Hylastes obscurus Chapuis, 1875

Beaver, R. A. & Liu, L. Y., 2010, An annotated synopsis of Taiwanese bark and ambrosia beetles, with new synonymy, new combinations and new records (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), Zootaxa 2602, pp. 1-47 : 14-15

39. Hylastes obscurus Chapuis

Hylastes obscurus Chapuis, 1875: 197 .

Distribution: From Scandinavia through Russia and Northern China to Japan, Korea and Taiwan. [2b]

Hosts: Various genera of Pinaceae ( Abies , Picea , Pinus ). The record from Prunus (Rosaceae) in Korea ( Choo & Woo 1985) seems doubtful.

Biology: The biology and gallery system is briefly described by Kurenzov (1941). It is one of the most abundant species attacking trees which are dying, damaged or fallen as a result of heavy snowfalls in Northeastern China ( Lou et al. 2006 as Hylastes plumbeus Blandford ).

Taxonomy: The species is listed by Wood and Bright (1992) under the name Hylastes plumbeus Blandford , with H. obscurus Chapuis 1875 nec Marsham 1802 as a synonym. Blandford (1894a) proposed the new name, Hylastes plumbeus , because of homonomy with Hylastes obscurus (Marsham) . However, Ips obscurus Marsham is now placed in the genus Hylastinus , and there is no homonymy. We follow Schedl (1967b) in considering H. plumbeus as a synonym of H. obscurus Chapuis.