Tychius bicolor Brisout

Caldara, Roberto & Aguín-Pombo, Dora, 2008, A new synonym and new records of Tychiini (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) from Madeira Archipelago and Selvagens Islands, Zootaxa 1781, pp. 63-66 : 64

Tychius bicolor Brisout

Tychius bicolor Brisout, 1862: 772 ; Caldara 1990: 178.

Material examined. Madeira, Ajuda, Funchal, 50 m, 18.v.2003, leg. R.A. Reis, 1 male (coll. University of Madeira).

This species has a large southern Palaearctic distribution, being known from the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco in the west to Afghanistan in the east ( Caldara 1990). However, up to now it has never been reported from Macaronesia. In France and Italy it lives on Melilotus spp., usually M. officinalis L. ( Caldara 1990), but it has also been collected on Astragalus monspessulanus L. ( Hoffmann 1954) in France. At the end of April 2007 we visited Ajuda and located several flowering plants of M. officinalis , but unfortunately without being able to collect any weevils on them.