Pseudopiazurus Heller, 1906: 32

Anzaldo, Salvatore S., 2017, Review of the genera of Conoderinae (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, ZooKeys 683, pp. 51-138 : 67

Pseudopiazurus Heller, 1906: 32 Figs 22 , 40 , 64 , 71

Type species.

Piazurus obesus Boheman, 1838 [by subsequent designation: Rheinheimer 2011: 76].

Gender.

Masculine.

Diagnosis.

Pseudopiazurus centraliamericanus (Heller, 1906), the only recorded Central American species of Pseudopiazurus , can be separated from other Central American piazurines by the deep U-shaped depression on the first abdominal ventrite (Fig. 64 ; also found in a few Pseudopinarus , but when present in that genus there is always also present the arcuate carina on the vertex of the head which is never found in Pseudopiazurus ), the large subapical premucro of the metatibia (Fig. 22 ; but also at least in Pseudopinarus guyanensis Hustache, 1938), the absent premucro at the protibial apex (also in species of Pseudopinarus ), the very large, ovoid, contiguous eyes (Fig. 40 ), and the large, deep, ovoid punctures of the elytral striae (but also found in some Cratosomus species).

Notes.

First described by Heller (1906) along with Pseudopinarus as subgenera of Piazurus . As documented by Champion (1906: 18), after the subgenus was first introduced in the key the name was erroneously switched with that of Pseudopinarus and the key to species of Pseudopiazurus is given under the name Pseudopinarus ( Heller 1906: 34). The catalog of South American species by Wibmer and O’Brien (1986: 262) makes a correction to the two species given for Central America by O’Brien and Wibmer (1982: 160), which overlooked an error by Hustache (1934), leaving P. centraliamericanus the only species known from Central America.

Keys .

Marshall (1922: 69), Fiedler 1936: 28 and Heller 1906: 34 (under Pseudopinarus , in error) also contain keys to species.

Phylogenetic relationships.

This genus is most similar in overall appearance to Piazurus (see above), but the genus as a whole is incompletely distinguishable from Pseudopinarus by obvious characters with the exception of the much larger eyes, usually larger and more ascending mesepipleura, and absent ventral profemoral tooth of Pseudopiazurus - the deep arcuate sulci of the first ventrite in Pseudopiazurus is apparently also found in Pseudopinarus , e.g. in Pseudopinarus quadratus (Champion, 1906); the mesal process of the procoxae is absent in Pseudopiazurus centraliamericanus but present in the South American Pseudopiazurus spiniventris Marshall, 1922 as well as in many Pseudopinarus , and the subapical premucro of the metatibia is also found in Pseudopinarus guyanensis . Despite the overlap in these characters, Pseudopinarus is interpreted here as more closely related to the South American Piazolechriops , Pinarus , and Hedycera .

Host associations.

R.S. Anderson (1993: 218) lists Guttiferae Juss. (= Clusiaceae Lindl.). Marshall (1922: 67) records the South American P. obesus (= P. papayanus (Marshall, 1922)) as a borer of the “leaf-stems” of papaya ( Caricaceae Dumort: Carica papaya L.).

Described species.

One species is known from the focal region and three additional species are known exclusively from South America ( Wibmer and O’Brien 1986: 262, including Costa-Lima’s (1956: 217) synonymy of P. papayanus with P. obesus , which was either overlooked or disputed, as they are treated as separate by Wibmer and O’Brien).

Range.

Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama; South America.

Figures

Figures 19 - 36. Variation in the metatibial apex. 19 Mesotibial apex of Lechriops vestitus illustrating parts of the tibial apex: a) posterior apical angle with large, curved uncus; b) middle of the apex with produced, rounded inner flange; c) anterior apical margin with premucro; d) oblique ridge of premucro; e) apical setal tuft 20 Male Trichodocerus brevilineatus [ARTSYS 0000609] with a tibial uncus arising at the middle of the apex 21 Cratosomus punctulatus mexicanus [ASUHIC 0031510] with thick fascicles of golden setae near the anterior apical margin and a dense setal brush at the posterior apical face 22 Pseudopiazurus centraliamericanus [ASUHIC 0086627] with a large, subapical premucro 23 Piazurus laetus [SSAC 0001077], showing a typical tibial apex for that genus 24 Acoptus suturalis [ASUHIC 0016915] 25 Cylindrocopturinus pictus [SSAC 0001288] with a pointed, premucro-like inner flange 26 Pseudolechriops klopferi [SSAC 0001060] showing an elongate, uncus-like inner flange. 27 Arachnomorpha circumlineata [ARTSYS 0000535] 28 Archocopturus medeterae [ASUHIC 16884] 29 Cylindrocopturus adspersus [ASUHIC 0016896] with a rounded, produced inner flange 30 Helleriella longicollis [ASUHIC 0065241] with a very short uncus 31 Lissoderes cecropiae [ASUHIC 0064707] with an elongate uncus and minute premucro 32 Phileas granulatus [ARTSYS 0000528] with the middle of the apex (between uncus and premucro) sunken 33 Peltophorus adustus [ASUHIC 0012325] with a short uncus and posterodistal setal comb extending halfway to the base of the tibia 34 Zygops erythropygus [ASUHIC 0086640] with short posterodistal setal comb. 35 Philenis flavipes [ASUHIC 0065102] 36 Philinna bicristata [ARTSYS 0000799] with a small tooth at the anterior apical angle.

Figures 37 - 45. Variation in eye shape. 37 Trichodocerus brevilineatus [ARTSYS 0000609] with large, subcontiguous eyes that continue below rostral insertion 38 Cratosomus punctulatus mexicanus [ASUHIC 0031510] with relatively small, widely separated eyes 39 Lobops bonvouloiri [ARTSYS 0000658] with widely separated eyes and the frons concave between the upper half of the eye 40 Pseudopiazurus centraliamericanus [ASUHIC 0086627] with very large eyes that are contiguous in upper half 41 Pseudopinarus guyanensis [ASUHIC 0086636] with large, subcontiguous eyes and an arcuate carina on the vertex of the head 42 Acoptus suturalis [ASUHIC 0016914] with subcontiguous eyes separated at the top by a lanceolate space 43 Cylindrocopturinus pictus [SSAC 0001288] 44 Macrocopturus lynceus [SSAC 0001085] with very large, partially contiguous eyes 45 Microzygops nigrofasciatus [ARTSYS 0000802] with large eyes contiguous in the bottom 2 / 3 and widely separated at the top.

Figures 55 - 66. Miscellaneous morphological structures. 55 Hoplocopturus sulphureus [ARTSYS 0000801] with an overlay showing an elongate second funicular article that is more than twice the length of the first 56 Lissoderes subnudus [SSAC 0001064] with an overlay showing a second funicular article that is subequal to the first, and seven distinct funicular articles 57 Philinna bicristata [ARTSYS 0000799] showing a funiculus composed of six articles 58 Microzurus sp. [SSAC 0001290] showing a short, slender fifth tarsal article and minute claws 59 Philides comans [ARTSYS 0000804] with a broad tooth at the base of the tarsal claw 60 Left metafemoral apex of Piazurus trifoveatus [SSAC 0001118] that is unarmed at the mesal and lateral faces 61 Left metafemoral apex of Cylindrocopturinus pictus [SSAC 0001288] with a tooth only at the mesal face 62 Left metafemoral apex of Peltophorus polymitus seminiveus [SSAC 0001117] showing a small tooth at both mesal and lateral faces 63 Left metafemoral apex of Hoplocopturus sulphureus [ARTSYS 0000801] showing a small tooth at the lateral face and an acuminate process at the mesal face 64 Metaventrite of Pseudopiazurus centraliamericanus [SSAC 0001291] showing deep, arcuate sulc 65 Lateral view of the metathorax of Euzurus ornativentris [ARTSYS 0000796] showing a large tubercle in anterior to the metacoxa 66 Dorsal view of the profemora of Copturomimus caeruleotinctus [SSAC 0001059] showing denuded, striolate regions.

Figures 71 - 74. Lateral and dorsal habitus images of Piazurini, Othippiini and Lechriopini. Scale bars = 2 mm unless otherwise specified 71 a-b Pseudopiazurus centraliamericanus [ASUHIC 0086627]; scale bars = 5 mm 72 a-b Pseudopinarus condyliatus [ASUHIC 0086626]; scale bar for 72 a = 1 mm 73 a-b Acoptus suturalis [ASUHIC 0016914] 74 a-b Copturomimus cinereus [ASUHIC 0086628].