Latheticus oryzae Waterhouse, 1880

Drăghici, Andreea-Cătălina, Pintilioaie, Alexandru-Mihai, Murariu, Dumitru, Manci, Cosmin-Ovidiu & Ruzzier, Enrico, 2025, New additions and further records of non-native Coleoptera in Romania, Zootaxa 5575 (3), pp. 409-428 : 416

Latheticus oryzae Waterhouse, 1880

Materials examined. Contanța County, Dumbrăveni (near), 43.9355°N / 27.9952°E, 16.IX.2022, pasture—at light, Cosmin-Ovidiu Manci leg. (4 specimens), COMC ( Fig. 3 B ) .

Collecting conditions. All specimens from Dumbrăveni were collected at light in an area intensively grazed just at the edge of Dumbrăveni forest.

Distribution. Species originating in India, described in 1880 from specimens collected in Calcutta ( Ando et al. 2016), currently recorded in 6 continents (Europe, Africa, North America , South America , Asia and Australia) ( Bousquet et al. 2018; Iwan et al. 2020; Hilman et al. 2023; Nowosielski-Slepowron & Aryeetey 1980). In Europe, it is known from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Russia: European Territory, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ukraine ( Iwan et al. 2020), Bulgaria ( Sivilov & Cvetkovska-Gorgievska 2014) and Romania (this paper). Romania is a new country record.

Notes. It resembles Tribolium beetles in general shape and feeding habits but is pale yellow, slightly shorter, and slenderer, with the head protruding well beyond the eyes (Badaw 1972).

The species was recorded in Europe at the end of the 19th century in Norway ( Seebens et al. 2017). L. oryzae is well adapted to tropical storage conditions ( Nowosielski-Slepowron & Aryeetey 1980) living in open rather than stored products and develops in rotten wood or under bark ( Andres 1927). It is a secondary pest of cereals and oilseeds and was first recorded from Bulgaria with shipments of foods such as rice, groundnut, sorghum and maize ( Atanasov 1982).

Figures

FIGURE3.DorsalviewatA Triboliumdestructor;BLatheticusoryzae;CPalorus subdepressus;DPalorus depressus;(Tribolium destructor—collected in Bârnova Forest, 46.989703°N/27.687814°E, 21.V.2013, Latheticus oryzae—collected in Dumbrăveni (near), 43.9355°N/27.9952°E, 16.IX.2022, Palorus subdepressus—collected in Dumbrăveni (near), 43.9355°N/27.9952°E, 16.IX.2022 and Palorus depressus—collected in Dobrovăț Forest, 46.9982°N/27.6776°E, 5.III.2023).