Brachypterus urticae ( Fabricius, 1792 )

Hisamatsu, Sadatomo, 2011, A review of the Japanese Kateretidae fauna (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 51 (2), pp. 551-585 : 574-577

Brachypterus urticae ( Fabricius, 1792)

( Figs. 2E , 10 )

Dermestes urticae Fabricius, 1792: 235 . Type locality: Germania [= Germany]. Cercus urticae: LATREILLE (1807) : 16 (partim). Catheretes urticae: GYLLENHALL (1808) : 247 [redescription]; GYLLENHALL (1827: 305) [note]. Cateretes urticae: STEPHENS (1830: 52) [redescription].

Brachypterus urticae: ERICHSON (1843: 231) [note]; ERICHSON (1845: 132) [redescription, note]; STURM (1844: tab. CCXCI, fig. c. C) [figure]; STURM (1845: 28) [redescription, note]; REDTENBACHER (1849: 162) [in key]; REDTEN- BACHER (1858: 324) [in key]; GEMMINGER & HAROLD (1868: 804) [catalogue]; HORN (1879: 270) [redescription, note]; GANGLBAUER (1899: 453) [redescription]; BLATCHLEY (1910: 630) [redescription, note]; REITTER (1911: 13) [in key]; REITTER (1919: 8) [in key]; GROUVELLE (1913: 18) [catalogue]; HISAMATSU (1959: 61); SPORNRAFT (1967: 23) [in key]; AUDISIO (1980: 23) [in key]; AUDISIO (1993: 838) [redescription, note]; HISAMATSU (1985: 177, pl. 28, fig. 5) [note, photo]; KIREJTSHUK (1992: 214) [in key]; KIRK- SPRIGGS (1996: 47) [note, illustration]; JELÍNEK & AUDISIO (2007: 458) [catalogue].

Brachypterus (Brachypterus) urticae: MURRAY (1864: 242) [redescription, note]; MARSEUL (1885:31) [redescription]; SEIDLITZ (1887 –1891: 208) [in key]; SEIDLITZ (1888 –1891: 224) [in key].

Strongylus abbreviatus Herbst, 1792: 190 , tab. 43, fig. 10. Type locality: Europa. Synonymized by MURRAY (1864: 242) with Dermestes urticae Fabricius.

Nitidula erythropa Marsham, 1802:132 . Type locality: Anglia [= England].Synonymized by GEMMINGER & HAROLD (1868: 804) with Dermestes urticae Fabricius.

Cateretes affinis Heer, 1841:411 . Type locality: Urnerboden ob Lintthal [ Switzerland].Synonymized by GANGLBAUER (1899: 453) with Dermestes urticae Fabricius.

Brachyptrerus (Brachypterus) affinis: MURRAY (1864: 242) [note].

Cercus pusillus Melsheimer, 1846: 105 . Type locality: Pennsylvania [ USA]. Synonymized by GEMMINGER & HAROLD (1868: 804) with Dermestes urticae Fabricius.

Brachypterus flavicornis Küster, 1848: 40 . Type locality: Italia. Synonymized by AUDISIO (1993: 838) with Dermestes urticae Fabricius.

Brachypterus flavicornis: GEMMINGER & HAROLD (1868: 804) [catalogue].

Brachypterus (Brachypterus) flavicornis: MURRAY (1864: 246) [redescription, note]; MARSEUL (1885: 33) [redescription].

Brachypterus solaris Gistel, 1857: 577 . Type locality: Austria, Styria, Hochschwab. Synonymized by JELÍNEK & AUDISIO (2009: 230) with Dermestes urticae Fabricius.

Brachypterus pelusius Gistel, 1857: 582 . Type locality: Germania, Thüringen, Jena. Synonymized by JELÍNEK & AUDISIO (2009: 230) with Dermestes urticae Fabricius.

Material examined. SLOVAKIA: 2 JJ 2 ♀♀, Slov. m.or. [= SE Slovakia], Král.[ovský] Chl’mec, 10.vi.1960, J.

Jelínek leg. CZECH REPUBLIC: BOHEMIA: 1 J, Bohemia occ., Kundratice, 15.vi.1958, J. Jelínek leg. JAPAN:

HOKKAIDO: 1 ♀, Aizankei, Mt. Daisetsu , 31.vii.1955, S. Kimoto leg. ; 13 JJ 21 ♀♀, Aizankei , 5.–9.ix.1977, A. Oda leg. ; 2 JJ 3 ♀♀, Yukomanbetsu , 1.vii.1958, F. Takechi leg. ; 2 JJ 1 ♀, Wakoto, Lake, Kutcharo , 5.vii.1958, M .

Miyatake leg.; 1 J, Sounkyô, 3.vii.1958, F. Takechi leg.; 5 JJ 5 ♀♀, Sounkyô, 17.–18.vii.1970, S. Kinoshita leg.;

3 ♀♀, Sounkyô, 18.vii.1970, M. Sakai leg.; 2 JJ 1 ♀, Sounkyô, 4.ix.1977.A. Oda leg.; 1 ♀, Jozankei, 15.vii.1953,

T. Ishihara leg.; 1J, Jozankei , 2.ix.1977, S. Hisamatsu leg. ; 2♀♀, Oshidomari , Rishiri Is., 10.vii.1958, M. Miyatake leg. ; 1 J, Isl. Rishiri , 13.viii.1967, M. Tomokuni leg. ; 1 ♀, Mt. Asahi , 15.viii.1967, M. Tomokuni leg. ; 17 JJ 15

♀♀, Mt. Sapporo-dake , 5.viii.1970, M. Sakai leg. ; 7 JJ 16 ♀♀, Kawayu, 22.vii.1970, M. Sakai leg. NIIGATA: 1 ♀ ,

Katamachi, 9.vi.1959, K. Baba leg. GUNMA: 15 JJ 18 ♀♀, Marunuma, 29.vii.1958, S. Hisamatsu leg. NAGANO:

6 JJ 3 ♀♀, Tobira spa, 30.vii.1973, S. Hisamatsu leg. GIFU: 1 J, Hirayu-Anbô, 29.vii.1959, M. Miyatake leg.

TOKYO: 1 J 4 ♀♀, Mt. Tenso-zan, Okutama, 23.ix.1976, M. Tomokuni leg.

Diagnosis. Body coloration piceous black. Lateral margins of pronotum weakly sinuated at basal 1/3. Ovipositor ( Fig. 10G ) triangular, with two small projections at apex.

Redescription. Length 1.6–2.2 mm.

Male. Body ( Fig. 2E ) oval, strongly convex and shining; dorsal disc with yellowish setae. Coloration piceous black; mouthparts, antennal flagella, and legs, reddish brown; antennal club dark reddish brown.

Head densely punctate, punctures separated by <1 diameter; interspaces feebly reticulate. Frontoclypeal suture feebly visible. Front margin of clypeus with medial arcuate emargination. Labrum largely exposed, slightly arcuately notched at middle. Mandibles never strongly bent inward. Antennae ( Fig. 10D ) slightly shorter than HW, 0.91–0.97 times longer than HW (n = 4), with club distinctly 3-segmented; approximate ratio of each segment (n = 1) is 2.38: 2.13: 1.63: 1.00: 1.25: 1.25: 1.25: 1.13: 2.00: 1.88: 2.50.

Pronotum ( Fig. 10H ) transverse, narrower than elytra at the base, 1.44–1.55 times as wide as long (n = 6); lateral margins arcuately rounded, narrowly explanate, weakly sinuated at basal 1/3; anterior angles slightly prominent, posterior angles obtuse; anterior margin nearly straight or with slight curvature, incompletely bordered; basal margin slightly sinuate before posterior angles, bordered; punctures on disc about as large as those on head, separated by <1 diameter; interspaces smooth or feebly reticulate.

Elytra conjointly 0.85–1.00 times as long as wide (n = 6), 1.55–1.72 times as long as pronotum (n = 6), widest at mid-length; punctures on disc larger than those on pronotum, separated by <1 diameter; interspaces smooth. Abdominal tergite VI partially obscured by elytra. Abdominal tergite VII fully exposed, apex arcuately emarginate. Abdominal tergite VIII externally visible.

Prosternum (excluding prosternal process) short, 0.27 times as long as mesoventrite (n = 1), 0.26 times as long as metaventrite (n = 1); prosternal process subparallel-sided, apex rounded. Mesoventrite depressed below the level of the metaventrite. Metaventrite convex, strongly shining, without metathoracic discrimen; disc with sparse and small punctures, separated by 2 or 3 diameters. Inter-mesocoxal distance separated by 3.42 times width of inter-procoxal distance. Inter-metacoxal distance separated by 5.89 times width of interprocoxal distance. Abdominal sternites shining; approximate ratio of length of abdominal sternites III–VII (n = 1) is 2.50: 1.00: 1.00: 1.71: 1.86. Legs slender; protibiae slightly wider than maximal width of the antennal club at apical margins; tarsal claws ( Fig. 10F ) strongly dentate at the base.

Male genitalia sclerotized; tegmen ( Fig. 10A ) with parameres slender and asymmetrical, bearing long setae at apex; in ventral view, left paramere bent inward at apical third, meanwhile right paramere nearly straight or with slight curvature; median lobe ( Fig. 10C ) slender, abruptly medially arcuate near apex in lateral aspect.

Female. Apical margin of abdominal tergite VII rounded. Ovpositor ( Fig. 10G ) triangular, with two small projections at apex, without styli.

Bionomics. This species is found on flowers of Urtica spp. (Urticaceae) ( AUDISIO 1993, KIRK- SPRIGGS 1996). In Japan, U. thunbergiana Siebold et Zucc. is the known host plant ( HISAMATSU 1985).

Distribution. Japan (Hokkaido, Honshû – first recorded by HISAMATSU (1959)); Europe, Turkey, Russia (East and West Siberia, Far East), Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China (Northern Territory), South Korea, and North America ( PARSONS 1943, HISAMATSU 1985, JELÍNEK & AUDISIO 2007).

Figures

Fig. 2. Habitus and labels of Kateretidae spp. A–B – Heterhelus (Heterhelus) morio (Reitter, 1878): A – lectotype, male; B – ditto, labels; C – Heterhelus (Boreades) solani (Heer, 1841), male (Hokkaido); D – Sibirhelus corpulentus (Reitter, 1900), male (Iwate Pref.); E – Brachypterus urticae (Fabricius, 1792), male (Hokkaido); F–G – Brachypterolus shimoyamai Hisamatsu, 1985: F – holotype, male; G – ditto, labels. Scale bars = 1.0 mm.

Fig. 10. Brachypterus urticae (Fabricius, 1792). A – tegmen (ventral view); B – median lobe (ventral view); C – median lobe (lateral view); D – male right antenna; E – left maxillary palpus; F – tarsal claw of right foreleg; G – ovipositor; H – pronotum.