Pseudomeira Stierlin, 1881

Bellò, Cesare & Baviera, Cosimo, 2011, On the Sicilian species of Pseudomeira Stierlin (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), Zootaxa 3100, pp. 35-68 : 36-37

Pseudomeira Stierlin, 1881

Pseudomeira Stierlin, 1881: 160 ; Stierlin, 1883: 585; Solari, 1955: 39; Pierotti & Bellò, 1998: 90; Alonso Zarazaga & Lyal, 1999: 172; Osella et al., 2005:; Pierotti et al., 2010: 17 .

Peritelus (Pseudomeira) : Lona, 1937: 262.

Type species: Pseudomeira nicaeensis Stierlin, 1881 .

Redescription: in Pierotti & Bellò (1998).

Species of this genus, distributed in the western Mediterranean, are flightless, cryptic, geophilic and/or shrub-associated weevils ( Pierotti & Bellò, 1998; Pierotti et al., 2010). Field research in Sicily confirmed that they are in need of revision ( Pierotti & Bellò, 1995; Pierotti & Bellò, 1998; Pierotti & Bellò, 2000; Pierotti, 2006; Pierotti et al., 2010). The Sicilian species of Pseudomeira ( Fig.106 ) can be divided into four morphologically homogeneous groups whose diagnoses are below; groups are also supported by preliminary data of molecular analysis. In the exigua group are included P. exigua , P. pfisteri , P. nebrodensis , and three new species P. ficuzzensis , P. himerensis and P. p e tre n s is. The vitalei group consists of P. vitalei , P. reitteri , P. doderoi , P. solarii , P. osellai , and three new species P. erinacea , P. natalii and P. trinacriae . The obscura group includes P. obscura and P. o b s c u re l l a; and the cossyrica group has P. c o s s y r i c a and P. aeolica .

The above four groups have different ecological preferences. Those Pseudomeira found more or less deep below the surface of the leaf-litter all are in the exigua group, whereas the species that are found at the surface of the soil just below the dead leaves belong to the vitalei group. The Pseudomeira climbing on grasses or bushes are included in the obscura or cossyrica group. Moreover, phenology is quite different among the groups with species of the first group collected more commonly in winter than in other seasons, while the species of others groups are more commonly collected in spring and/or autumn.

Figures

FIGURE 106. Distribution of known species of Pseudomeira in Sicily and Sicilian islands: (1) Ps. exigua (Stierlin, 1861), (2) Ps. pfisteri (Stierlin, 1864), (3) Ps. nebrodensis Pierotti, 2009, (4) Ps. ficuzzensis sp. n., (5) Ps. himerensis sp. n., (6) Ps. petrensis sp. n., (7) Ps. vitalei (Desbrochers, 1892), (8) Ps. reitteri (Vitale, 1903), (9) Ps. doderoi Solari, 1954, (10) Ps. solarii (Péricart, 1963), (11) Ps. osellai Pierotti & Bellò, 1994, (12) Ps. erinacea sp. n., (13) Ps. natalii sp. n., (14) Ps. trinacriae sp. n., (15) Ps. obscura (A. & F. Solari, 1907), (16) Ps. obscurella Pierotti & Bellò, 1994, (17) Ps. cossyrica Pierotti & Bellò, 1994, (18) Ps. aeolica Bellò, Pesarini & Pierotti, 1997.