Cryphalus swezeyi Schedl, 1942

Johnson, Andrew J., Honsberger, David & Beaver, Roger A., 2021, New records and taxonomic notes on Cryphalus Erichson, 1836 in Hawaiʻi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), Zootaxa 4999 (1), pp. 41-57 : 54

Cryphalus swezeyi Schedl, 1942 stat res.

Cryphalus swezeyi Schedl, 1942: 147 .

Type material examined. Lectotype Cryphalus swezeyi Schedl, 1942 : GUAM • 1 ♀; Dededo; 11 May 1936; O. H. Swezey leg.; ex. Piper guahamense ; label not transcribed or photographed; UFFE:14929; ( NHMW) • 1 ♂ Paralectotype; Yigo, Ritidian pt.; 15 Apr. 1936; H. H Bryan leg.; ex. “ferns” [probably from beating ferns]; UFFE:26228; ( NHMUK) • 1 ♀ Paralectotype; Yigo; 18 Oct. 1936; O. H. Swezey leg.; ex. Ficus ; ex. dead small leaved Ficus ; UFFE:10416; ( NHMUK) • 1 ♂ Paralectotype; Dededo; 11 May 1936; O. H. Swezey leg.; ex. Piper guahamense ; label not transcribed or photographed; UFFE:14930; ( NHMW).

Other material examined. NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS • 1; Saipan Island, Tuturam, Laulau Bay ; 21 Jan. 1945; Henry S. Dybas leg.; Under bark; “Lot 560”; UFFE :12204; ( USNM) • 1; Same collection data; UFFE:12205; ( NMNH).

Discussion. Cryphalus swezeyi was described from specimens from Guam. We examined four specimens from the type series. An additional specimen was supposedly deposited in Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, Honolulu) but could not be located.

Wood (1960) synonymized this species with C. sylvicola , on the grounds that there were overlapping characters such as size and proportions, and assumed that this was the consequence of localized variation which had since been eroded away by hybridization. Schedl (1963a) disagreed with the synonymy, and maintained the species as valid in subsequent publications (e.g. Schedl 1979a: 248). Wood again synonymized the species with C. sylvicola ( Wood 1989: 172) , but did not provide any additional justification.

While they do share some characters, particularly the long interstrial bristles on the elytral disc becoming short, scale-like and curved posteriorly on the declivity, the weakly emarginated epistoma of the male, and the scale-like setae on the pronotum, they differ in the sculpturing of the male frons ( C. sylvicola : median surface of frons slightly reticulate; C. swezeyi : median surface of frons with a large, glossy patch). There are also differences in size ( C. sylvicola : 1.2–1.5 mm; C. swezeyi : 1.5–1.6 mm), and in the proportions ( C. sylvicola : 2.1–2.3 times as long as wide; C. swezeyi : 1.9 times as long as wide).