Hylurgops longipennis ( Blandford, 1896 )

Mercado-Vélez, Javier E. & Negrón, José F., 2014, Revision of the new world species of Hylurgops LeConte, 1876 with the description of a new genus in the Hylastini (Coleoptera: Scolytinae) and comments on some Palearctic species, Zootaxa 3785 (3), pp. 301-342 : 329

Hylurgops longipennis ( Blandford, 1896)

( Figures 1 a, 7f, 12a, 15f, 17f, 21, 25)

Hylastes longipennis Blandford, 1896:143 (Rancho de Popocatepetl, Mexico) H. (Hylastes) longipennis, Hagedorn, 1910:45

Hylurgops longipennis, Wood, 1982:87

Diagnosis. Hylurgops longipennis is distinguished from the sympatric H. incomptus by the larger and fewer prothoracic punctures of two distinctly different sizes ( Fig. 17 f), by the larger and coarser elytral punctures, and by the long, whitish versus yellowish setae.

Description. Size. Length 3.8–4.8 (avg. 4.3 ± 0.3) mm long, 3× longer than wide. Color. Mature adult black, posterior face of abdominal ventrites reddish; remaining ventral sclerites black. Frons. Transverse impression indistinct, shallow; middle carina from epistomal margin to transverse impression, surface granulate, dull; vestiture whitish, hair-like setae, longer below middle impression, 3–6× frontal puncture diameter. Pronotum. Elongate 1.0–1.1 (1.09 ± 0.03), smoothly tapering anteriorly ( Fig. 17 f), widest at middle; basal % of lateral margin roundly elevated, anterior fifth broadly constricted; middle line raised from base to % its length, its surface granulate, dull; discal punctures of two equally abundant sizes, larger twice diameter of smaller, punctures’ inner surface granulate, dull; interpuncture surface smooth to granulate; vestiture whitish, erect, long, length 1.5× width of a large discal puncture on disc, 2.5–5× on pronotal margins. Elytra. Bases slightly procurved, strial punctures deep, round ( Fig. 12 a), half their diameter apart; interstriae as wide or slightly narrower than interstriae at disc, surface glossy, smooth to finely granulate, minutely punctured; vestiture consists of hair-like setae arising from punctures on posterior half of disc that become scale-like towards declivity and a single middle row of longer (1–5× width of discal puncture) hair-like setae. Declivity. The 1st and 2nd interstriae impressed ( Fig. 15 f), with pointed granules, some ⅓ as high as declivital puncture diameter; strial punctures round, large, deep, diameter half of interstrial width; vestiture of scale-like setae on 3 to 4 rows, uniseriate setae, long, erect, slightly longer than interstrial width. Ventral sclerites. Sclerites finely reticulate. Legs. Third tarsal segment distinctly broader than 2nd ( Fig. 1 a). Aedeagus. Presenting a distinct ventral lobe ( Fig. 7 f).

Gallery: On the stem collar and roots of it host ( Atkinson & Equihua-Martínez 1985a). The pattern has not been described.

Material examined. 17 specimens. MEXICO. Mexico City: Cruz Blanca, Parque Nal. Desierto los Leones ( USNM). Nuevo Leon: Cerro Potosi nr. Galeana ( DEBC), Mpio. Galeana NE slope Cerro Potosi ( CNCI). Puebla: 11 mi. E Amecameca ( USNM), Parque Nacional Iztaccihuatl-Popocatepetl, Popocateptl ( USNM), Parque Nacional Zoquiapan ( USNM).

Hosts: Pinus hartwegii , P. leiophylla , P. patula , P. pseudostrobus .

Distribution ( Fig. 21 ). NORTH AMERICA: MEXICO. From two disjunct localities in the Sierra Madre Oriental, one northern in Nuevo León and a southern from Hidalgo, to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.

Discussion. Blandford (1896) described Hylastes longipennis from five specimens collected at Rancho Popocatepetl, Mexico. Hagedorn (1910) and Schedl (1940) treated H. longipennis as a species of Hylastes . Wood (1982) designated a female in Blandford’s series as the lectotype and placed the species in the genus Hylurgops based on its bilobed third tarsal segments and the intermixed large and small punctures on the pronotum.

The species distribution appears limited to that of the primary hosts, P. hartwegii and P. montezumae , but this could be a result of insufficient collections. These pines occur discontinuously at high elevations in the Trans- Mexican Volcanic Belt, the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and in other smaller patches. The previously known distribution of the species showed it was restricted to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ( Atkinson & Equihua-Martínez 1985a, b). New records from the USNM collection expand the known distribution of this species, which seems to match that of P. hartwegii , as exemplified by its occurrence in a small population of P. hartwegii in the Cerro Potosí, Nuevo León, in the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Tarsal characters distinguishing Hylurgops from Hylastes: a) third tarsal segment broader than the second, the fifth tarsal segment broadening apically (Hylurgops longipennis), b) second and third tarsal segments equally broad, fifth not broadening apically (Hylastes mexicanus).

FIGURE 7. Aedeagus of the New World Hylurgops and Pachysquamus: a) Pachysquamus subcostulatus, b) Hylurgops planirostris, c) H. rugipennis, d) H. pinifex, e) H. incomptus, f) H. longipennis, g) H. knausi, h) H. reticulatus, and i) H. porosus.

FIGURE 12. Shape of elytral disc strial punctures in Hylurgops: a) round (H. longipennis), b) keyhole-shaped (H. pinifex), and c) keyhole-shape variation (H. planirostris).

FIGURE 15. Elytral declivities of New World Hylurgops: a) H. palliatus, b) H. planirostris, c) H. rugipennis, d) H. pinifex, e) H. incomptus, f) H. longipennis, g) H. knausi, h) H. reticulatus, and i) H. porosus.

FIGURE 17. Prothoraces of the New World Hylurgops: a) H. palliatus, b) H. planirostris, c) H. rugipennis, d) H. pinifex, e) H. incomptus, f) H. longipennis, g) H. knausi, h) H. reticulatus, and i) H. porosus.

FIGURE 21. Hylurgops incomptus distribution (circles) with main hosts: Pinus arizonica, P. duranguensis, and P. ponderosae (central, AZ and NM). H. longipennis distribution (triangles) with main hosts: P. hartwegii and P. patula. Insert shows sympatric zone near Mexico City.