Sinoxylon unidentatum (Fabricius, 1801)

Nardi, Gianluca & Mifsud, David, 2015, The Bostrichidae of the Maltese Islands (Coleoptera), ZooKeys 481, pp. 69-108 : 79

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Bostrichidae

Sinoxylon unidentatum (Fabricius, 1801)

Material examined.

Malta: Malta: Marsa, Għammieri, 24.I.2007, DM, taken from wood packaging material originating from India, 1 ex (CMM).

Chorotype.

A cosmopolitan species native to tropical eastern Asia, and widespread in the intertropical regions of the world. In Europe, it was intercepted in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain and Ukraine, but its establishment was never confirmed. Moreover, the species is not reported from North Africa and the Middle East (except from Yemen) (cf. Vrydagh 1955, Poggi et al. 1994, Peck et al. 1998, Geis 2002, Ratti 2004, Maes 2005, Iwata and Nakano 2006, Liu et al. 2006, Peres Filho et al. 2006, Westcott et al. 2006, in all cases as Sinoxylon conigerum Gerstäcker 1855, Bahillo de la Puebla et al. 2007, Borowski 2007, Borowski and Węgrzynowicz 2007, Barriga and Cepeda 2009, as Sinoxylon conigerum , Savoldelli and Regalin 2009, Price et al. 2011, Brustel and Aberlenc 2014).

Ecology.

In its place of origin, Sinoxylon unidentatum develops in the wood of many unrelated plant families mainly: Anacardiaceae , Combretaceae , Dipterocarpaceae , Euphorbiaceae , Lamiaceae , Lauraceae , Leguminosae , Mimosaceae , Myrtaceae , Rubiaceae , Tiliaceae , Ulmaceae , etc. (cf. Poggi et al. 1994, Peres Filho et al. 2006, as Sinoxylon conigerum , Bahillo de la Puebla et al. 2007, Savoldelli and Regalin 2009).

Notes.

This alien species is a new record for the central Mediterranean area. Due to its polyphagy, it is frequently exported with wooden packing material (cf. Bahillo de la Puebla et al. 2007). The Maltese climate ( Chetcuti et al. 1992, Schembri 1997) is unsuitable for its establishment (J. Borowski, pers. comm. 2012), but in an indoor site of northern Italy, this species was able to complete its development and to spread the infestation ( Savoldelli and Regalin 2009).