Xylopertha reflexicauda
Creators: name: Liu, Lan-Yu
name: Beaver, Roger A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Bostrichidae
Xylopertha
Xylopertha reflexicauda

description: Xylopertha reflexicauda (Lesne, 1937)
Figs 1G–H, 2D, 3D, 4D, 5G–H
Xylonites reflexicauda Lesne, 1937: 199.
Paraxylogenes pistaciae Damoiseau, 1968: 4, syn. nov.
Xylopertha reflexicauda – Borowski & Węgrzynowicz 2007: 145.
Paraxylogenes reflexicauda – Buse et al. 2013: 690, 692.
Damoiseau (1968) erected the genus Paraxylogenes for five specimens collected in Iraq and Pakistan in the wood of pistachio trees (Pistachia vera). The genus is monobasic with P. pistaciae Damoiseau, 1968 being the only species. Damoiseau (1968) separated the genus from four other genera of Xyloperthini with species having nine antennomeres, but failed to compare it with Xylopertha.
We have examined male and female syntypes of Xylopertha reflexicauda from Pakistan (MNHN), the holotype male, allotype female, and three female paratypes of Paraxylogenes pistaciae from Iraq and Pakistan (NHMUK, IRSNB), and further specimens from South Europe and Middle Asia in LYL, NMPC and IRSNB. It is clear that only a single species is represented, and P. pistaciae is here synonymised with X. reflexicauda. Buse et al. (2013) listed P. pistaciae as a synonym of Paraxylogenes reflexicauda [sic] in a paper on the ecology of oak wood-inhabiting beetles in Israel, but made no further comments, and gave no indication that they had examined type material. The synonymy of the only species of Paraxylogenes with X. reflexicauda automatically makes Paraxylogenes a synonym of Xylopertha.
We note below that the male and female genitalia of X. reflexicauda differ in several respects from those of the other species of Xylopertha. However, we do not consider these and other morphological differences sufficient to retain Paraxylogenes as a distinct genus from Xylopertha.
Diagnosis
Distinguished from Xylopertha elegans sp. nov. and X. retusa (Olivier, 1790) by the presence of a spine on each elytron in both sexes, the spines smaller in the female. Xylopertha reflexicauda differs from X. praeusta in the position of the spines, which are located on the middle of the upper margin of the declivity in X. reflexicauda, whereas in X. praeusta they are located on the dorso-lateral margin of the declivity (Fig. 1E–H). Xylopertha reflexicauda is also distinguished from the other three species of Xylopertha by the absence of any sexual modification of the apical margin of the elytra. The male and female genitalia differ in certain respects from those of the other three species. The posterior margin of the 8th tergite of the male is sclerotised in X. reflexicauda (Fig. 5G), but membraneous in the other three species (Fig. 5A, C, E). The posterior margin of the last ventrite of the male is bidentate without a median lobe in X. reflexicauda (Fig. 5H), but has a median lobe and a process on either side in X. elegans sp. nov. (Fig. 5F) and X. retusa (Fig. 5B). In X. praeusta (Fig. 5D), the posterior margin is bilobed and lateral processes are present. The aedeagus of X. reflexicauda has a pair of long apophyses (Fig. 5H), but the apophyses are absent in the other three species (Fig. 5B, D, F). The last ventrite of the female of X. reflexicauda has a strong median ridge (Fig. 4D), which is absent in the other three species (Fig. 4A–C).
Material examined
For Xylopertha reflexicauda (Lesne, 1934):
SyntypesIRAN: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, [Sud Iran, Prov. de Kirman, Krausseri, Env. de Rafssindjan, Kaussceri 1937.] (MNHN).
For Paraxylogenes pistaciae Damoiseau, 1968:
Holotype
IRAQ: ♂, [Mosul, B 5.2, 10 May 1965, H. Knopf leg.] (NHMUK).
Allotype
PAKISTAN: ♀, [Shingarh, ex Pistacia wood, 29 Aug. 1957, F. Entomologist leg.] (NHMUK).
Paratypes
IRAQ: 1 ♀, [Mosul, 22.v.1965, Pistacia, 52, F. Shalaly leg.] (NHMUK); 1 ♀, [Nenava, 9 May 1965, breeding, Pistacia, 52, F. Shalaly leg.] (IRSNB).
PAKISTAN: 1 ♀, [Shingarh, ex Pistacia wood, 29 Aug. 1957, F. Entomologist leg.] (IRSNB).
Additional material
GREECE: 1 ♀, [Crete, Amudarion, 1983, M. Siáma leg.] (LYL) (New record for Greece).
IRAN: 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, [Prov. Tehran, Karaj, University of Agriculture, 35°47′97″ N, 51°00′25″ E, 1360 m, 30 Apr. 2010, A. Skale leg.]; 2 ♀♀, same data as previous, [#10, A. Weigel leg., ex Salix]; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, [Kaschan, May1960, A. Davatchi leg.] (all LYL).
The specific identity of more than 70 further specimens was checked in the following museums: IRSNB and MAIC under X. reflexicauda; NHMUK and NMPC under Paraxylogenes pistaciae, but detailed locality data were not recorded. All specimens came from the distributional area given below.
Description
BODY. 5–7 mm long, about 2.8–3.0 times as long as wide, subelongate, parallel-sided. Head, prothorax, scutellum, metasternum and abdomen black, elytra reddish anteriorly, black posteriorly, antennae and legs reddish, anterior tibiae brown.
HEAD. Above finely punctured, with erect, grey or reddish setae (denser and longer in female), eyes moderate, similar in both sexes; antennae 9-segmented, segments 3–6 very small, 7–9 forming the club, biconvex, subglabrous, sensory impressions scarcely visible, penultimate segment slightly transverse.
PRONOTUM. Subquadrate, about 1.1 times wider than long, the sides weakly curved, widest at middle, with long hairs antero-laterally, anterior angles armed with small, sharp-edged and pointed teeth, the apex not uncinate; posterior part of disc very finely, sparsely punctured.
ELYTRA. Cylindrical part glabrous, fairly strongly punctured (in male sometimes weaker); apical declivity minutely punctured, with dense, recumbent, very short hairs; elytral declivity with a inflated, sharply pointed spine located on the middle of upper margin of the declivity of each elytron (Figs 1G–H, 3D); elytral suture cariniform on declivity; apical margin entire, sutural angles prominent, reflexed, forming a v-shaped emargination, blunt at apex; postepipleura absent.
Male
ELYTRA. Apical declivity of elytra without large punctures, lateral margin subcarinate.
ABDOMEN. Last ventrite whole, pleural parts very distinct. The posterior margin of the 8th tergite of the male is sclerotized, margin of the last ventrite of the male is bidentate without a median lobe (Fig. 5H). The aedeagus has a pair of long apophyses (Fig. 5H).
Female
ELYTRA. Apical declivity of elytra with larger punctures in upper part, laterally not marginate, spines on upper margin smaller than in male, apical margin entire.
ABDOMEN. The last ventrite with a deep incision apically, anterior to the incision a very short, high, longitudinal carina, its summit knife-like, its sides with very long, stiff, red setae standing perpendicular to the carina (Fig. 4D), the surface of the sternite with similar hairs.
Distribution
Israel, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Greece (Crete). Intercepted in Australia (PaDIL 2014) and Charleston, SC, USA (NMNH).
Biology
Recorded from pistachio tree wood (Pistacia vera L. (Anacardiaceae R. Br.)) in Iraq, Iran and Pakistan (Lesne 1937; Damoiseau 1968; Halperin 1986; Modarres Awal 1997), and this species appears to be its usual host. It is a secondary pest of pistachio in Israel (Halperin 1986). The species is also recorded in Iran from Quercus sp. (Fagaceae Dumort), Ficus carica L., Morus alba L. (Moraceae Link) (Modarres Awal 1997), and Salix sp. (Salicaceae Mirb.), and in Pakistan from Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce (= spicigera) (Fabaceae Lindl.) (Lesne 1937). Gerstmaier et al. (1999) record Denops albofasciatus (Charpentier, 1825) (Coleoptera, Cleridae) as a predator in Israel.
description: Published as part of Liu, Lan-Yu & Beaver, Roger A., 2017, A review of the powderpost beetle genus, Xylopertha Guérin-Méneville, 1845, with a new species and new synonymy (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae: Bostrichinae: Xyloperthini), pp. 1-22 in European Journal of Taxonomy 380 on pages 10-13, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.380, http://zenodo.org/record/1118246