Hemitrichapion wollastoni ( Chevrolat, 1852 )

Morris, Michael G., Sw, London & Dt, Dorset, 2011, The Apionidae (Coleoptera) of the Canary Islands, with particular reference to the contribution of T. Vernon Wollaston, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 51 (1), pp. 157-182 : 177-178

[ Hemitrichapion wollastoni ( Chevrolat, 1852) ]

This species was thought to occur in the Canaries but is now known only from Madeira, hence the use of square brackets above. It is included here because its relationship to Holotrichapion rotundipenne needs to be explained.

As noted under Holotrichapion rotundipenne above, Wollaston recognised this species as distinct, and recorded it from Madeira ( WOLLASTON 1854, 1865). As also discussed above under H. rotundipenne , the synonymising of the two names appears to be based on the anomalous and alleged type material in Stockholm. At a late stage in the preparation of this paper, Peter Stüben (Curculio Institute, Mönchengladbach) located type material of this species at the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (IRSNB, Brussels). To fix the identity of the species and clarify its taxonomic status, given that supposed types of this species occur in more than one institute, include more than one taxon, and CHEVROLAT (1852) did not specify the number of specimens from which he described the species, it is desirable to designate a lectotype. The syntype from the IRSNB is accordingly designated here as lectotype:

LECTOTYPE (designated here by M. G. Morris & P. Stüben): The specimen bears five labels: (1) Coll. R. I. Sc. N. B. [printed] / Madere / Wollaston [MS] / Coll. Roelofs [printed]; (2) A. Wollastoni / Chevr. / Madère [printed]; (3) Type [printed]; (4) Hemitrichapion / wollastoni / ( Chevrolat, 1852) / Vld. Stüben 2010 [printed]; (5) LECTOTYPUS / Apion wollastoni / Chevrolat 1852 / desig. Morris & Stüben [printed on red label] (IRSNB).

The lectotype is mounted on a card that has an additional pinhole indicating repinning at some stage; the funicle of the left antenna is detached and glued separately to the card mount.

Although Recommendation 74D of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN 1999) suggests that ‘when possible, a lectotype should be chosen from syntypes … of the institution… containing the majority of that author’s types’, in this case Recommendation 74D does not best serve the interests of stability, since the purported type specimens in Stockholm do not fit the description, and their type status has been questioned (see above).

Hemitrichapion wollastoni is associated with species of Lotus ; Holotrichapion rotundipenne has as known hosts Vicia and Lathyrus spp. , also as mentioned above.