Cionus amictus Germar, 1821

Caldara, Roberto, Casalini, Roberto & Baviera, Cosimo, 2012, Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on the Rhinusa tetra (Fabricius) species complex (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Zootaxa 3329, pp. 31-40 : 32

Cionus amictus Germar, 1821

Germar (1821) described Cionus amictus from specimens collected in Portugal by Schüppel. He noted that his new species is very closely related to Curculio teter (presently Rhinusa tetra ) but differs by the slightly sparser vestiture, the slightly less convex and smaller body, and the edentate femora. Reitter (1907) and Zumpt (1933) considered Germar's taxon as a distinct species or a subspecies of R. tetra , respectively, whereas Brisout de Barneville (1862), Desbrochers des Loges (1893), Hoffmann (1958) and Smreczyński (1976) placed R. amicta among the varieties of R. tetra . In Portugal only two species of the R. tetra group are present: R. tetra and R. moroderi ( Reitter, 1906) . The latter has a longer, cylindrical female rostrum (Caldara 2008). Because Germar mentioned unarmed femora in the original description, it appears clear that he described this taxon based on females and that there is no difference in shape between the rostra of R. amicta and R. tetra . Unfortunately we did not find specimens that can be considered as belonging to the type series of Cionus amictus in Germar's collection at ZMHU as well as in other collections. Therefore, following the provisions of the Article 75 of the ICZN (1999), with the express purpose of clarifying the taxonomic status of this taxon, we decided to designate a neotype for Cionus amictus which agrees with R. tetra . It is deposited at the MSNM and has the following label data: “Lisbona Lu., 9.6.1935, A. Schatzmayr [printed on white card] / Neotype, Cionus amictus Germar , des. R. Caldara 2011 [printed on red card]”. This specimen is a female, 3.6 mm long (rostrum excluded), in good condition and glued on a white rectangular card. The type locality of R. amicta now becomes Portugal, Lisboa.