Cleopomiarus meridionalis (H. Brisout, 1863)

Skuhrovec, Jiri, Gosik, Rafal, Caldara, Roberto, Tosevski, Ivo, Letowski, Jacek & Szwaj, Ewelina, 2018, Morphological characters of immature stages of Palaearctic species of Cleopomiarus and Miarus and their systematic value in Mecinini (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Curculioninae), ZooKeys 808, pp. 23-92 : 44-48

Cleopomiarus meridionalis (H. Brisout, 1863) Figures 41, 42, 43-44, 45-46, 47, 48-50

Material examined.

10 L3 larvae: south-eastern France, Castellar (Menton), Juin 2005, ex seed capsules of Campanula rapunculus L., leg. and det. R. Caldara all collected in association with adults.

Description.

Measurements (in mm). Body length: 2.20-3.15 (mean 2.8). Body width (metathorax or abdominal segments I–II) up to 0.73. Head width: 0.35-0.51 (mean 0.45).

General. Body elongated, slender, curved, rounded in cross section (Fig. 41).

Colouration. Pale brown or almost yellow head (Fig. 41). All thoracic and abdominal segments from distinctly white to slightly yellow (Fig. 41).

Vestiture. Setae on body thin, slightly from orange to pale brown, distinctly different in length (minute to very short or long to very long). Cuticle distinctly asperate.

Head capsule (Fig. 42). Head suboval, distinctly flattened laterally. Frontal sutures narrow, but distinct. Two stemmata (st), anterior one in the form of a small pigmented spot; and posterior one in form of a very small pigmented spot, located on each side close des5. Des1-3 and des5 very long; des4 relatively long (Fig. 42). Fs1 long to very long; fs2 absent; fs3 long medium, laterally to fs4; fs4 very long; and fs5 very long (Fig. 42). Les1 and les2 as long as des5; both ves medium size. Epicranial area with two sensilla and three pes in line with des2.

Antennae bearing one very long conical sensorium, and basal membranous article with three sensilla different in length, two behind conical sensorium, and one ahead of it (Fig. 43).

Clypeus (Fig. 45) approximately three times as wide as long with two medium size cls, cls1 distinctly longer than cls2, and one sensillum; anterior margin sinuate.

Mouthparts. Labrum (Fig. 45) less than 2.5 times as wide as long, with three piliform lms, different in the length; lms1 located posteromedially, very close to margin of clypeus, lms2 located in the middle, and lms3 located laterally; lms1 very long and reaches distinctly the labrum margin, lms2 long, and lms3 medium size, more than twice times as short as lms1. Epipharynx (Fig. 46) with three medium sized finger-like als, two als of identical in length, and the third one distinctly shorter and also located close to labral rods (lr); with three short ams in different shape, ams1 and ams2 piliform, finger-like ams3 and enlarged in middle, and also located more close to lr; without mes; labral rods (lr) distinct, elongated, oval. Mandibles (Fig. 44) bifid; bearing with two setae in short to medium size, piliform, and aligned longitudinally., mds1 located basally; mds2, located distinctly apically. Maxilla (Fig. 47) stipes with very long stps and pfs2, medium size pfs1, very short to minute mbs, and sensillum close to mbs; mala with six medium sized finger-like dms; five vms, different in length, four setae medium size, and one seta very short. Maxillary palpi: basal palpomere with one short mxps and two sensilla; distal palpomere with short, cuticular apical processes; length ratio of basal and distal palpomeres 1:0.8. Prelabium (Fig. 47) with one very short prms; ligula with two very short to minute ligs; premental sclerite broad, ring-shaped. Labial palpi with two palpomeres; length ratio of basal and distal palpomeres 1:0.9; each of the palpomeres with one sensillum, distal palpomere with short, cuticular apical processes. Postlabium (Fig. 47) with short pms1 located basally, long pms2 located medially and short pms3 located apically; membranous area basolaterally only a partly and finely asperate.

Thorax. Prothorax (Fig. 48) with nine very long and one very short to minute prns, small pigmented dorsal sclerite present with four long prns, this sclerite subdivided in two triangular plates medially; two very long to long ps; and one short eus. Meso- and metathorax (Fig. 48) with one long prs, three very long to long pds; one long as; two very long and one very short to minute ss; one long eps; one very long to long ps; and one short to very short eus. Each pedal area of the thoracic segments with 5-6 very long pda.

Abdomen. Abdominal segments I–VII (Figs 49-50) with one long prs; two relatively long to short and one very long to long pds (order: relatively long, very long, short); one very long to long and one minute ss; two very long eps; one very long to long ps; one relatively long to short lsts; and one short to very short and one relatively long eus. Abdominal segment VIII (Fig. 50) with sometimes one very short to minute prs; one short and one long to relatively long pds (order: short, long); one long and one minute ss; two very long eps; one very long to long ps; one relatively long to short lsts; and one short to very short and one relatively long eus. Abdominal segment IX (Fig. 50) with two relatively long and two short to very short ds; one relatively long and one minute ps; and one relatively long sts. Abdominal segment X (Fig. 50) with one very short seta (ts).

Biology.

Adults of this species are usually collected on the flowers of Campanula rapunculus L., and we can confirm that larvae feed on seeds of this plant as previously reported by Hoffmann (1958).

Remarks and comparative notes.

This species is widely distributed and common in southern Europe, whereas it appears rare in North Africa and the Middle East. Adults can be confused with some related species such as C. plantarum (Germar, 1823), C. micros (Germar, 1821) and C. reitteri (Caldara & Legalov, 2016), from which they differ by some external characters and the shape of their genitalia ( Caldara and Legalov 2016). In contrast, this species is poorly related morphologically to the other species of Cleopomiarus studied here. This difference is confirmed also by the larval morphology, which differs from all of the other species mainly by a longer fs3 that is almost as long as fs4.