Lepidapion senex ( Wollaston, 1864 )

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 : 172-173

Lepidapion senex ( Wollaston, 1864)

( Fig. 7 )

Apion senex Wollaston, 1864: 306 . LECTOTYPE (here designated): ♀, coloured base on mounting card indicates ‘La Palma’. Labels: Lectotype / Apion senex Wollaston, 1864 / M.G. Morris des. 2010. (BMNH).

Apion (Lepidapion) canariense Wagner, 1914 , syn. nov.

MARSHALL (1928) synonymised this species with L. cretaceum (Rosenhauer, 1856) , a common Mediterranean species, and he was followed by LINDBERG & LINDBERG (1958) and BRITO & OROMÍ (1986). Lepidapion senex is currently regarded as a good species (ALONSO- ZARAZAGA 1990 a, MACHADO & OROMÍ 2000) and it has been recorded from La Palma, La Gomera and Gran Canaria.

However, examination of Wollaston’s only two specimens (syntypes) of L. senex (a female in each of the BMNH and OUMNH collections) shows them to be conspecific with L. canariense ( Wagner, 1914) . It would appear that the incorrect synonymising ( MARSHALL 1928) of L. senex with L. cretaceum has led subsequent authors to regard L. senex and L. canariense as distinct. In their key BRITO & OROMÍ (1986) distinguished L. canariense from L. cretaceum (then thought to be conspecific with L. senex ) on characters of the scutellum. The single large tubercle which the scutellum bears is certainly characteristic of L. cretaceum , but the double tubercle (which is also subbasal, not central) is characteristic of Wollaston’s two specimens as well as a long series of L. ‘ canariense ’ in the current author’s collection. The scutellum of L. senex ( canariense ) is raised at apex but flat in L. cretaceum . Lepidapion senex also differs from L. cretaceum in having much less acuminate elytra and being smaller on average. WAGNER (1914), in describing Apion (Lepidapion) canariense , compared his species with A. acumina- tum Schilsky, 1906 and A. curvipilosum Wagner, 1908 , but not with A. senex , which, in view of the only two Wollaston specimens being in British collections, he almost certainly did not see. The characters of the scutellum were not mentioned in Wagner’s description. Based on this evidence, Lepidapion canariense is here regarded as a junior synonym of L. senex .

LINDBERG & LINDBERG (1958), BRITO & OROMÍ (1986) and GURREA & SANZ (2000) associated L. canariense especially with the Valle de Masca – Teno Alto area of Tenerife, but it is rather more widely distributed, occurring at Santiago del Teide (February 1998 and June 2001) and below Tamaimo (December 1995). It is also known from La Palma ( MACHADO & OROMÍ 2000) where I have found it abundantly (Las Indias, Montaña de Abraham, Jeday, La Caldareta, and Roque Faro, February – March 1998); Punta Sta. Lucia and Las Caletas, June 2001). Specimens taken at Epina, La Gomera, 19 December 1995, 10 January 2003 and 27 April 2008 constitute a new record for that island. The host is Retama raetam , larvae feeding on the seeds. This plant has been recorded from all the islands except Fuerteventura, and as the weevil seems to occur wherever there is an abundance of the host it is likely to be widespread throughout the Canaries. As stated above, all these records must now be referred to L. senex .

It is perhaps surprising that Wollaston should have taken only two specimens of L. senex , and it may be that these were stragglers, since the species is usually common on its host. Be that as it may, his only specimens are the two females already mentioned, one in each of the BMNH and OUMNH collections. In order to fix the identity of the species the BMNH specimen is hereby designated the lectotype of Apion senex Wollaston, 1864 , and it has been so labelled (see above). In referring to what are presumably these two specimens WOLLASTON (1864) stated that they were taken by him ‘on the mountains above Sta Cruz, in the island of Palma, during May 1858 ’; the specimens themselves are unlabelled.

Figures

Figs. 5–8. Habitus of the Apionidae of Canary Islands. 5 – Ceratapion calcaratum (Wollaston, 1864), lectotype, Wollaston Coll. (BMNH); 6 – Diplapion westwoodi (Wollaston, 1864), paralectotype, Wollaston Coll. (BMNH); 7 – Lepidapion senex (Wollaston, 1864), lectotype, Wollaston Coll. (BMNH); 8 – Taeniapion atlanticum (Uyttenboogaart, 1935), author’s Coll.