Colasposoma dauricum Mannerheim, 1849

Montagna, Matteo, Zoia, Stefano, Leonardi, Carlo, Taddeo, Vincenzo Di, Caldara, Roberto & Sassi, Davide, 2016, Colasposoma dauricum Mannerheim, 1849 an Asian species adventive to Piedmont, Italy (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Eumolpinae), Zootaxa 4097 (1), pp. 127-129 : 127-128

Colasposoma dauricum Mannerheim, 1849 ,

a species native to the Eastern Asia, is newly found in Piedmont– Italy. This discovery constitutes the first report of the species from Europe, as well as its first report from outside the original area. The general habitus of the species, the distribution in Italy based on the current knowledge, ecological notes and a reference cox1 gene sequences are reported in the present note.

Key words: leaf beetle, invasive species, agricultural insect pest

During the summer of 2010 (3rd and 27th of July) leaf beetles identified as Eumolpinae Hope, 1840 and not attributable to any species of the Italian fauna, were collected on weeds in xeric grassland close to a plants nursery in Caselette (Turin, Piedmont; Fig. 1 A). During the collecting campaign in Caselette it was not possible to identify the host plant and once the collected specimens were dissected, their guts did not show any vegetal residuals. The 23 collected specimens were identified by one of us (SZ), expert in Eumolpinae taxonomy, as Colasposoma dauricum Mannerheim, 1849 ( Fig. 1 B– D). The authors did not provide a formal report in 2010 since the finding was considered an occasional interception. In autumn of 2014 pictures representing specimens of C. dauricum were published on the web Forum Natura Mediterraneo (http://www.naturamediterraneo.com; Fig. 1 C–D). These pictures were taken on grassland vegetation within the administrative boundaries of Avigliana (Turin, Piedmont) during June and July of 2011 to 2013. Some specimens were feeding on Convolvolus arvensis Linnaeus, 1753 . C. dauricum was also reported from San Giorio di Susa and Valgioie. Based on the present data the distribution of C. dauricum is limited to the mid- to lower part of Val di Susa (Turin; Fig. 1 A). The DNA from one specimen was extracted adopting the procedure published in Montagna et al. (2013) and a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I amplified by PCR using the Folmer’s primers LC01490 and HC02198 ( Folmer et al. 1994). The obtained sequence was deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive as reference for molecular identification (accession number LN995410 ).

The finding of C. dauricum in Italy represents the first record of the species outside its native range. Until now, C. dauricum has been known from Russia (East Siberia and Far East), Mongolia, China (North and Northeast), Korea and Japan ( Medvedev 2003; Moseyko and Sprecher-Uebersax 2010). In the native area, the species is regarded to be polyphagous and it feeds on different species of Convolvulaceae , Asclepiadaceae and Apocynaceae belonging to the genera Ipomoea , Calystegia and Cynanchum ( Ahn and Lim 1991; Jolivet and Hawkeswood 1995). Moreover, C. dauricum causes extensive damage to different crops like sweet potato (e.g., Alaijos and Lee 2005; Lee and An 2001). Adults attack leaves, while larvae, inhabiting soil, feed on roots and storage roots ( Alaijos and Lee 2005). Considering the previous ecological information the finding of C. dauricum in Italy is of great agricultural interest. For that reason, strategies addressed to control the species, as well as studies aiming to understand the real distribution of this pest in the new territories, are desirable.

The interception of C. dauricum outside its native range during the collecting campaigns of the project (www.cbar.org), as well as the recent record of Opraella communa LeSage, 1986 ( Boriani et al. 2013), highlights the importance of field-based faunistic studies

Collected specimens. Piemonte—Torino, Caselette, 3.VII.2010, 45°7'2.48"N – 7°28'54.67"E, 410 m, M. Montagna, R. Caldara, C. Leonardi & D. Sassi leg., collection MM, 5 ex; Piemonte—Torino, Caselette, 3.VII.2010, 45°7'2.48"N – 7°28'54.67"E, 410 m, M. Montagna, R. Caldara, C. Leonardi & D. Sassi leg., collection DS, 4 ex; Piemonte—Torino, Caselette, 3.VII.2010, 45°7'2.48"N – 7°28'54.67"E, 410 m, M. Montagna, R. Caldara, C. Leonardi & D. Sassi leg., collection MSNM, 8 ex; Piemonte—Torino, dint. Caselette, 420 m, 26.VII.2010 S. & F. Zoia leg., collection SZ, 6 males and 10 females; Piemonte—Torino, Avigliana, Lago Piccolo di Avigliana, 6.VII.2014, 45°03'35.42"N – 7°23'26.14"E, 359 m, V. Di Taddeo leg., collection GP, 3 ex.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution in Italy and general habitus of Colasposoma dauricum. A. Map of the present distribution of C. dauricum in Italy, highlighting the administrative boundaries of Piedmont region with reported collecting sites of C. dauricum in Val Susa; 1: Caselette; 2: Avigliana; 3: Valgioie; 4: San Giorio di Susa; the scale bar correspond to 30 km. B. General habitus of C. dauricum, multi-layers image acquired using procedure described by Montagna (2013); C, D. Pictures of C. dauricum on Convolvulus arvensis (C) and grassland vegetation (D) in Avigliana—Turin.