Ctonoxylon spinifer Eggers 1920
Creators: name: Jordal, Bjarte H.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Ctonoxylon
Ctonoxylon spinifer

description: Ctonoxylon spinifer Eggers
Figs 83, 86, 89
Ctonoxylon spinifer Eggers, 1920: 39.
Ctonoxylon setifer Eggers, 1920: 39, syn. nov.
Links.
https://www.barkbeetles.info/photos_target_species.php?lookUp=7983.
Type material.
Lectotype, male of C. spinifer: Kamerun, Soppo, 1912, v. Rothkirch leg. [USNM]; paratype, female, same data [NHMW]. Holotype C. setifer: [Tanzania] Amani [lost]; paratype [NHMW].
Diagnosis.
Length 2.2–2.8 mm. 2.2–2.3 × as long as broad; colour brown. Female frons sparsely punctured, lightly granulated with short erect setae; male frons flat, smooth, impunctate and glabrous on central third, with longer setae near eyes and epistoma; eye parts separated by the size of upper half; anterior lateral margin of prothorax with faint eye scraper, below this point with a short elongated groove near front of procoxa; propleural pit present above coxa; scutellar shield detached from elytra; elytral suture a little buckled at midlength; apex entire; interstrial vestiture of mainly regular rows of bristle-like erect setae, interstrial punctures on both disc and declivity dense, distinct; posterior metaventrite with unusually broad and long setae.
Distribution.
Burkino Faso (new country record), Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar (new country record).
New records.
Burkina Faso, Foret de Boulon [10.343, - 4.510], 270 m, piege interception (1), piege limeneux (1), 9. 7. 2006, F. Genier, leg. [CMNC]; Cameroon, Adamoua, 20 km S. Minim [6.49, 12.52], 1200 m alt., 8. 3. 1982, Flacke & Nagel, leg. [1, ZFMK]; Tanzania, Udzungwa National Park HQ, Mang’ula [GIS: - 7.845, 36.880], 200 m alt., ex liana, 9. 11. 2009 and 29. 6. 2010, B. Jordal, leg.; Mang’ula [GIS: - 7.850, 36.883], ex liana, 14. 11. 2009, B. Jordal, leg. [ZMUB]; Morogoro, Kimboza Forest Reserve [- 7.023, 37.806], S. S. Madoffe, leg. [1, NHMUK]; Madagascar, Reserve speciale de l’Ankarana, 22.9 km SW Anivoran [- 12.93, 49.16], B. Fischer, leg. [1, CAS].
Biology.
Specimens were dissected from the pith of thin lianas, 0.6–1.0 cm diameter, still exuding latex.
Comments.
The co-types (paratypes) of C. spinifer are identical to those of C. setifer. Because the holotype of C. setifer is lost, and using the principle of first reviser, the name spinifer is given priority. Eggers’ descriptions are very similar and not useful to distinguish specimens. There is some variation within series of various other collections, particularly in the regularity of interstrial rows of setae but this variation follows no predictable pattern. This species is very similar to C. uniseriatum but differs by the erect interstrial setae, particularly on the declivity where setae are not directed sideways as in uniseriatum, by the densely placed interstrial punctures, and in males also by the less inflated upper central frons. Genetic data supported a sister relationship to C. amanicum instead of C. uniseriatum (Fig. 11).
A single specimen is recorded from near the north-west coast of Madagascar. This is not too surprising given the broad Afrotropical distribution of this species.
description: Published as part of Jordal, Bjarte H., 2024, An integrated taxonomic revision of Ctonoxylon (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae) reveals new Malagasy species originating from multiple recent colonisations of the island, pp. 95-130 in ZooKeys 1203 on pages 95-130, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1203.123757