Tychius picirostris
Creators: name: Jiang, Chunyan
name: Caldara, Roberto
name: Zhang, Runzhi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Curculionidae
Tychius
Tychius picirostris

description: 23. Tychius picirostris (Fabricius, 1787)
(Figures 67–72, 191–194, 279–282, 326, 382, 417, 447, 473)
Curculio picirostris Fabricius, 1787: 101. Clark, 1984: 45 (Tychius). Caldara, 1990: 200 (Tychius).
Tychius posticus Gyllenhal, 1835: 423. Caldara, 1990: 200.
Material examined. CHINA: Jilin: ErdaoBaihe Huanshanxian (42°0’N; 127°37’E), 17-VI-2015, leg Chunyan Jiang (16); ErdaoBaihe X 122, (42°14’N; 28°10’E), 16-VI-2015, leg Chunyan Jiang (19); Fusong Baixichalu (42°4’N; 127°40’E), 17-VI-2015, leg Rinzhi Zhang, Chunyan Jiang (1); Fusong Manjiang Huanshanxian (42°0’N; 127°39’E), 10-VI-2015, leg Chunyan Jiang (77).
Redescription. Length 1.80–2.25 mm (Fig. 67–70). Integument blackish brown except for reddish apical half of rostrum, scape and first segments of funicle of antennae, tibiae and tarsi, sometimes also elytra and femora reddish (Fig. 71–72); on dorsum moderately visible between recumbent elongate seta-like grayish to yellowish scales, arranged on elytral interstriae in 2–4 irregular rows; only a few broad whitish scales at base of pronotum and on scutellum. Rostrum (Fig. 191–194) moderately curved in lateral view (Rl/Rw 4.17–5.00 in male, 5.42–5.50 in female; Rl/Pl 0.85–1.00 in male, 0.90–1.00 in female). Antennal funicle 6-segmented. Eyes slightly prominent. Pronotum moderately wider than long (Pw/Pl 1.12–1.25), with sides weakly rounded from base. Elytra oblong (El/Ew 1.45–1.55; Ew/Pw 1.23–1.38), widest at middle. Femora (Fig. 279–282) unarmed. In male profemora with fringe of hair-like scales, protibiae (Fig. 326) without sexual characters. Claws with robust medial teeth, as long as 2/3 of claw. Male genitalia: body of penis (Fig. 382) slightly enlarged from base to apex on dorsal view, narrowed only near to apex, with narrow blunted tip (Fig. 417), as long as apodeme. Female genitalia: spermatheca (Fig. 447) with parallel-sided long ramus, thin short collum, robust nodulus and robust cornu moderately narrowed only at apex; spiculum ventrale (Fig. 473) with joined arms in basal 2/3, then very slightly spaced and parallel to apex.
Remarks and comparative notes. Due to the 6-segmented antennal funicle (instead of seven), this taxon is clearly distinguishable from several other species that are otherwise very similar, such as T. stephensi, T. bicolor, T. aureolus and T. medicaginis. Apart from the shape of the genitalia, the shape of the rostrum is also a good distinctive character.
Biology. This species feeds mainly on Trifolium repens L., but is also reported as living on T. pratense L. and T. hybridum L. (Clark & Burke, 1977; Caldara, 1990).
Distribution. This species is very common in Europe and Asia and is here recorded as new from China (JIL). It has also been introduced in Japan and North America.
description: Published as part of Jiang, Chunyan, Caldara, Roberto & Zhang, Runzhi, 2020, The genus Tychius Germar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Curculioninae) in China, with description of three new species, pp. 1-62 in Zootaxa 4856 (1) on pages 26-27, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4856.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4411319