Picia Tournier

Caldara, Roberto, 2008, A taxonomic revision of the weevil genus Picia Tournier, 1895 (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Erirhinidae), Zootaxa 1959 (1), pp. 39-57 : 40-41

Picia Tournier

Picia Tournier, 1895 : CCLXXX; Solari, 1930: 46; Winkler, 1932: 1537; Klima, 1934: 129; Caldara & O'Brien, 1995: 393; Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal, 1999: 88, 2002: 14.

Faustia Tournier, 1889: 150 (non Kraatz, 1882).

Type species: Faustia ephimeropoides Tournier, 1889 (syn. of Picia sinuatocollis ( Faust, 1885) , here designated as type species of Faustia Tournier and thus of Picia Tournier.

Diagnosis. Male. Length 3.8–5.8 mm (rostrum excluded). Body elongate, oval, moderately robust but with thin legs, completely densely covered with grey, yellowish or brown scales, on dorsum partly shining and with metallic reflections. Rostrum ( Fig. 9 ) robust, short, slightly shorter than length of pronotum, subcylindrical, in lateral view with dorsal margin distinctly curved and ventral margin weakly curved, in dorsal view with sides subparallel from base to antennal insertion, then slightly diverging toward apex, scrobe beginning between apical and middle third of rostral length, obliquely reaching ventral margin close to eye, in dorsal view visible at antennal insertion and in basal third. Mandibles decussate, blade-shaped, with large teeth on inner margin. Postmental setae absent. Frons slightly narrower than rostrum at base. Eye broad, flattened to slightly convex. Antennae with scape not reaching anterior margin of eye, funicle 7-segmented with segments 1 and 2 distinctly longer than wide, other segments gradually from as long as wide to slightly transverse, club oval, elongate. Pronotum slightly wider than long, with weakly curved sides, with weak post-ocular lobes; prosternum with anterior margin concave, not sulcate. Scutellum small, heart-shaped. Wings well developed. Elytra moderately elongate, at base distinctly wider than pronotum, with well developed humeri, with interstriae distinctly wider than striae. Legs long, fine; femora unarmed; tibiae distinctly incurved at apical quarter, with small sharp teeth and numerous long setae along inner margin, distinctly mucronate; tarsi ( Figs. 6–8 ) elongate, with first three segments subequal in width, with sparse setae beneath, fourth segment indistinct, fifth segment very much longer than third and with long claws separated from base. Abdomen with ventrites 1 and 2 fused in middle, nearly equal in length, distinctly longer than other ventrites, moderately depressed in middle in male, regularly convex in female. Male terminalia. Aedeagus of orthocerous type, with tectum well developed; apodemes with distinctly sclerotised pedal arm and with nearly membranous tectal arm; endophallus with a more or less robust axe-shaped sclerite and with ejaculatory ductus with more or less long thin spiral sclerotised portion near spermatic glands ( Figs. 12, 13, 18 ); tegmen with a complete ring and narrow dorsal plate weakly sclerotised medially ( Figs. 14, 17 ). Sternite 8 consisting of a pair of moderately sclerotised hemisternites, not bearing setae and medially distinctly separated from each other, and a small, weakly sclerotised basal median column without processes ( Figs. 15, 19 ). Spiculum gastrale large, with long apodeme ( Fig. 16 ). Female terminalia. Ovipositor moderately elongate, with small barrel-shaped styli ( Fig. 20 ). Spermatheca with more or less globose nodus, with insertions of duct and gland widely separated, with gland lobe obsolete; sternite 8 with apodeme ending in two distinctly divaricate arms.

Figures

FIGURES 5–11. Hind tarsi of Echinocnemus femoralis (5); Picia sinuatocollis (6); P. mesopotamica (7); P.syriaca (8). Rostrum of P. sinuatocollis (9). Tergite 8 of P. sinuatocollis (10); P. mesopotamica (11). Scale-bars 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 12–19. Picia sinuatocollis: aedeagus in dorsal (12) and lateral (13) view; tegmen (14); sternite 8 (15); spiculum gastrale (16). P. mesopotamica: tegmen (17); aedeagus in dorsal view (18); sternite 8 (19). Scale-bar 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 20–28. Ovipositor of Picia sinuatocollis (20). Spermatheca of Picia sinuatocollis (21); P. mesopotamica (22, 23); P.syriaca (24,25). Sternite 8 of Picia sinuatocollis (26); P.mesopotamica (27); P.syriaca (28). Scale-bar 0.5 mm.