Chiloneus hoffmanni (González, 1970) (Coleoptera Curculionidae) thus far considered a Maltese endemic, is here recorded for the first time from Lampedusa island (Italy). Several adults of this species and of C. solarii Pesarini, 1970 were found feeding on leaves of Charybdis pancration (Asparagaceae). These observations constitute the first data on the ecology of these species. An updated checklist of Chiloneus Schoenherr, 1842 is also provided.peer-reviewe

Casalini, Roberto

Colonnelli, Enzo

Corso, Andrea

Mifsud, David

OAR@UM

Biodiversity Journal, 2017, 8 (1): 39–44Chiloneus hoffmanni (González, 1970) (Coleoptera Curculionidae)new to Italy, with a checklist of the species of the genus andecological notesRoberto Casalini1, Enzo Colonnelli2*, Andrea Corso3 & David Mifsud4 1Museo Civico di Zoologia, via Ulisse Aldrovandi, 18, 00187 Roma, Italy 2via delle Giunchiglie, 56, 00172 Roma, Italy 3via Camastra, 10, 96100 Siracusa, Italy, 4Institute of Earth Systems, University of Malta, Msida MSD 2080, Malta *Corresponding author, email: ecolonnelli@yahoo.itABSTRACTReceived 06.03.2017; accepted 23.03.2017; printed 30.03.2017Chiloneus hoffmanni (González, 1970) (Coleoptera Curculionidae) thus far considered aMaltese endemic, is here recorded for the first time from Lampedusa island (Italy). Severaladults of this species and of C. solarii Pesarini, 1970 were found feeding on leaves ofCharybdis pancration (Asparagaceae). These observations constitute the first data on the eco-logy of these species. An updated checklist of Chiloneus Schoenherr, 1842 is also provided.  INTRODUCTIONChiloneus Schoenherr, 1842 is a genus of Scia-philini Sharp, 1891 (Coleoptera Curculionidae) hav-ing a Mediterranean-Turanian distribution. Thegenus currently includes 41 described species ofwhich 40 are accommodated in the nominal sub-genus, and one in the subgenus Mylaconeus Pesar-ini, 1970 (Borovec, 2013; Borovec & Perrin, 2016).The absolute majority of species are distributed inthe warmer parts of the Mediterranean basin.The most recent and comprehensive revision ofthis group was published by González (1970), whohowever confused members of this genus withthose of Desbrochersella Reitter, 1906, a morpho-logically similar genus of Omiini Shuckard, 1840(Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal, 1999). Distinguishingfeatures for the above mentioned genera wereprovided by Borovec & Perrin (2016), who alsodescribed new species, proposed new combinationsand several new synonyms, outdating the recentcatalogue of Borovec (2013). Four species of Chiloneus were recorded fromItaly, of which three belong to the nominotypicalsubgenus, and one to the endemic subgenusMylaconeus (Abbazzi & Maggini, 2009; Borovec,2013). MATERIAL AND METHODSIn the last 10 years, regular visits to the Pelagieislands were carried out by one of us (AC), mostlyto study the bird and dragonfly fauna (Corso, 2005;Corso et al., 2009, 2012). During October andNovember 2016, several specimens of Chiloneuswere hand-collected on sea squill after heavy rainson Linosa island. A few weeks later, in view of theKEY WORDS Curculionidae; Chiloneus; diversity; biology; Mediterranean. ROBERTO CASALINI ET ALIIive at night. Similar behaviour was shown by Chi-loneus on Lampedusa and the Maltese islands. Hun-dreds of exemplars were observed in Linosa, andabout 130 were collected at Monte Vulcano, MonteBandiera, Monte Rosso and Mannarazza. These arethe first ecological observations for these insularChiloneus, whose larvae probably develop insidethe bulbs of Charybdis and/or possibly inside rootsof the near plants. During the five days spent on Lampedusa sev-eral Charybdis and similar plants from all over theisland were investigated for the presence of thisweevil. Interestingly, many specimens of Chiloneuswere found all over the western part of the island,from Capo Ponente to Albero Sole, Punta dell’Ac-qua, Cala Pulcino and Cala Galera, whereas not asingle specimen was found on the eastern part, eastof the town of Lampedusa to Punta Sottile, CalaFrancese and Capo Levante. In fact, on the easternpart of the island, and suggesting that the twoweevils exclude each other from developing on thesame plants, was rather common only the sub-endemic Brachycerus schatzmayri Zumpt, 1937.This rather common weevil produces similardamage to the leaves of the plant, and no less than40 specimens were found. Apart this large As-paragaceae, no other plant was found as possiblehost of this huge Brachycerus Olivier, 1789 in theisland. In the field it became evident that the speci-mens of Chiloneus from Lampedusa were sligthlydifferent from those found in Linosa. Specimens from Linosa and Lampedusa weremorphologically compared, and it was found thatthey belong to two apparently different species.In fact, the specimens from Lampedusa were verysimilar to Chiloneus hoffmanni González, 1970, aspecies considered endemic to the Maltese ar-chipelago (Mifsud & Colonnelli, 2010). From sideto side examination of numerous specimens of Chi-loneus from Malta and Lampedusa, we were ableto identify the Chiloneus from Lampedusa as C.hoffmanni, a species never reported for the Italianfauna. Given the close relationship of these insularChiloneus to one another and their variability ofsize, density and colour of scales of integument,absence or presence and size of profemoral tooth,the only reliable feature which allows discrimina-tion of C. hoffmanni (Fig. 1) from C. solarii (Fig.40results obtained in Linosa, the same plant was suc-cessfully investigated on Lampedusa island in orderto check the presence of Chiloneus. Given the faun-istic and botanic similarity between the Pelagie andthe Maltese archipelagoes (Corti et al., 2002), wedecided to compare Chiloneus from the three is-lands, i.e. Linosa, Lampedusa and Malta, which areclose to each other (Fig. 7). In Malta, one of us(DM) collected this weevil from the base of thesame plant, called also sea onion or giant hyacinth,in a coastal garigue habitat in the south-eastern partof Malta (Munxar, l/o St. Thomas Bay), and addi-tional material was available from Mellieha inMalta and Qbajjar in Gozo. Specimens are  pre-served in the personal collections of EC and RC inRome, and of DM in Malta. Body size of specimens is meant from an idealline in front of eyes to the tip of elytra, excludingthus the rostrum, as usual for weevils. Measureswere taken with an ocular grid.Pictures were taken by Francesco Sacco with aNikon 810 camera provided with a Mitutoyo PlanApo 10X objective and a tube lens f 80mm 4X.Photo were then stacked with the program HeliconFocus 6.1, and further processed using the programAdobe Photoshop CS5.Nomenclature of plants follows the checklist byConti et al. (2005).ABBREVIATIONS. AC: Andrea Corso; EC:Enzo Colonnelli; RC: Roberto Casalini; DM: DavidMifsud. Distribution, AG: Algeria; BH: Bosnia andHercegovina; CY: Cyprus; CR: Croatia; EG: Egypt;GR: Greece; KZ: Kazakistan; IT: Italy; JO: Jordan;IS: Israel; LB: Libya; MA: Malta; MO: Morocco;SP: Spain; TR: Turkey; TU: Tunisia.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION On Linosa island, Chiloneus solarii Pesarini,1970, a weevil previously known on the basis of theeight type specimens (Pesarini, 1970), was com-monly found at the base of leaves of Charybdispancration (Steinh.) Speta (Asparagaceae) (Fig. 5).It was found from sea level up to the top of MonteVulcano (m 195 a.s.l.), feeding on leaves and pro-ducing irregular holes on their surface (Fig. 6). Dur-ing the day, adults were hidden at the base of therather succulent large leaves of the plant, being act-41Chiloneus hoffmanni (Curculionidae) new to Italy, with a checklist of the species of the genus and ecological notes2) are the striae of the latter which are clearly nar-rower since their punctures are at most as wide as1/3 of the width of the flat dorsal intervals, whereasin C. hoffmanni at least some striae are formed bypunctures as wide as half of the often quite convexintervals. The aedeagus and spermatheca are verysimilar in both species, merely the aedeagus of C.hoffmanni is slightly wider than that of C. solarii(Figs. 2 and 4). The body size of C. hoffmanni isalso on average somewhat larger (mm 4.0–5.5,mean 4.6) than that of C. solarii (mm 3.5–5.0,mean 4.2). The presence or absence of minuteblunt profemoral tooth cannot be used to differen-tiate these two species as indicated by Pesarini(1970), since a great variability was observed fol-lowing examination of more than 220 specimensat hand. In general, vestiture of C. hoffmanni is alsosparser, and its integument more polished andpaler, whereas the colour of scales varies in bothspecies from golden-brownish to metallic greenish.We plan to carry out molecular studies next yearto better assess the taxonomic status of these ex-tremely close insular populations.Figures 1, 3. Male of Chiloneus hoffmanni from Lampedusa (Sicilian Channel, Italy), habitus and aedeagus from above,respectively. Figures 2, 4. Male of  Chiloneus solarii from Linosa (Sicilian Channel, Italy), habitus and aedeagus fromabove, respectively. Photos by Francesco Sacco.Figure 5. Leaves of  Charybdis pancration cribbled byadults of Chiloneus solarii in Linosa (Sicilian Channel,Italy). Figure 6. Detail of the same, with some insects half-hidden inside the rosette of leaves. Photos by AndreaCorso.CHECKLIST As already pointed out, the checklist of Chi-loneus provided by Borovec (2013) became out-dated after the publication of the work by Borovec& Perrin (2016) in which several taxonomical, no-menclatural and distributional changes were made.It seems thus appropriate to provide here under anupdated list of all species of this genus, usinga format slightly different from that used in thecatalogue by Löbl & Smetana (2013). However,same country abbreviations are being used to fa-cilitate comparison in distributional data. Indentednames are synonyms. The list is presented hereunder.Chiloneus (Chiloneus) Schoenherr, 1842Chilonorrhinus Reitter, 1915Microelytrodon Pic, 1945Rhinochrosis Desbrochers des Loges, 1892aliquoi (Pesarini, 1975) - ITbarbaricus (González, 1970) - AGvaulogeri (Desbrochers des Loges, 1897)belloi Borovec et Weill, 2016 - SPbrevipilis Desbrochers des Loges, 1893 - AG, TUtuniseus Desbrochers des Loges, 1897 brevithorax Desbrochers des Loges, 1875 - CYtheresae (Pic, 1945)carinidorsum Desbrochers des Loges, 1871 - AGchevrolati Tournier, 1874 - MO, PT, SP parvus (Stierlin, 1899)subglobatus (Desbrochers des Loges, 1892) tingitanus (González, 1970)chobauti (Desbrochers des Loges, 1897) - AGMO, TUinhumeralis (Pic, 1903)cinerascens (Rosenhauer, 1856) - AG, MO, SP nitens (Pic, 1904)seminitidus (Hustache, 1941)corcyreus Penecke, 1935 - GR (Kerkyra)corpulentus (Kiesenwetter, 1864) - GRcyrenaicus Borovec et Weill, 2016 - LBfranzi (González, 1970) - SPgabrieli Reitter, 1915 - GRglobulus Borovec et Perrin, 2016 - AGhispidus (González, 1972) - JO42Figure 7. Map of central Mediterranean, showing the position of Linosa, Lampedusa, and Maltese islands. Localities of Chiloneus hoffmanni are marked by red squares, whereas those of C. solarii are marked by a red dot.ROBERTO CASALINI ET ALIIhoffmanni (González, 1970) -  IT (Lampedusa), MAdeluccai Pesarini, 1970infuscatus (Chevrolat, 1861) - AG, TUalgericus Desbrochers des Loges, 1871innotatus (Pic, 1927) - CYinsulanus (González, 1970) jonicus Kraatz, 1859 - GRmaculatus (Hampe, 1870) -  BH, CRmaroccanus (Hoffmann, 1954) - MOmediterraneus (González, 1970) - SPmeridionalis (Boheman, 1840) - IT (Sicily)championi (González, 1970)siculus Boheman, 1842minutissimus (Pic, 1904) - AGnitidipennis (Pic, 1927)subannulipes (Pic, 1917) omiasformis Borovec et Weill, 2016 - SPottomanus Desbrochers des Loges, 1892 - TRpallidus Bajtenov, 1974 - KZpennatus (Faust, 1885) - AG, SPdividuus (Pic, 1904) pruinosus (Desbrochers des Loges, 1896)pertusicollis (Fairmaire, 1868) - AG, EGnasutus Desbrochers des Loges, 1897 ruficornis (Allard, 1869) sphaeropterus (Allard, 1869)sahlbergi Reitter, 1915 - ISscythropoides Reitter, 1915 - CYsitoniformis Reitter, 1915 - ISsitonoides Reitter, 1915 - AGsolarii Pesarini, 1970 - IT (Linosa) submaculatus (Pic, 1917) - AG, TUalboscutellaris (Pic, 1917) syriacus (Stierlin, 1886) - IStenietensis Borovec et Perrin, 2016 - AGvaulogeri (Pic, 1896) - LB, TUalluaudi (Pic, 1903)pilosulus Normand, 1953veneriatus Normand, 1937: 244 - TUChiloneus (Mylaconeus) Pesarini, 1970lonai Pesarini, 1970 -  ITACKNOWLEDGEMENTSOttavio Janni (Piedimonte Matese, Caserta),Michele Viganò (Germignaga, Varese), Lucio Man-iscalco (Palermo, Italy), Raimondo Finati (Napoli,Italy), Hans Larsson (Malmoe, Sweden) and IgorMaiorano (Trieste, Italy), friends and colleagues ofthe birding team MISC, with whom Andrea Corsoregularly visited the Pelagie islands in the last tenyears, are thanked for their collaboration in thefield. Fabio Tuccio (Linosa, Italy) is appreciated forhis hospitality during the stay at Linosa island.Francesco Sacco (Rome, Italy) was so kind to takethe pictures of the weevils. Marco Giardini (Sant’Angelo Romano,, Italy) gave us information aboutnomenclature of the plants.REFERENCESAbbazzi P. & Maggini L., 2009. Elenco sistematico-faunistico dei Curculionoidea italiani, Scolytidae ePlatypodidae esclusi (Insecta, Coleoptera). Aldrovan-dia, 5: 29–216. Alonso-Zarazaga M.A. & Lyal C.H.C., 1999. A worldcatalogue of families and genera of Curculionoidea(Insecta: Coleoptera) (Excepting Scolytidae andPlatypodidae). Entomopraxis, Barcelona, 315 pp.Borovec R., 2013. Tribe Sciaphilini Sharp, 1891.  In: I.Löbl & Smetana A. (Eds.), Catalogue of PalaearticColeoptera. Volume 8. Curculionoidea II. Brill,Leiden, Boston,  83–85 and 377–386.Borovec R. & Perrin H., 2016. On the systematic positionof some species of Chiloneus, Desbrochersella andSciaphilus, with description of two new species andlectotype selection (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: En-timinae). Zootaxa, 419: 131–152. Conti F., Abbate G., Alessandrini A. & Blasi C. (Eds.),2005. An annotated checklist of the Italian vascularflora. Palombi e Partner, Roma, 420 pp.Corso A., 2005. Avifauna di Sicilia. Edizioni L’Epos,Palermo, 320 pp.Corso A., Janni O., Larsson H. & Gustin M., 2009. Com-menti sullo status del Marangone dal ciuffo Phalac-rocorax aristotelis desmarestii in Sicilia. Alula, 16:213–215. Corso A., Janni O., Pavesi M., Sammut M., Sciberras A.& Viganò M., 2012. Annotated checklist of thedragonflies (Insecta Odonata) of the islands of theSicilian Channel, including the first records of Sym-petrum sinaiticum Dumont, 1977 and Pantala flaves-cens (Fabricius 1798) for Italy. Biodiversity Journal,3: 459–478. Corti C., Lo Cascio P., Massetti M. & Pasta S., 2002.Storia naturale delle isole Pelagie. Edizioni L’Epos,Palermo, 189 pp.González M., 1970. El género Desbrochersella Reitter(Col. Curculionidae). Publicaciones del Instituto deBiología Aplicada, 48: 49–72. Chiloneus hoffmanni (Curculionidae) new to Italy, with a checklist of the species of the genus and ecological notes 43Löbl I. & Smetana A. (Eds.), 2013. Catalogue of Palae-artic Coleoptera. Volume 8. Curculionoidea II. Brill,Leiden, Boston, 700 pp. Mifsud D. & Colonnelli E., 2010. The Curculionoidea ofthe Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean) (Cole-optera). Bulletin of the Entomological Society ofMalta, 3: 55–143. Pesarini C., 1970. I Chiloneus italiani con descrizione ditre nuove specie e di un nuovo sottogenere (VIII con-tributo alla conoscenza dei coleotteri curculionidi). Attidella Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del MuseoCivico di Storia Naturale di Milano, 112: 373–386.ROBERTO CASALINI ET ALII44

Chiloneus hoffmanni (Gonzalez, 1970) (Coleoptera Curculionidae) new to Italy, with a checklist of the species of the genus and ecological notes

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Chiloneus hoffmanni (Gonzalez, 1970) (Coleoptera Curculionidae) new to Italy, with a checklist of the species of the genus and ecological notes

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