Solariola vitalei A. Solari & F. Solari 1923
Creators: name: Baviera, Cosimo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Solariola
Solariola vitalei

description: Solariola vitalei A. Solari & F. Solari, 1923
Fig. 5: A–F; Fig. 10–11: E; Fig. 12: (5).
Solariola vitalei: A. Solari & F. Solari, 1923: 51; Luigioni, 1929: 871; Porta, 1932: 58; Lona, 1937: 233; Osella, 1976: 194; Abbazzi et al., 1989: 322; Abbazzi & Osella, 1992: 302; Osella, 1996: 353, 355; Abbazzi et al., 1995: 22; Colonnelli, 2003: 46; Osella et al., 2005: 101, 108; Osella et al., 2005; Abbazzi & Maggini, 2009: 58; Magnano & Alonso Zarazaga, 2013: 347.
Type locality. Sicily, Messina.
Holotype. ♂, with following labels: 1) Messina [Leg.] Vitale [white handwritten]; 2) Type ♂ [white printed], Solariola vitalei Solari Bol. Soc. En. It. 1923 [white handwritten] (MSNM).
Paratypes. 4 ♂♂, same holotype data. (MSNM).
Others Specimens. 162 ♂♂ ♀♀ Messina Vitale; Messina, 04.V.1906, Dodero; Messina Peloritani Monte Ciccia, 500 m a.s.l., 22.III.2009, Leg. Baviera; same data, 11. VI.2009; same data, 15. VI.2009; same data, 25.XI.2009; same data, 06.I.2010; same locality, 24.VI.1991, Leg. Bellò; Castanea [Messina], I.1931, Vitale; same locality, XII.[1]931; Messina Calamarà Castanea 420 m, Vitale & Schatzmayr; Calameria, [Messina] 10.IV. [1]934, Vitale; Dint. Messina Calamarà, 4.V.1933, Vitale; same locality, 2. III.1929, Vitale; same locality, 16.III.1938, Vitale; same locality, 16.IV.1934, Vitale; same locality, 1.III.1934, Vitale; same locality, 12.V.1939, Vitale; same locality, 19.XI.1927, Vitale; same locality, 21.I.1933, Vitale; same locality, 21.II.1932, Vitale; Cudduttà, [Messina], 04.IV.1918, Vitale; same locality, 23.III.1930, Vitale; same locality, 15.IV.1930, Vitale; same locality, 24.IV.1918, Vitale; same locality, 22.IV.1911, Vitale; same locality, 29.III. [18]80, Vitale; Messina Peloritani, Portella Armacera, 700 m a.s.l., 15. VI.2009, Leg. Baviera; same data, 06.I.2010; Messina Peloritani, Portella Croce Cumia, 800 m a.s.l., 02.I.2009, Leg. Baviera; Messina Castanea contr. Grazia 500 m a.s.l., 29.II.2012 Leg. Baviera; Messina Curcuraci 350 m a.s.l., 25.XI.2009, Leg. Baviera; same data, 06.I.2010; 0 3.III.2009, Leg. Baviera; Messina (presso) Pellegrino, 26.III.1972, Leg. Bernini (GOS, CBE, CBA, ECO, MSNM, MSNG, MZCU, MBAC).
Diagnosis. A small to medium sized Solariola with elytral setae shorter than pronotal ones, elongate prothorax with maximum width in the middle, elytral setae raised on the elytral surface (angle with elytral surface 15–45°), punctures of pronotum shallower than those of elytral, median lobe of aedeagus with very evident sub-medial constriction.
Holotype redescription. Body length 2.66 mm, maximum width of elytra 0.76 mm. Rostrum longer than wide (width/length 0.81), confusedly and deeply wrinkled, with narrow furrow, subparallel rostral carinae very slightly arched and closest at base. Antennae with scape 5 times longer than wide, slightly curved at proximal third, regularly thickened from base to apex, funicle almost 9 times longer than wide, segment 1 of funicle clavate, more than 2 times longer than wide, segment 2 shorter and about 2 times longer than wide, segment 3 subquadrate, 4 to 6 and slightly longer than wide, 7 slightly wider than long (width/length ratio 1.09); club three-segmented, oval, slightly less than twice long its width (width/length ratio 0.52), densely covered with short setae. Prothorax slightly longer than wide (width/length ratio 0.95), strongly convex, widest at middle, disc strongly and irregularly sculptured by large deep punctures merged with smaller shallower ones which bear long recumbent seta, these pairs of points are more distant from each other on disc than on sides, their interspaces smooth, strongly inclined centripetal setae inserted in smaller punctures are on average less long than 3 times average diameter of larger points. Elytra oblong elongate, oval, narrower at base than maximum width of prothorax, length twice long their overall width (width/length ratio 0.49), subparallel sides regularly convergent to apex, scarcely and very regularly curved, maximum width at mid length, narrowing apically. Strial punctures almost square, each bearing a short seta as long as, or slightly less, than average diameter (≤ 0.03 mm) of punctures, the punctures of first two striae more widely separated than others. Interstriae flat, clearly demarcated by points of striae, minutely punctured, points lower in number than those of striae, each bearing a fairly long (from 0.06 to 0.08 mm) almost curved laterally flattened and much raised (angle with elytral surface 15–45°) seta, some of those setae on elytral apex are spatulate and recumbent on elytral surface. Aedeagus long, strongly curved in lateral view (Fig. 11: E), sclerotisation of sides extremely broadened with exclusion of apex, sides parallel only on apex, minimum width in the middle, where there is a very evident constriction so that the basal width is reduced by half (minimum width/total length ratio 0.13), apices of the sides rapidly widened at lamella base, slightly arched apex regularly curved; short lamella widely covered by broad sides, medially strongly raised.
Female genitalia and variabilty. Spermatheca with very long broad nodulus. Cornu strongly falcate elongate. Other males slightly differ only by size, ♀ ♀ differs by the usual sexual dimorphism observed in others species.
TL SL SW FL FW CL CW PL PW PW EL EW EW PS ES --- ---
PL EL
♂ holotype 2.65 0.44 0.08 0.48 0.05 0.23 0.12 0.60 0.57 0.95 1.61 0.82 0.49 0.06 0.08 Distribution. Peloritani Mounts mainly over Messina city, from 300 m up to 800 m a. s. l. (Fig.12).
Affinities. Morphologically very similar to S. fraterna because of elytral setae raised on elytral surface, but differing from it by less rounded sides of pronotum, characteristic shape of aedeagus and spermatheca.
Ecology. Adults of S. vitalei have been sifted from the leaf litter of a Quercus forest on gravelly-sandy soil.
description: Published as part of Baviera, Cosimo, 2015, A review of the genus Solariola Flach, 1908 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae, Peritelini), pp. 401-430 in Zootaxa 3920 (3) on pages 415-417, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3920.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/240750