Ips calligraphus interstitialis (Eichhoff)

Gomez, Demian F., Johnson, Andrew J. & Hulcr, Jiri, 2020, Potential pest bark and ambrosia beetles from Cuba not present in the continental United States, Florida Entomologist 103 (1), pp. 96-96 : 96-

Ips calligraphus interstitialis (Eichhoff) ( Coleoptera : Curculionidae ) ( Fig. 3 )

Diagnosis:Distinguished by 7 pairs of spines along the declivity. The subspecies is morphologically distinct, distinguished by blunt fourth declivital spine in the declivity (acute in I. calligraphus ) and interstrial punctures on elytra that are half the diameter of the strial punctures (smaller in I. calligraphus ).

Distribution: Caribbean: Bahamas, Cuba (Havana Province, Isla de la Juventud Province, Matanzas Province, Oriente Province, Pinar del Río Province, Sancti Spíritus Province), Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica.

Hosts: Pinus caribaea , Pinus cubensis , Pinus occidentalis , Pinus tropicalis (all Pinaceae ).

Notes: Bright (2019) recognizes the Caribbean populations as a subspecies based on work of Lanier et al. (1991) using morphology, karyology, ecology, breeding experiments, and distribution. Further studies on I. calligraphus interstitialis should be conducted because it has been considered a synonym of I. calligraphus until recently, and we know little of how it would behave in the southeastern USA pine forests. Notes on biology and ecology have been extensively documented in Cuba, where it is one of the main threats to pine forests on the island ( Zorrilla 1975, 1985; López-Castilla et al. 2009, 2010).

Figures

Fig. 3. Dorsal and lateral view of female Ips calligraphus interstitialis. Scale bar: 1 mm.