Trogoxylon impressum (Comolli, 1837)

Nardi, Gianluca & Mifsud, David, 2015, The Bostrichidae of the Maltese Islands (Coleoptera), ZooKeys 481, pp. 69-108 : 73-74

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Bostrichidae

Trogoxylon impressum (Comolli, 1837)

Material examined.

Malta: Busket, 15.VI.2003, DM, 1 ex (CMM); Mistra Valley, 21.IV.1994, DM, under leves of Ficus carica , 1 ex (CMM); Qormi, Ħal-Farrug, 5.V.2003, DM, [on] Ceratonia siliqua , 1 ex (CNI); 5.V.2003, DM, 2 ex (CMM; CNI); Rabat, Ta Koronja, 14.VI.2002, PS, 1 ex (CMM); Wied Badu, 3.VII.2002, DM, 1 ex (CMM).

Chorotype.

Turanic-European-Mediterranean. This species is widespread from the Canary Islands to Turkmenistan; to the north it reaches Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Switzerland, moreover it has been introduced in some northern European states (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden), into Argentina, Chile and USA (cf. Borowski 2007, Borowski and Węgrzynowicz 2007, Barriga and Cepeda 2009), and it is considered as an established alien in the latter two mentioned territories ( Gerberg 1957). The species is possibly also establishment in China (cf. Peters et al. 2002), South Africa and Australia ( Geis 2002), but for these territories this was not confirmed ( Borowski and Węgrzynowicz 2007). This species was also recorded from Iraq ( Knopt 1972) and was introduced to Benelux ( Lucht 1987, Drumont and Grootaert 2011) and both countries must be added to its distribution which was summarized by Borowski (2007). Hopkins (1911: 137, as Lyctus impressus ) in an Appendix to Kraus (1911), recorded this species also for "Cordova, Mex. [= Mexico]"; this record was overlooked since Lesne (1938) probably because this Appendix, which also included data on additional specimens, was added after the submission of the paper of Kraus (1911) (cf. Hopkins 1911: 130, footnote) and Mexico was not included in the mentioned work.

Ecology.

Trogoxylon impressum is a polyphagous species; in the Mediterranean area it has been reared from many local and exotic trees and shrubs (e.g. Ceratonia siliqua , Cercis siliquastrum , Eucalyptus spp., Ficus carica , Pistacia lentiscus , Pistacia vera , Punica granatum , Quercus spp., Tamarix sp., Vitis vinifera ), and also from timber (cf. Nardi and Ratti 1995, Halperin and Geis 1999, Geis 2002, Liberto and Audisio 2005, Bahillo et al. 2007, Baena and Zuzarte 2013).

Notes.

This species is a new record for the Maltese Islands; it is recorded also from the nearby Island of Pantelleria ( Nardi and Ratti 1995) and from the Balearic Islands (cf. Schaufuss 1882, as Lyctus impressus capitalis n. var., Bahillo de la Puebla and López-Colón 2001, Nardi 2004a).

Its male genitalia was figured by Gerberg (1957: pl. XI, figs 15-16) and Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1980: 284, fig. 12.9).