Holotrichapion (Holotrichapion) umbrinum ( Wollaston, 1864 )

Morris, Michael G., Sw, London & Dt, Dorset, 2011, The Apionidae (Coleoptera) of the Canary Islands, with particular reference to the contribution of T. Vernon Wollaston, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 51 (1), pp. 157-182 : 176

Holotrichapion (Holotrichapion) umbrinum ( Wollaston, 1864)

LINDBERG & LINDBERG (1958) and BRITO & OROMÍ (1986) referred to this species as Apion ononis Kirby, 1808 , MACHADO & OROMÍ (2000) to Holotrichapion ononis (Kirby) . However recent work has shown that Wollaston’s species, umbrinum , is distinct and not conspecific with Kirby’s ononis , a northern European species (M. A. Alonso-Zarazaga, pers. comm.). However, H. umbrinum is not endemic to the Canaries. The weevil has been recorded from all the western islands ( MACHADO & OROMÍ 2000), but does not appear to be very common; BRITO & OROMÍ (1986) cited a number of localities, but the records are mostly of single individuals and they were able to examine only ten specimens. As they remarked, it appears to have been commoner in Wollaston’s time. In Gran Canaria, the only island in which I have found it (Embalse del Mulato, March 1994; Degollada de Veneguera, February 1997; Tocodaman, November 1999; near El Risco, January 2004), it was associated with Ononis angustissima . A number of other species of Ononis occur in the Canaries, some of them being widely distributed.

Wollaston’s BMNH collection contains 2 males and 1 female from Gran Canaria, and 1 male from La Palma ; 5 males and 4 females in his OUMNH series include specimens from those two islands but also Tenerife. All stand under his name, Apion umbrinum .