Ips stebbingi Strohmeyer, 1908b

Buhroo, Abdul Ahad, 2024, A taxonomic monograph of subfamily Scolytinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the Western Himalaya, Zootaxa 5533 (1), pp. 1-82 : 38-39

28. Ips stebbingi Strohmeyer, 1908b

( Figure 36)

= blandfordi Stebbing, 1909 ( Tomicus ) = ribbentropi Stebbing, 1909 ( Tomicus )

This species is diagnosed by the following characters: ♂ frons roughly granulate-punctate with a short, narrow, longitudinal depression in the middle; granulate portion intermingled with some distinct setae; pronotum 1.2× longer than wide, lateral sides somewhat parallel converging anteriorly into a rounded apex, more than anterior one-third declivous, surface roughened with asperities gradually increasing in size towards anterior margin; basal portion of pronotum shining with distinct but small punctures; scutellum tongue-shaped; elytra slightly longer than pronotum (1.19×), 1.44× as long as wide; lateral sides subparallel converging posteriorly from the commencement of declivity; elytral disc convex, shiny, striae distinct with round shallow punctures without micro-hairs; interstriae nearly three times wider than striae, weakly convex marked with few small punctures, interstriae 1 and 2 slightly raised than others; elytral declivity concave; spine 3 largest with a knobbed apex; in males the costa of apical margin of elytral declivity more prominent; body stout, black and its entire lateral margins bear fairly dense spiny setae; long setae more or less along the whole declivity; body length: 4.47–5.50 mm, 2.65× as long as wide.

The costa of apical margin of elytral declivity in female less prominent than male; body length: 5.25–5.30 mm.

Material examined: New records: India: 10 ♂ ′s, 6 ♀ ′s. Kashmir , Anantnag, Achabal (33° 40′58.74′′ N, 075° 13′22.89′′ E, 5505 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 09.08.2011 ( KUIC) . Kashmir , Baramulla , Check post Gulmarg (34° 03.797′ N, 074° 24.948′ E, 7552 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 25.05.2017 ( KUIC) . Kashmir , Kupwara, Tangdhar (34° 23.527′ N, 073° 51.894′ E, 6525 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 10.07.2017 ( KUIC) . Kashmir , Anantnag, Daksum (33° 36.120′ N, 075° 27.595′ E, 8975 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 08.09.2017 ( KUIC) . Kashmir , Baramulla, Boniyar (34° 07.405′ N, 074° 10.717′ E, 5715 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 30.09.2017 ( KUIC) . Kashmir , Bandipora, Nail Gurez (34° 39.109′ N, 074° 44.028′ E, 7895 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 18.08.2018 ( KUIC) . Kashmir , Bandipora, Chorwan Gurez (34° 39.242′ N, 074° 53.581′ E, 8275 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 17.08.2018 ( KUIC) . Kashmir , Baltal Sonamarg (34° 16.018′ N, 075° 23.794′ E, 10080 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 31.08.2018 ( KUIC) . Kashmir , Baramulla, Baba Reshi (34° 03.92′ N, 074° 24.54′ E, 7600 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 10.07.2019 ( KUIC) .

Distribution: India: Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Punjab, Uttarakhand. Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, China: Xizang

Hosts: Abies pindrow , Picea smithiana , Pinus gerardiana , P. wallichiana ( Pinaceae )

Phylogenetic assessment:

A phylogenetic analysis of the Himalayan species Ips stebbingi , I. longifolia and I. schmutzenhoferi Holzschuh, 1988 was carried out using the COX-1 genes to determine the monophyly and sister groups of each species ( Fig. 37 ). According to the NJ tree, Ips stebbingi and I. longifolia formed well-supported sister clades with strong bootstrap values (98%) and the interspecific nucleotide difference between the two clades was more than 8% which is significantly higher than the range of 6.1% observed for Ips sister species ( Cognato & Sun 2007). The tree also revealed that the Himalayan Ips species were separately monophyletic, in contrast to sister groups that made up a different cluster in the analysis.

Genus Pityogenes Bedel, 1888

Pityogenes species are diagnosed by the following morphological characters: body length: 1.5–3.5 mm; body stocky; funicle five-segmented; pronotum large relative to elytra, posterior pronotum punctate, with medial, longitudinal ridged band without punctures; elytral declivity rounded; lateral declivity with two to three declivital margin spines, with the first pair being the largest and down curved in males, female with tubercles; the frons sexually dimorphic, females usually having a central fossa.

Key to the Himalayan species of Pityogenes Bedel, 1888

1 Elytral declivital margins with three almost equal sized, broad based tubercles more distinct in males; female frons with three cavities, larger one on vertex, and other two smaller ones below the vertex on lateral sides............. P. scitus Blandford

- Elytral declivital margins with three tubercles of unequal size, more distinct in males; middle one biggest and hooked inwards, placed at the level of 3 rd and 4 th interstriae; female frons with single cavity with a central round operature................................................................................................. P. spessivtsevi Lebedev

Figures

FIGURE 37. A phylogenetic tree obtained from the NJ for the COX-1 genes of Himalayan Ips (in blue) and related species. Numbers at the branches represent bootstrap values.