Pycnodactylopsis hypocrita ( Chevrolat, 1873 )

Ahmed, Zubair, Meregalli, Massimo & Fatima, Nadia, 2016, Two species of Cleonini new for Pakistan and new synonymies (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Lixinae), Zootaxa 4161 (1), pp. 121-123 : 121-123

Pycnodactylopsis hypocrita ( Chevrolat, 1873)

New data. PAKISTAN: Rawalpindi , 11.xii.1955, C. Lindemann, 1 ex. ( ZSM) ; Sindh Province, Tharparkar District, Mithi , 24°44'N 69°48'E, 24.ix.2015, Z. Ahmed, 2 ex. ( ZACP)

Discussion. The genus Pycnodactylopsis Voss, 1963 , originally described as a subgenus of Pycnodactylus Chevrolat, 1872 , type species Pycnodactylus schaeuffelei Voss, 1963 (= Cleonus albogilvus Gyllenhal, 1834 ) includes seven species, five of which are presently considered exclusive to the Afrotropical and Indo-Malayan fauna (Meregalli, unpublished).

Pycnodactylopsis hypocrita was described (as Neocleonus Chevrolat, 1872 ) by Chevrolat (1873) from Pondicherry, in southern India . The species, thus far, is only known from that country (Meregalli, unpublished). Morphologically it is rather variable, particularly in its elytral pattern, which can be more or less uniformly brown, with two large, clearly distinct semicircular pale patches near the base of the elytra and small patches on the declivity, or uniformly lighter, with sparse brownish spots, and consequently less sharply delimited pale basal markings. No type specimens were found by Meregalli in Chevrolat's collection (housed at the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden), but a specimen that was compared with the type by Faust is present in Faust's collection at the Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden , Germany ( Figs 1, 2 ). The specimens from Pakistan were found at the light of a gasoline station at the entrance of Mithi. The surrounding habitats have a xerophytic vegetation, with large extensions of cultivated land.

Based on the cited findings, this species is also added to the Palaearctic fauna.

Two other names should be considered with regard to P. hypocrita .

Pajni & Sood (1982) described two species in the genus Dirodes Pascoe, 1887 ( Curculionidae : Molytinae ): D. flavomaculatus Pajni & Sood, 1982 and D. chandigarhensis Pajni & Sood, 1982 . The former species was described from three specimens, two from Chandigarh, in northern India (Punjab) and one from Jammu & Kashmir ; the latter species was based on three specimens, all from Chandigarh. Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal (2002), based on the description and the original photographs, recognized that the species were Lixinae : Cleonini and not Molytinae , and proposed for them the new genus Pajnisoodes Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal, 2002, type species: Dirodes flavomaculatus Pajni & Sood, 1982 .

The second author examined the type specimens of the two species, conserved at the National Pusa Collection , Indian Agricultural Research Institute , New Delhi, India, and noticed that they both belong to Pycnodactylopsis hypocrita (Figs 3, 4). Hence, the genus Pajnisoodes becomes a junior synonym of Pycnodactylopsis .

The following new synonymies are thus established:

Pajnisoodes Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal, 2002 = Pycnodactylopsis Voss, 1963 , new synonymy Dirodes flavomaculatus Pajni & Sood, 1982 = Pycnodactylopsis hypocrita ( Chevrolat, 1873) , new synonymy Dirodes chandigarhensis Pajni & Sood, 1982 = Pycnodactylopsis hypocrita ( Chevrolat, 1873) , new synonymy

Figures

FIGURES 1, 2. Pycnodactylopsis hypocrita (Chevrolat, 1873). Specimen conserved in Faust's collection (Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Germany) from northern India, compared with the type by Faust. Fig. 3. Dirodes chandigarhensis Pajni & Sood, 1982. Holotype, conserved at the National Pusa Collection, New Delhi, India. Fig. 4. Dirodes flavomaculatus Pajni & Sood, 1982. Allotype, conserved at the National Pusa Collection, New Delhi, India. Figs 5, 6. Maximus mimosae (Olivier, 1807). Syntype, conserved at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.