Peridinetus sexguttatus (Fabricius) Fabricius, 2009

Prena, Jens, 2009, The West Indian Peridinetini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Baridinae), Zootaxa 2210, pp. 51-64 : 60

Peridinetus sexguttatus (Fabricius) , comb. n.

( Figs. 8 , 18 )

Curculio ovalis auct. (not Linnaeus, 1760; not Marsham, 1802). Drury (1773: in index), Westwood in Drury (1837: [64]).

Baridius ovalis: Westwood in Drury (1837: [64]) [unavailable, see discussion below].

Curculio sexguttatus Fabricius, 1775: 138 . Fabricius (1781: 176; 1787: 106; 1793: 430), Gmelin (1790: 1763), Olivier (1791: 509), Herbst (1795: 466).

Rhynchaenus sexguttatus ( Fabricius) : Fabricius (1801: 470), Olivier (1807: 205).

Ephimerus sexguttatus (Fabricius, not Boheman, 1843): O’Brien & Wibmer (1984: 297).

Ephimerus sexguttatus Boheman, 1843: 332 (not Fabricius, 1775). Lacordaire (1863: 621), Gemminger & Harold (1871: 2441), Leng & Mutchler (1914: 471), Gowdey (1926: 26), Klima (1934: 143), Blackwelder (1947: 826), O’Brien & Wibmer (1982: 178).

Diagnosis. Peridinetus sexguttatus can be recognised by its whitish, fasciate vestiture ( Fig. 8 ) and is the only Peridinetus species that occurs in Jamaica.

Material examined. Digital images of 2 syntypes of C. sexguttatus Fabricius ( HMUG, Hunter Collection). JAMAICA. Portland: Ecclesdown ( CMNC 1); Manchioneal ( USNM 2); Millbank ( CWOB 4); Port Antonio ( CNCI 3, CWOB 3, USNM 3); Sommerset Falls ( CWOB 4). Saint Andrew: Clydesdale ( CWOB 1); Content Gap ( CMNC 2, CWOB 3); Kingston ( CMNC 2); Hardwar Gap ( CMNC 1, CNCI 2, CWOB 1, JPPC 1); Hermitage Dam ( USNM 2); Holywell Forest Camp ( USNM 2); Saint Peter’s ( CMNC 1, CWOB 1); Whitefield Hill, Blue Mts. ( CWOB 1). Saint Ann: Fern Gully ( CMNC 2, CWOB 1); Moneague ( CNCI 1, CWOB 1); Ocho Rios ( USNM 5). Saint Catherine: Worthy Park ( CWOB 1). Saint James: Catadupa ( USNM 2). Saint Thomas: Bowden Peninsula ( CNCI 10); Bath ( CMNC 1, CNCI 6); Morant Point ( UPRM 1); Portland Gap ( CNCI 1); Penlyne Castle ( CMNC 1); without site ( UPRM 1). Trelawny: Barbecue Bottom ( CWOB 2); Windsor ( CMNC 1); Come Night Cave, nr. Quick Step ( USNM 4). Total 81 specimens.

Distribution. The species is endemic to Jamaica ( Fig. 18 )

Plant associations. Unknown.

Discussion. Drury (1773: 60) described and illustrated this species without a Linnaean name and referred it to Curculio ovalis Linnaeus, 1767: 612 (actually 1760: 180) in the index. Westwood (in Drury 1837) recognised the misidentification but maintained the epithet when he referred the species tentatively to Baridius . Because Westwood’s name is the combination of a misidentification, it is nomenclaturally unavailable. However, the species had meanwhile been redescribed by Fabricius (1775) as C. sexguttatus . Boheman (1843) described the species for a second time, as Ephimerus sexguttatus (type supposedly in Uppsala, not studied). Schönherr’s (1843) comparison with the Brazilian Anchylorhynchus variabilis , a species placed in the Erirhininae at that time but currently in Derelomini ( O’Brien & Wibmer 1984), separated the species from the Peridinetini; it remained in Erirhininae or incertae sedis for the next 140 years ( Lacordaire 1866, Gemminger & Harold 1871, Leng & Mutchler 1914, Gowdey 1926, Klima 1934, Blackwelder 1947), until O’Brien & Wibmer (1982: 8) transferred Ephimerus to the Baridinae : Peridinetini. The only included species, E. sexguttatus , is very closely related to P. concentricus and P. p o e y i, and these three differ from other Peridinetus species by having basally separate tarsal claws, considered as the plesiomorphic state. Because the tarsal claws of Piper -associated Baridinae were modified independently several times in the larger species, e.g., Embates ( Prena 2005) , and other synapomorphies have not been recognised in Peridinetus species with modified claws, Ephimerus is here synonymised with Peridinetus .

Figures

FIGURES 6 – 11. Dorsal habitus of Peridinetus species. 6, P. concentricus, Cuba; 7, P. p o e yi, Cuba; 8, P. sexguttatus, Jamaica; 9, P. roeselii, Cuba; 10, P. decipiens, Dominican Republic; 11, P. fuscosignum, Dominican Republic.

FIGURES 17 – 19. Maps of the Lesser and Greater Antilles showing the distribution of Palliolatrix and Peridinetus species. 17, Palliolatrix insignis (2), P. lateropicta (3) and P. s il a c ea (4); 18, Peridinetus concentricus, P. poeyi and P. sexguttatus; 19, Peridinetus decipiens, P. fuscosignum and P. roeselii.