Macrolenes dentipes (Olivier, 1808)

Vatrano, Thomas, Petriccione, Milena, Silvestro, Silvia Di & Bella, Salvatore, 2022, Severe attacks caused by Macrolenes dentipes (Olivier) on Feijoa, Acca sellowiana (O. Berg) Burret (Myrtaceae) in Italy (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Fragmenta entomologica 54 (2), pp. 317-320 : 318

Macrolenes dentipes (Olivier, 1808)

The genus Macrolenes includes the species M. dentipes and M. bellieri (Reiche, 1860) , the latter being recorded only in Sicily. Macrolenes dentipes in Europe was reported for Albania, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Gibraltar, Greece (including Corfu), Italy (including Sicily), Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal, Spain (including the Balearic Islands) and Slovenia; in Africa for Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia; in Asia for Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey ( Debreuil 2010; Regalin & Medvedev 2010; Agoiz-Bustamante et al. 2019). This species is discontinu- ously distributed throughout the Italian peninsula and Sicily ( Gruev 2005; Regalin & Medvedev 2010). It is also known for the Eolian Archipelago ( Lo Cascio et al. 2006).

Adults of M. dentipes are phytophagous, and its host plants include Rubus coriaria L. and R. ulmifolius Schott ( Rosaceae ), Pistacia lentiscus L., P. terebinthus L., P. vera L. and Rhus L. ( Anacardiaceae ), Paliurus Mill. and Ziziphus Mill. ( Rhamnaceae ), Quercus frainetto Ten., Q. ilex L. and Q. pubescens Willd. ( Fagaceae ), Fraxinus L. ( Oleaceae ) and Salix alba L. ( Salicaceae ).Adults are active from May to Au- gust and prefer to feed on P. lentiscus and Q. ilex ( Rozner & Rozner 2013; Bezděk 2016; Agoiz-Bustamante et al. 2019). Pistacia lentiscus was also the preferred host plant in recent observations in Southern Italy ( Tzanakakis 1962; Viggiani et al. 2021). The presence of M. dentipes on Feijoa plants was occasionally reported in Italy by Bollino (2012).

Egg clusters are attached by females to the leaf surface. Eggs are subcylindrical and distally truncated, 0.7-0.9 mm in length, and 0.4 mm in width, with the chorion of the egg coated with brown material. The number of eggs per cluster varied from 4 to 38 (average: 18), and after hatch- ing showed the distal cap completely detached. The eggs hatched at the beginning of June ( Viggiani et al. 2021). Larval stages are phyto-zoo-saprophagous ( Schöller 1998), and the first instar larva is undescribed. Larval development occurs in the soil, and the third instar was collected in an ant nest under a Quercus ilex tree (Medvedev & Schöller 2002). Macrolenes dentipes is one of the ant-nest beetles but its larvae have lost the ability to enter the nests of Tapinoma Förster species, remaining at the en- trance ( Schöller & Witte 2007).