includes P. megacephala (the megacephala group), species are basically black in coloration, rhomboidal in body form, posterior tibiae are laterally flattened and more or less arcuately rounded on the posterior margins, and males have the rostrum more or less strikingly modified. Species in the second group (the coleyae n.sp. group), are usually reddish brown in coloration, more slender in form, have subcylindrical posterior tibiae, and rostra of males are not or only slightly modified. The two groups are different enough that they might be considered different genera, but all share similar larval biologies and are united by P. klopferi n.sp. which shares some characters of both groups.

In addition to the differences between the two species groups, species are distinguished primarily by setal patterns, coloration of the legs (the coleyae group), and structure of the male rostrum (especially in the megacephala group). Male genitalia are not very distinctive at the species level, but differences in the male rostra and in the setal coloration of the anterior and middle legs of males suggest the existence and importance of male-male interactions or male courtship behavior that usually accompanies secondary sexual characteristics. Sexes of all but one of the species treated here can be separated externally. Although not yet observed in Pseudolechriops , male-male interactions have been described for other conoderine weevils ( Lyal 1986).