Conicobruchus atrosuturalis Pic 1939
Creators: name: Le Ru, Bruno P.
name: Delobel, Alex
name: György, Zoltán
name: Genson, Gwenaëlle
name: Kergoat, Gael J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Chrysomelidae
Conicobruchus
Conicobruchus atrosuturalis

description: Conicobruchus atrosuturalis (Pic, 1939)
Bruchus atrosuturalis Pic, 1939:31.
Conicobruchus atrosuturalis: Decelle 1951:181.
Material examined. Paratype (male) of Bruchus atrosuturalis var. Pic: Ethiopia: ix.1936 (genitalia on card in drop of DMHF) [MNHN]
Other material: Kenya: 1♂, Chyulu Hills, vii.1938 [1♂ 00514] Coryndon Museum /Expdt Chyulu Hills / July 38 alt. 5600, Imp. Inst./Entom [MNHN]; 1♂, Kakamega, 00° 10.930N 34° 56.137E, 1693m, ex Crotalaria incana purpurescens, 0011. xi.2008 [1♂ 01109] (B. Le Ru) [MNHN]; 1♂, 2♀, Magadi, 01° 46.142S 36° 20.657E, 856m, i.2007, ex Crotalaria uguenensis [1♂ 0 2307, specimen GK35 used for DNA extraction] (B. Le Ru) [CBGP].
Body black, except elytra bright yellowish-red with black markings along suture (Fig. 1), also along apex of elytra in some specimens; ventrites dark reddish brown to black in typical form, red in paratype and Kenyan specimens reared from Crotalaria uguenensis seeds; last visible tergite red or black.
Major morphological traits are as follows: pronotum 1.3 times wider at base than long, its sides straight basally, strongly convergent anteriorly, with a distinct neck; lack of white hair spots on pronotum (setation uniformly pale greyish or yellowish); elytral striae with small, closely spaced punctuation, interstriae with punctures varying from strong to shallow.
Male genitalia. Median lobe (Fig. 2) similar with that of Conicobruchus strangulatus (Fig. 10), stout (maximum width excluding basal hood / total length = 0.19), slightly widened apically, basal hood moderately widened, concave posteriorly; ventral valve large, subtriangular, with apex acute, bearing numerous sensillae and two lateral groups of 5 to 8 setae; no hinge sclerite. Internal sac densely lined anteriorly with minute spinules (Fig. 2 A) and ctenoid scales (Fig. 2 B), followed by an area almost devoid of ornamentation, then dense scales and spines blending dorsally into a short series of well sclerotized small teeth (Fig. 2 C); a pair of strong ventro-lateral dented rods (Fig. 2 D) similar to those observed in Conicobruchus nodieri and C. astragalinae, and between them zero to three isolated teeth (Fig. 2 E); posteriorly a zone with a few strong, isolated teeth (Fig. 2 E) and a number of setae; then again two or more groups of dented sticks or masses (Fig. 2 F); apical ampoule (Fig. 2 G) devoid of any ornamentation, gonopore not sclerotized; basal strut narrow, without keel. Lateral lobes cleft to nearly 90% of their length; apex modified, with two lips, the dorsal one bearing about 12-15 long setae, the ventral one with a dense group of short sensillae.
Biology. Examined material was reared from pods of Crotalaria uguenensis and C. incana subsp. purpurescens in Kenya.
Distribution. Ethiopia and Kenya.
Discussion. Conicobruchus atrosuturalis has a very specific color pattern with a black body and bright orange elytra (Fig. 1). This pattern can only be found in red specimens of C. flabellicornis; the two species can be easily distinguished based on the presence of brushes and spots of dense white setae on the pronotum (absent in C. atrosuturalis, present in C. flabellicornis).
description: Published as part of Le Ru, Bruno P., Delobel, Alex, György, Zoltán, Genson, Gwenaëlle & Kergoat, Gael J., 2014, Taxonomy, host-plant associations and phylogeny of African Crotalaria - feeding seed beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Bruchinae): the Conicobruchus strangulatus (Fåhraeus) species group, pp. 238-256 in Zootaxa 3895 (2) on pages 242-244, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3895.2.6, http://zenodo.org/record/226173