Curculio pilosus Fabricius, 1781: 110

Caldara, Roberto, Košt, Michael, ál & Morris, Michael G., 2013, On the complex nomenclatural situation of two common Palaearctic weevils: Dorytomus rufatus Bedel, 1888 and Orchestes pilosus Fabricius, 1781 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Journal of Natural History 47 (13 - 14), pp. 1009-1017 : 1013-1014

B. Orchestes pilosus ( Fabricius, 1781)

Curculio pilosus Fabricius, 1781: 110

Fabricius (1781) described Curculio pilosus on specimens from Anglia (i.e. England). Subsequently this species was placed by authors in the genus Rhynchaenus Clairville, 1798 and then in the genus Orchestes Illiger, 1798 . In Fabricius’s collection there is one pinned female specimen with a historical label “pilosus” corresponding to the taxon as usually considered. We made a genitalia dissection (spermatheca) and designated this specimen as the lectotype of Curculio pilosus Fabricius and labelled it as follows “ LECTOTYPUS Curculio pilosus Fabricius, M. Košt’ál des. 2012 [red printed] / Orchestes pilosus (Fabricius) Michael Košt’ál det. 2012”.

Although there has been apparently unequivocal agreement on the taxonomy of the species, two of the three taxa usually quoted as synonyms of Curculio pilosus – Curculio segetis Linnaeus, 1758 and Curculio saltatorsegetis DeGeer, 1775 – appear to have priority.

1. Curculio segetis Linnaeus, 1758

Curculio segetis Linnaeus, 1758: 381 .

Linnaeus (1758) described this taxon on specimens from Sweden, which are not now preserved in his collection. Therefore, following the authors’ general opinion on this taxon, we decided to designate a specimen of Orchestes pilosus as the neotype of Curculio segetis Linnaeus. It is a male collected in Sweden labelled “Sk Hässleholm. 12.7.1953 3152 G.Israelson / pilosus / NEOTYPUS Curculio segetis Linnaeus Caldara , Košt’ál & Morris des. 2012 [red printed] / Orchestes pilosus (Fabricius) Michael Košt’ál det. 2012”. The specimen is 3.17 mm long (rostrum excluded), perfectly preserved with dissected genitalia. It is deposited in the Museum of Zoology, University of Lund.

2. Curculio saltatorsegetis DeGeer, 1775

Curculio saltatorsegetis DeGeer, 1775: 264 .

DeGeer (1775) described this taxon, probably on specimens from Sweden, as “ Curculio (saltator Segetis)”, using two words for a specific name as in many others of his species, quoting Curculio segetis Linnaeus as its synonym. These specimens were not found in his collection at the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet Stockholm. Therefore, following the authors’ general opinion on this taxon, we decided to designate a specimen of Orchestes pilosus as the neotype of Curculio saltatorsegetis DeGeer. It is a male collected in Sweden labelled “ Suecia Småland, Fagerhyltan RN 6254055 1499155 01 09 2002 CF3004 Leg: C. Fägerström / Orchestes pilosus Curculionidae ( Fabricius, 1781) Det : C. Fägerström / NEOTYPUS Curculio saltatorsegetis DeGeer Caldara , Košt’ál & Morris des. 2012 [red printed] / Orchestes pilosus (Fabricius) Michael Košt’ál det. 2012”. The specimen is 3.27 mm long (rostrum excluded), perfectly preserved with dissected genitalia. A small part of the apex of the aedeagus is chipped. The specimen is deposited in the Museum of Zoology, University of Lund.

3. Curculio ilicis Fabricius, 1787

Curculio ilicis Fabricius, 1787: 110 .

In Fabricius’s collection under the label with the name ilicis there are three specimens, all belonging to Orchestes pilosus . We dissected two of them for genitalia and designated the male specimen as the lectotype of Curculio ilicis , which is now labelled “ LECTOTYPUS Curculio ilicis Fabricius, M. Košt’ál des. 2012 [red printed] / Orchestes pilosus (Fabricius) Michael Košt’ál det. 2012”. The other two specimens were designated as paralectotypes (both labelled as the lectotype except for “ Paralectotypus ”).

In summary, according to what reported at the points 1–3 of Section B and to Article 29 of ICZN (1999), the junior name pilosus ( Fabricius, 1781) can be maintained since Curculio segetis and Curculio saltatorsegetis meet the requirements of Article 23.9.1.1 and Orchestes pilosus meets those of Article 23.9.1.2 of ICZN (1999) by quoting the following references: Abbazzi and Maggini 2009; Abbazzi and Osella 1992; Abbazzi et al. 1995; Alonso-Zarazaga 2002; Angelini, 1984, 1991; Benedikt et al. 2010; Bercio and Folwaczny 1979; Braunert 2009; Colonnelli 2003; Delbol 2008; Endrödi 1970; Germann 2010; Holecová and Zach 1996; Lohse 1983b; Mazur 2002; Morris 2002, 2003; Pelletier 2005; Podlussány 1998; Rheinheimer and Hassler 2010; Silfverberg 1979; Telnov 2004; Tempère and Péricart 1989; Wanat and Mokrzycki 2005. Therefore we propose the acceptance of the following synonymies:

Orchestes pilosus ( Fabricius, 1781) nomen protectum

= Curculio segetis Linnaeus, 1758 nomen oblitum

= Curculio saltatorsegetis DeGeer, 1775 nomen oblitum

= Curculio ilicis Fabricius, 1787