A new Eulechriops (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Conoderinae) from Brazil attacking Rubus

Um novo Eulechriops (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Conoderinae) do Brasil atacando Rubus

SCIENTIFIC NOTE

A new Eulechriops (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Conoderinae) from Brazil attacking Rubus

Um novo Eulechriops (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Conoderinae) do Brasil atacando Rubus

Henry A. Hespenheide

Dept. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1606, USA

ABSTRACT

Eulechriops rubi, new species, is described from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is an agricultural pest whose larvae feed in the shoots of Rubus species and kill the plants.

Key words: Agricultural pest, new species, stem-borer

RESUMO

Eulechriops rubi, nova espécie, é descrito a partir de exemplares coletados no Rio Grande do Sul. Essa espécie é uma praga agrícola cujas larvas se alimentam dos rebentos de Rubus provocando a morte da planta.

Palavras-chave: Broca-da-haste, praga agrícola, nova espécie

The genus Eulechriops (sens. lat.) is perhaps the largest genus of the weevil subfamily Conoderinae, although only a small proportion of the species have been described to date. Even in the United States, only half of the known species are described (Hespenheide 2003). At the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica, for example, there appear to be more than 140 species of Eulechriops, of which only one is described (Hespenheide, unpublished). The primary reason for this extremely low rate of description is that many species are smaller than 2 mm in length and rarely collected (Gaston 1991). However, as presently defined Eulechriops is also certainly not monophyletic and additional genera will have to be recognized (Hespenheide unpublished). To date only two species are known to feed on economically important plants, E. gossypii Barber on cotton (Barber 1926, Boving 1926, Cushman 1926) and E. manihoti Monte (Monte 1938).

The present paper describes a species of Eulechriops that attacks plantings of Rubus in Brasil so that there is a name available for it.

Eulechriops Faust, 1896: 91.

Members of this genus typically share the following combination of characters: antennal scape very short, second segment of antennal funiculus not longer than first, mesosternum and metasternum strongly excavated to receive apex of rostrum; femora not carinate externally and unarmed on internal margin.

Eulechriops rubi, new species

(Fig. 1)

Holotype male. Very robust and compact; black, except tarsi and antennae reddish brown; more or less uniformly and densely covered with setae except on top of head, along midline of rostrum distal to antennal insertions, on basal 1/2 of mesepisterna and epimeron, and sides of first abdominal ventrite, setae black, hairlike and inconspicuous on most of elytral disc, in inverted "U" on pronotal disc, on vertical portions of metasternum and metepisternum, and posterior legs; setae white, scale-like and semierect in three small spots on each elytron - on interval 1 just before apex, on interval 2 just posterior to scutellum, and on intervals 7 and 8 just before apex - setae white, scale-like, nearly recumbent and dense on side of pronotum behind eyes and extending above middle to elytral humeri, between meso and metacoxae, behind metacoxae on first abdominal ventrite and covering second abdominal ventrite; - setae white, hair-like, recumbent and sparse on sides or rostrum, on horizontal portions of metasternum, on antero-medial portion of first abdominal ventrite, and basal 1/2 of anterior femora; setae more or less bright brownish-orange, hair-like, recumbent and moderately dense across apical 1/3 of pronotum at apex and in spot on basal 1/2 anterior to scutellum (setae semierect and paler along midline at base and apex), in narrow transverse fascia along anterior margin of each elytron interior to humerus, in narrow oblique fascia on intervals 2-5 anterior to posterior sutural spot and in narrow fascia at apical margin, on abdominal vetrites 3-5, and on apical 1/2 of anterior femora, middle femora, and anterior and middle tibiae; 2.9 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, 1.4 mm deep.

Head very convex, round from above, rostrum polished along midline, antennae inserted at basal 1/3. Pronotum broadest at basal 1/3 with lateral margins very shallowly arcuate, conspicuously gibbous in lateral view, rather coarsely punctate, about 1/3 wider than long. Elytra 1/2 wider than pronotum, only slightly longer than wide, sides shallowly arcuate, in lateral view slightly transversely depressed on basal 1/2, convex on apical 1/2, elytral striae only slightly narrower than intervals, coarsely punctate. Aedeagus illustrated in Fig. 2.

Allotype female. As male except setae on rostrum limited to area above antennal insertions, setae on epimeron white, setae on first abdominal sternite more similar between antero-medial and laterial areas, anterior femora without white setae; 3.1 mm long.

Holotype male. Brasil: Rio Grande do Sul, Ipe, 20.10.2003, Pedro Cavazola (deposited in collection of the Museo de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, MZSP.

Allotype female. Brasil: same data as Holotype (MZSP).

Paratypes. Brasil: same data as Holotype (7, MZSP, CHAH).

Etymology. The species is named for its putative host plants, members of the genus Rubus.

Discussion. This species superficially resembles E. T-album Hustache (1939), described from Jatahy, Goyaz, but is larger and more strikingly marked with the patches of semierect white seatae and reddish-brown setae. The one other male specimen is 2.95 mm long; females measure 2.95-3.3 mm long (mean = 3.1 mm for 7 specimens). Dr. Marcos Botton reports (in litt.) that E. rubi damages the shoots of cultivated Rubus and kills the plants.

Acknowledgments

I would especially like to thank Dr. Marcos Botton for providing information and specimens of E. rubi. Isabel Amorim do Rosario translated text to and from the Portuguese. Margaret Kowalczyk prepared the figures.

Literature Cited

Received 11/II/05. Accepted 15/III/05.

• Barber, H.S. 1926. A new cotton weevil from Peru. Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 28: 53-54.
• Boving, A.G. 1926. Immature stages of Eulechriops gossypii Barber, with comments on the classification of the tribe Zygopsini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 28: 54-62.
• Cushman, R.A. 1926. A new Urosigalphus parasitic on Eulechriops gossypii Barber (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 28: 63.
• Faust, J. 1896. Reise von E. Simon in Venezuela. Curculionidae (Pars tertia.). Stett. Entomol. Zeit. 57: 33-136.
• Gaston, K.J. 1991. Body size and probability of description: the beetle fauna of Britain. Ecol. Entomol. 16: 505-508.
• Hespenheide, H.A. 2003. A new Eulechriops for the United States (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Conoderinae). Coleopts. Bull. 57: 95-98.
• Hustache, A. 1939. Zygopinae de l'Amérique méridionale (Deuxième série). Sb. Entomol. Odd. Nár. Mus. Praze 17: 162-190.
• Monte, O. 1938. As pragas [da mandioca] e seu combate. Chác. Quint. 57: 183-197.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  20 Mar 2006
• Date of issue
  Dec 2005

History

• Received
  11 Feb 2005
• Accepted
  15 Mar 2005