Polygraphus difficilis Wood, 1988b

Buhroo, Abdul Ahad, 2024, A taxonomic monograph of subfamily Scolytinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the Western Himalaya, Zootaxa 5533 (1), pp. 1-82 : 47

35. Polygraphus difficilis Wood, 1988b

( Figure 46 )

This species is diagnosed by the following morphological characters: ♀ body not so elongated; frons moderately concave on central half, concave area with fringe of incurved, golden hairs along upper and lateral margins, longest setae on vertex could extend two-thirds of distance to epistoma; eyes rather large, two-thirds divided by deep emargination; antennal funicle six-segmented; club rather small, ovate, with acute apex; pronotum 1.3× as wide as long; widest on basal third, lateral sides arcuate with broadly rounded anterior margin and a strong constriction just in front of it; surface smooth, shining with dense, small punctures and covered with short, fine hairs; scutellum indistinct; elytra 1.45× as long as its width, 1.9× as long as pronotum, lateral sides almost parallel upto basal three fourth, broadly rounded posteriorly; striae not impressed, punctures in obscure rows; interstriae more than three times as wide as striae, punctures slightly smaller than those of striae, close, confused; declivity steep, convex except shallowly sulcate on interstria 2; striae not indicated; interstriae 1 weakly elevated, 1 and 3 each armed by a row of small tubercles; vestiture of small rather sparse, pale interstrial scales; body reddish-brown, body length: 2.04–2.18 mm, 2.36× as long as wide.

Males differ from females in their frons being transversely impressed on lower third, convex above, armed by a transverse pair of rather widely spaced tubercles at upper level of eyes; body length: 1.76–1.93 mm.

Material examined: New Records: India: 2 ♂ ′s, 3 ♀ ′s. Jammu, Batote , Shampa (33° 07.952′ N, 075° 18.453′ E, 4225 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 21.05.2017 ( KUIC). Himachal Pradesh, Sanwara, Solan (30° 88.677′ N, 076° 99.854′ E, 4065 ft.), A.A. Buhroo, 20.02.2018 ( KUIC) .

Distribution: India: Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Uttarakhand

Hosts: Pinus roxburghii ( Pinaceae )

Figures

FIGURE 46. Polygraphus difficilis. Female: dorsal view A, lateral view B; male: dorsal view C.