Sibinia arenariae Stephens

Caldara, Roberto & Aguín-Pombo, Dora, 2008, A new synonym and new records of Tychiini (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) from Madeira Archipelago and Selvagens Islands, Zootaxa 1781, pp. 63-66 : 65

Sibinia arenariae Stephens

Sibinia arenariae Stephens, 1831: 58 ; Caldara 1985: 74; 1987: 39; Morris 2007: 10.

Material examined. Porto Santo Island, Pico do Maçarico, 12.iii.2006, leg. M. Tedeschi, 2 females (coll. Tedeschi).

This species is widespread in the whole Palaearctic Region except for Japan (Caldara 1985, Caldara 1987) but has also never been reported from the Madeiran Archipelago. Morris (2007) recently re-examined specimens collected in the Canary Islands (Lanzarote) identified as S. primita (Herbst, 1795) and reported under this name in the checklist of Machado & Oromí (2000), and he concluded that they actually represent S. arenariae . In 1995 and 2005 he had collected other specimens of S. arenariae from a number of localities in Lanzarote. In Europe and North Africa this species lives on various species of Spergularia and Spergula . It was collected in the south-eastern part of Porto Santo near the coast on Pico Maçarico at 285 m altitude, by netting low grasses growing on sandy ground (Tedeschi pers. com.).