Cis chinensis Lawrence, 1991

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 : 410-411

Cis chinensis Lawrence, 1991

Materials examined. Bucharest, 44.453404°N / 26.084710°E, 11.XII.2023, urban green area, Andreea-Cătălina Drăghici leg. (10 specimens), MGAB .

Collecting conditions. The specimens were collected from Polyporaceae fungi growing on a dead Acer negundo L. (Sapindacee) ( Fig. 1 A, B ).

Distribution. The species originates from China ( Lawrence 1991), with the first record in the Northern Mariana Islands ( Souza-Gonçalves & Lopes-Andrade 2018) and a record from Thailand ( Lawrence 2016). It has established and spread to North America ( Lawrence 1991; Madenjian et al. 1993), La Reunión Island ( Rose 2009), South America ( Lopes-Andrade 2008) , Australia ( Lawrence 2016), and South Africa ( Souza-Gonçalves & Lopes-Andrade 2018). It has shown great invasive capacity and is now cosmopolitan ( Souza-Gonçalves & Lopes-Andrade 2018). It was introduced in France, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Malta, Spain, and Switzerland ( Lohse & Reibnitz 1991, Lopes-Andrade 2008, Rose 2009, Reibnitz & Kunz 2011, Diéguez-Fernández 2013; Amini et al. 2016; Németh et al. 2017; Shugran et al. 2018; Ruzzier et al. 2020a; Coray et al. 2022). Romania is a new country record.

Remarks. In Europe, Cis chinensis was historically misidentified with C. multidentatus (Pic, 1917) because of their close external resemblance ( Lopes-Andrade 2008); C. chinensis is almost always associated with fungi and it was widespread thanks to the commercialization of dry fungi for culinary/medical purposes ( Lopes-Andrade 2008).

The species is a pest of commercial dry fungi, but it can also be found in urban areas ( Lopes-Andrade 2008, Diéguez Fernández 2013; present work) and in areas with native vegetation ( Souza-Gonçalves & Lopes-Andrade 2018), a characteristic common to highly successful invasive species ( Williamson & Fitter 1996; Rosecchi et al. 2001; Hayes & Barry 2008).

Figures

FIGURE 1. A, B Cis chinensis A—dorsal view, B—live habitus; C Litargus balteatus—dorsal view (Cis chinensis—collected in Bucharest, 44.453404°N/26.084710°E, 11.XII.2023 and Litargus balteatus—collected in “Dunele Marine de la Agigea” Nature Reserve, 44.0876°N/28.6422°E, 13-23.VIII.2022).