Ctonoxylon spinifer Eggers, 1920

Jordal, Bjarte H., 2024, An integrated taxonomic revision of Ctonoxylon (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae) reveals new Malagasy species originating from multiple recent colonisations of the island, ZooKeys 1203, pp. 95-130 : 95-130

Ctonoxylon spinifer Eggers

Figs 83 , 86 , 89

Ctonoxylon spinifer Eggers, 1920: 39.

Ctonoxylon setifer Eggers, 1920: 39, syn. nov.

Links.

https://www.barkbeetles.info/photos_target_species.php?lookUp=7983.

Type material.

Lectotype, male of C. spinifer : Kamerun, Soppo , 1912, v. Rothkirch leg. [ USNM] ; paratype, female, same data [ NHMW] . Holotype C. setifer : [ Tanzania] Amani [lost]; paratype [ NHMW] .

Diagnosis.

Length 2.2–2.8 mm. 2.2–2.3 × as long as broad; colour brown. Female frons sparsely punctured, lightly granulated with short erect setae; male frons flat, smooth, impunctate and glabrous on central third, with longer setae near eyes and epistoma; eye parts separated by the size of upper half; anterior lateral margin of prothorax with faint eye scraper, below this point with a short elongated groove near front of procoxa; propleural pit present above coxa; scutellar shield detached from elytra; elytral suture a little buckled at midlength; apex entire; interstrial vestiture of mainly regular rows of bristle-like erect setae, interstrial punctures on both disc and declivity dense, distinct; posterior metaventrite with unusually broad and long setae.

Distribution.

Burkino Faso (new country record), Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar (new country record).

New records.

Burkina Faso, Foret de Boulon [10.343, - 4.510], 270 m, piege interception (1), piege limeneux (1), 9. 7. 2006, F. Genier, leg. [ CMNC] ; Cameroon, Adamoua, 20 km S. Minim [6.49, 12.52], 1200 m alt., 8. 3. 1982, Flacke & Nagel, leg. [1, ZFMK] ; Tanzania, Udzungwa National Park HQ, Mang’ula [GIS: - 7.845, 36.880], 200 m alt., ex liana, 9. 11. 2009 and 29. 6. 2010, B. Jordal, leg. ; Mang’ula [GIS: - 7.850, 36.883], ex liana, 14. 11. 2009, B. Jordal, leg. [ ZMUB] ; Morogoro, Kimboza Forest Reserve [- 7.023, 37.806], S. S. Madoffe, leg. [1, NHMUK] ; Madagascar, Reserve speciale de l’Ankarana, 22.9 km SW Anivoran [- 12.93, 49.16], B. Fischer, leg. [1, CAS] .

Biology.

Specimens were dissected from the pith of thin lianas, 0.6–1.0 cm diameter, still exuding latex.

Comments.

The co-types (paratypes) of C. spinifer are identical to those of C. setifer . Because the holotype of C. setifer is lost, and using the principle of first reviser, the name spinifer is given priority. Eggers’ descriptions are very similar and not useful to distinguish specimens. There is some variation within series of various other collections, particularly in the regularity of interstrial rows of setae but this variation follows no predictable pattern. This species is very similar to C. uniseriatum but differs by the erect interstrial setae, particularly on the declivity where setae are not directed sideways as in uniseriatum , by the densely placed interstrial punctures, and in males also by the less inflated upper central frons. Genetic data supported a sister relationship to C. amanicum instead of C. uniseriatum (Fig. 11 ).

A single specimen is recorded from near the north-west coast of Madagascar. This is not too surprising given the broad Afrotropical distribution of this species.

Figures

Figures 81–89. Dorsal, lateral, and front views of 81, 84, 87 Ctonoxylon amanicum female 82, 85, 88 Ctonoxylon uniseriatum female, and 83, 86, 89 Ctonoxylon spinifer female.

Figures 10–11. Phylogeny of Ctonoxylon. Node support is given as posterior probabilities above and parsimony bootstrap values below nodes 10 tree topology resulting from the parsimony analysis of 14 morphological characters for all species using implied weighting (Goloboff et al. 2018) 11 partial tree topology redrawn from a previously published Bayesian tree topology based on 1958 nucleotide position from three gene fragments (Jordal 2023). Species found in Madagascar marked in purple.