Taphrorychus mecedanus Reitter, 1913

Cresta, Eleonora, Faccoli, Massimo, Giarruzzo, Federica, Siero, Emanuele Di, Ruzzier, Enrico, Sora, Nicolò Di & Speranza, Stefano, 2025, Taphrorychus hirtellus Eichhoff (Curculionidae: Scolytinae, Dryocoetini) a new species to the Italian fauna, with a key to the Taphrorychus species of Europe, Zootaxa 5584 (4), pp. 559-569 : 561-563

Taphrorychus mecedanus Reitter

Specimens examined: 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap TR1 _ 1, 41°20’34”N 13°00’54”E, 22.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE) ; 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap TR1 _ 2, 41°20’34”N 13°00’55”E, 22.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE) ; 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap TR1 _ 4, 41°20’33”N 13°00’56”E, 22.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE) ; 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap TR1 _ 5, 41°20’33”N 13°00’56”E, 22.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE); 2 exx. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap TR6 _ 1, 41°21’48”N 13°00’47”E, 16.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE); 2 exx. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap TR6 _ 1, 41°21’48”N 13°00’47”E, 07.v.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo (1 ex. DAFNE) (1 ex. DAFNAE) ; 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap TR6 _ 3, 41°21’47”N 13°00’46”E, 16.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE) ; 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap TR6 _ 4, 41°21’47”N 13°00’45”, 16.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE) ; 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap TR6 _ 5, 41°21’46”N 13°00’44”E, 07.v.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE) ; 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Quarto Freddo Trap TR7 _ 3, 41°22’03”N 13°02’38”E, 14.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE) ; 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap PP2_1, 41°19’42”N 13°03’15”E, 03.v.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE); 2 exx. Circeo National Park, Selva del Circeo Trap PP2_10, 41°19’44”N 13°03’16”E, 14.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo (1 ex. DAFNE) (1 ex. DAFNAE) ; 1 ex. Circeo National Park , Selva del Circeo Trap PP5_12, 41°19’01”N 13°03’02”E, 12.iv.2021, leg. F. Giarruzzo ( DAFNE) .

Female. Body elongated (1.6–1.8 mm), subcylindrical in shape. Pronotum slightly longer than wide, rounded anteriorly, curved profile with marked summit at the pronotal disc ( Fig. 4A ) and, in lateral view, clearly inclined anteriad ( Fig. 4B–C ). Anterior half asperate, with abundant low-relief granules, lightly hooked profile, arranged concentrically in non-parallel rows, gradually replaced by small punctiform granules and then to more or less distinct punctuation in posterior half. Basal and marginal area smooth, shagreened, semi-shining in-between the punctures. Antennae with 5-segmented funicle (including pedicel) and flat lenticular club; three slightly recurved, well-marked sutures on external face ( Fig. 4D ). Elytra parallel, with disc flat, declivity broadly rounded, with level suture or low relief. Striae and interstriae faint; elytra matt, no apparent punctuation except faintly indicated laterally. Minute granules on interstriae 1, 3 and 5 of declivity, uniform in size ( Fig. 5 ). Elytral vestiture covers entirely the surface of disc and declivity. Fine whitish bristles setae, long, not very dense, more numerous on the pronotal slope and on the elytral declivity, longer on the interstriae, horizontally oriented. Species with sexual dimorphism, strongly evident in the area of the frons where females show a very dense brush of clustered yellow or white long setae, pointed forward in the centre of frons.

Male. Pronotum longer than wide (1.7–1.8×), frons granulate with fine, sparse and flexible setae.

Distribution. Previously recorded from Bulgaria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia ( Balachowsky 1949), as well as Turkey (mid-Black Sea region) and Algeria ( Knížek 2009; Tuncer et al. 2017).

Host plants and phytosanitary relevance. Taphrorychus Eichhoff , comprises species feeding exclusively on broadleaved trees, mostly Fagaceae , Betulaceae , and Rosaceae ( Balachowsky 1949; Marchioro et al. 2024). In particular, the main host trees of Taphrorychus hirtellus are Quercus cerris , Q. frainetto , Q. petraea , Fagus sylvatica , F. orientalis ( Fagaceae ) and Corylus avellana ( Betulaceae ) ( Pfeffer 1995). The species has been recorded occasionally also on Castanea sativa ( Fagaceae ) ( Bright & Skidmore 1997).

Taphrorychus hirtellus develops on felled or dried trees and branches, where it creates shallow and irregularly shaped maternal tunnels under the bark for oviposition. Each larva, feeding on plant tissue, hollows an independent larval gallery. These galleries, which spread out from the maternal ones, are slim, and deepen progressively until they reach the sapwood, often overlapping and irregularly intertwined ( Wichmann 1912; Faccoli 2015). The species has no phytosanitary relevance, as previously noted by Roganovic (2012) and Tuncer et al. (2017). This may be further supported by present observations according to the locations where the species has been recorded.

Taphrorychus hirtellus differs from other Italian Taphrorychus , specifically T. bicolor Herbst and T. villifrons Dufour by its smaller size (1.6–1.8 mm), the reddish-brown colour of the body and the yellow coloration on the legs and antennae, and most notably, by the distinctive punctuation of the elytra, which are completely absent. In fact, T. bicolor and T. villifrons are characterised by deep punctuation on the elytra and strongly setose appearance ( Balachowsky 1949). In addition, according to Tuncer et al. (2017), T. hirtellus can be distinguished from Taphrorychus ramicola Reitter —species of comparable size (1.2–2.0 mm) and not recorded in Italy — by the shape of the pronotum. In T. hirtellus , the pronotum has a distinct median summit when viewed laterally. Its elytra appear less shiny and lacking in striae when compared to T. ramicola or Taphrorychus minor Eggers , a species endemic to Sardinia and central Italy that develops on Q. ilex ( Gatti 2011) .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Female of Taphrorychus hirtellus (A) pronotum dorsal view, pronotum and head detail lateral view by (B) SEM and (C) stereo microscope, (D) antenna detail.

FIGURE 5. Postero-lateral view of Taphrorychus hirtellus photographed by (A) stereo microscope and (B) SEM. (C) Detail of the declivity of T. hirtellus specimen.