Psylliodes Latreille, 1829

Flowers, R. Wills, 2023, A New North American Record for a Mediterranean Psylliodes Latreille, 1829 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 77 (1), pp. 138-139 : 138-139

During examination of a collection of Psylliodes Latreille, 1829

from the southwestern United States in the Texas A&M University collection (TAMU), a pale yellowish tan specimen with an unusual conformation of the hind tibiae was observed. It was identified as Psylliodes algirica Allard, 1860 , a Mediterranean species known from Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, southern and central Italy, Sardinia, Sicily, and the Balearic and Ionian Islands ( Borowiec 2011; Fauna Europaea 2022; Löbl and Smetana 2010). The specimen ( Fig. 1 ) was identified by using keys in Heikertinger (1926) and Warchałowski (2010), and confirmed by comparison with a photo of the adult in Borowiec (2011), as well as comparison of photos of the spermatheca and head sculpture with drawings by Leonardi (1970, 1972). Leonardi (1970) established species groups for the European Psylliodes based on the structure of the female spermathecae and details of the sculpture of the front of the head. He placed P. algirica in the “ Psylliodes picina group” based on the spermatheca lacking an invaginated pump and having an uncontorted spermathecal duct, and transverse antennal tubercles that separate the ocular sulci from the base of the antennae. Additionally, the P. picina group is characterized by robust, curved hind tibiae, sometimes described as “scimitar­shaped” ( e.g., Doguet 1994). Psylliodes algirica can be distinguished from other P. picina group species, and from all New World Psylliodes , by the curved hind tibia with the metatarsal socket located very far from the apex of the tibia, almost at the middle of the tibia ( Fig. 2 ), the antennal calli broadly extended to the inner margin of the compound eye ( Fig. 3 ), and by the spermatheca, which has a receptacle that tapers toward the base in the Texas specimen ( Fig. 4 ) as in illustrations by Leonardi (1970, 1972) of spermathecae of European specimens of P. algirica .

Whereas most Psylliodes have bodies that are black or dark metallic colored, there are at least 25 Old World species that are light tan to reddish yellow ( Heikertinger 1926); the only other light brown species of Psylliodes known in the New World [ Psylliodes affinis (Paykull, 1798) and Psylliodes picina (Marsham, 1820) ] are also European introductions ( Hoebeke and Wheeler 1983). The only host plant information about P. algirica lists them as occurring on Quercus spp. ( Fagaceae ), Pistacia lentiscus L. ( Anacardiaceae ), or Populus alba L. ( Salicaceae ) in the Balearic Islands ( Petitpierre 1985).

Specimen Examined. Texas: Sutton Co., Sonora , 23­V­2000, S. G. Wellso ( 1♀, TAMU) .

Figures

Figs. 1–4. Psylliodes algirica. 1) Dorsal view; 2) Inner face of hind tibia; 3) Head; 4) Spermatheca.