Ceratapion calcaratum ( 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 : 170-171

Ceratapion calcaratum ( Wollaston, 1864)

( Fig. 5 )

WOLLASTON (1864) described this species from the El Golfo region of Hierro and it has been recorded subsequently from Tenerife and Gran Canaria. The detailed records given by LINDBERG & LINDBERG (1958), BRITO & OROMÍ (1986) and by GURREA & SANZ (2000) suggest that it has been taken (or at least recorded) only rarely and in very small numbers; however, WANAT (1995) added records from a number of sites in Tenerife and one in Gran Canaria, though again in small numbers. It was also recorded from Gran Canaria by ISRAELSON et al (1982) and from Tenerife by KÖSTLIN (1985). A strong colony in a restricted area at El Camino de Chasna, Tenerife, persisted since December 1993 and was still extant in November 2001, when last examined, despite having been devastated by goats on at least one occasion. The host at this site was tentatively identified as Carduus pycnocephalus . Ceratapion calcaratum also occurred (on young plants of a Carduus sp. ) at Pista al Derrobado and El Salvador, Hierro, in January 2003. These appear to be the first examples recorded from the island since Wollaston’s original discovery, as the species is not otherwise mentioned by FRANZ (1995) in his detailed account of the coleopterous fauna of El Hierro, nor by GURREA & SANZ (2000). In Gran Canaria in January 2004 C. calcaratum was common at three sites (Montaña de las Pilas; Las Lagunetas; Los Corrales); the hosts (‘thistles’) were in early stages of growth and consequently not identified.

Single male and female specimens from El Hierro represent this species in Wollaston’s BMNH collection. The male is labelled ‘Type’ and ‘Hololectotypus’ (desig. Dr. M. A. Alonso-Zarazaga, 1986). The female is labelled ‘Paralectotypus’ with the same designation data. These designations were published by ALONSO- ZARAZAGA (1990b). The OUMNH series also includes a male and a female from El Hierro. WOLLASTON (1864) mentioned only four specimens, taken on that island, and presumably these were divided between the BMNH and OUMNH collections. If that is the case the OUMNH specimens are the two syntypes the whereabouts of which ALONSO- ZARAZAGA (1990b) was unable to ascertain.

Figures

Figs. 5–8. Habitus of the Apionidae of Canary Islands. 5 – Ceratapion calcaratum (Wollaston, 1864), lectotype, Wollaston Coll. (BMNH); 6 – Diplapion westwoodi (Wollaston, 1864), paralectotype, Wollaston Coll. (BMNH); 7 – Lepidapion senex (Wollaston, 1864), lectotype, Wollaston Coll. (BMNH); 8 – Taeniapion atlanticum (Uyttenboogaart, 1935), author’s Coll.