Stylocephalus gigas Filipponi, 1949

Nazimov, Serhii, 2024, Gregarines of mass species of darkling beetles (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) of Ukraine, Ecologica Montenegrina 73, pp. 26-38 : 32

Stylocephalus gigas Filipponi, 1949 ( Fig. 1 )

Hosts: Blaps lethifera Marsham, 1802 ; Asida lutosa Solier, 1836 ; Opatrum sabulosum (Linnaeus, 1760) .

Habitat: intestine.

Description: Protomerite rounded, slightly flattened. Deutomerite is long, widest at the point of contact with protomerite. It ends in a blunt cone. The nucleus is ellipsoidal and contains several relatively small caryosomes. The ratio of the protomerite length to the total length of the gamont can vary from 1:9 to 1:18 or more. Morphological traits of gamonts are presented in Table 2.

Extensiveness and intensity of infestation: The average extensiveness of infestation by this species of gregarines was 26.4% for A. lutosa , 18.5% for B. lethifera , and 7.4% for O. sabulosum . The maximum number of gamonts per host individual was 13 for B. lethifera , 2 for A. lutosa , and 2 for O. sabulosum .

Literature records: Morphology features were provided by Corbel (1971) and Filipponi (1949). Recorded in Blaps gigas , B. similis , B. lethifera and B. mucronata .

General distribution: Italy, France ( Geus 1969; Corbel 1971).

Figures

Figure 1. Gregarine individuals found in the gastrointestinal tract of darkling beetles mass in the Steppe Dnipro region: a. gamont of Stylocephalus gigas; b. mature gamonts of Gregarina ormierei in association; c. solitary trophozoite of Gregarina ormierei; d. mature gamonts of G. ovoidea in association; e. gamont of Steinina diaperis; f. gamont of Sphaerorhynchus cf. hamoni; g. gamont of S. oblongatus; h. gamont of S. longicollis.