Roberto Caldara

• MD
• Independent Researcher

A new species, Bagous obrieni Mahendiran sp. nov., is described. It was collected from Nymphoides indica (L.) Kuntze, in Nayakanapalya Lake at Savandurga, Karnataka, South-Western India. The species is a member of the Bagous transversus species group and description and photographs of differential diagnostic characters and habitus are given allowin...

The southern African species of the genus Rhamphus Clairville, 1798, is herein revised for the first time. Fourteen species are recognized, 13 of which are new to science. The single known species was Rhamphus namibicus Korotyaev, 1994 (Namibia), whereas the new species are R. carinatus sp. nov. (South Africa: Limpopo; Zimbabwe), R. densepunctatus...

The genus Hypoglyptus Gerstaecker, 1855 is herein revised for the first time. Based on adult morphological characters, five species are recognized as valid: Hypoglyptus conspersus (Leonhard, 1912) (Greece), H. elegans (Brullé, 1832) (Greece, Albania), H. gracilis Kiesenwetter, 1864 (Greece), H. graecus (Pic, 1902) (Greece), H. heydeni Faust, 1889 (...

Se aportan nuevos registros de Sibinia exigua para Castilla-La Mancha (España Central), con ejemplares procedentes tanto de enclaves con vegetación halófila en varias localidades de la provincia de Ciudad Real, como de la colección histórica De la Fuente. Así mismo se han consultado sus manuscritos inéditos. Se aportan nuevos datos biológicos, espe...

The desert teak defoliator, Patialus tecomella Pajni, Kumar and Rose, 1991 is redescribed for the first time with habitus images, morphometric details and images of diagnostic characters. Tecomella undulata, an endangered desert forest plant, is frequently and severely attacked by a notorious curculionid pest, P. tecomella, throughout its range in...

Simple Summary Cleopus Dejean, 1821, a genus belonging to the tribe Cionini Schoenherr, 1825 of the large subfamily Curculioninae and the family Curculionidae, is distributed in the Oriental and Palaearctic regions. This paper reviews all valid species of the genus based on morphological characters for the first time. Five already known species are...

The mature larvae of the following fourteen Rhinusa species are described and illustrated: Rhinusa antirrhini (Paykull, 1800), R. asellus (Gravenhorst, 1807), R. collina (Gyllenhal, 1813), R. eversmanni (Rosenschoeld, 1838), R. florum (Rubsaamen, 1895), R. herbarum (H. Brisout de Barneville, 1862), R. incana (Kirsch, 1881), R. linariae (Panzer, 179...

Se describe Rhinusa chaenorhini sp. nov. de varias localidades de España distribuidas de norte a sur de la mitad oriental del territorio. La nueva especie es claramente diferenciable de todas las especies del género principalmente por la inusual forma del rostro, el cual esta abruptamente constreñido desde la inserción antenal hasta el ápice, y por...

Simple Summary Cionus Clairville, 1798, is a genus of weevils distributed in Palaearctic, Afrotropical and Oriental regions. It belongs to the large subfamily Curculioninae of the family Curculionidae. This paper reviews all valid extant Oriental species of the genus based on morphological characters for the first time, describes one new species an...

A seed-feeding weevil introduced to North America (NA) as a biological control agent of the invasive toadflax Linaria dalmatica (L.) Mill., identified then as Gymnetron antirrhini "Dalmatian host race" and subsequently confirmed as established, was revealed through our study to be a separate species, i.e., Rhinusa dieckmanni (Behne) (Coleoptera: Cu...

The Afrotropical species of the genus Cionus Clairville, 1798 are revised and 52 species are recognized as valid. Thirty-one species are described as new to the science: twenty-five from the continental subregions (C. concavifrons sp. n., C. coniungens sp. n., C. cretaceus sp. n., C. diaboli sp. n., C. fimbriatus sp. n., C. frater sp. n., C. friedm...

An annotated catalogue of Coleoptera Curculionoidea of “Monte Grappa” Biosphere Reserve is presented. The 528 species surveyed, divided into 7 families and 283 genera and subgenera, include the 265 species already known, plus the 263 are reported for the first time for the area. Faunistic, chorological and ecological information is given for all th...

The present catalogue is an improved and updated edition of the one published in November 2017.It contains 1627 valid genera, 681 valid subgenera, 15,531 valid species, 1,013 valid subspecies and9,098 names of invalid or nomenclaturally unavailable species-group taxa belonging to the sevenfamilies of Coleoptera Curculionoidea recognised in the Pala...

This is the preview of the volume dedicated to the Curculionoidea beetles of the Man and Biosphere Reserve (MaB) of Monte Grappa (NE-Italy). The book, edited by World Biodiversity Association, will be officially released the 24th of February 2023.

During morphological and molecular studies of species of Rhamphus from southern and western Europe, the authors realized that some specimens currently identified as R. pulicarius (Herbst, 1795) and R. oxyacanthae (Marsham, 1802), two widely distributed species in Europe, belonged to different closely related taxa. Therefore, it was necessary to exa...

Rhinusa algirica (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) is recorded for the first time from Castilla - La Mancha (Central Spain).

Rhinusa fuentei was recorded from Spain in 1906, but only three specimens are present in two important european museums. Now, 13 new specimens have been found in the De la Fuente collection (Museum from Ciudad Real), highly probably from the original series. Pictures from the species and a comparative diagnosis are included.

The immature stages of the following five Palaearctic Gymnetron species are described for the first time: G. tibiellum Desbrochers des Loges, 1900, G. veronicae (Germar, 1821), G. rotundicolle Gyllenhal, 1838, G. melanarium (Germar, 1821), and G. villosulum Gyllenhal, 1838. These species belong to four different groups previously established accord...

The investigation of Campanula L. (Campanulaceae) plants in the eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey revealed three new Mecinini weevil species/host plant associations: Miarus ajugae (Herbst, 1795) with Campanula lactiflora Bieb., Cleopomiarus distinctus (Boheman, 1845) with Campanula alliariiafolia Willd. and Campanula rapunculoides L., and Cleopomi...

Two new species of the weevil genus Rhamphus from Italy are herein described: R. bavierai n. sp. (Sicily) and R. hampsicora n. sp. (Sardinia). Both are morphologically and from a molecular perspective close to R. oxyacanthae (Marsham, 1802) and R. monzinii Pesarini & Diotti, 2012. Aside from a diagnostic description and a synoptic key, distribution...

Simple Summary The detailed descriptions of immature stages of Lachnaeus crinitus Schoenherr, 1826, Rhinocyllus alpinus Gültekin, Diotti and Caldara, 2019 and R. conicus (Frölich, 1792), belonging to the Lixini (Curculionidae: Lixinae), are very important for an increased understanding of the relationship between the species and of the taxonomic an...

The mature larva of Cionus olivieri Rosenschoeld, 1838 is described and illustrated in detail for the first time. It is compared with those known from the same genus and other genera in the tribe Cionini and with those of the hypothesized sister tribe Mecinini in the Curculioninae. The larvae of Cionus have three distinctive diagnostic features: th...

The species of the weevil genus Tychius Germar, 1817 (Curculionidae: Curculioninae: Tychiini) in China are herein reviewed. Thirty-five taxa are reported, 14 already known from China: T. albolineatus Motschulsky, 1860, T. herculeanus Reitter, 1902, T. uralensis Pic, 1902, T. longulus Desbrochers des Loges, 1873, T. praescutellaris (Pic, 1902), T. t...

The immature stages of ten Mecinus species are described for the first time and those of two other species are redescribed, adding important chaetotaxy characters that were missing from previous descriptions. These species belong to six of the nine assemblages of Mecinus species previously established according to a phylogenetic analysis. All these...

The species of Rhinusa Stephens, 1829 (Curculionidae, Curculioninae, Mecinini) belonging to the R. linariae, R. herbarum, R. melas and R. mauritii groups are revised. The R. linariae group includes three species: R. linariae (Panzer, 1795), R. brisouti (Faust, 1891) and R. kumatschevi (Bajtenov, 1977). The R. herbarum group also includes three spec...

The species belonging to the weevil genus Rhinocyllus are studied. A new species, Rhinocyllus alpinus sp. nov. living on the inflorescences of Cirsium alsophilum (Pollini) Soldano (Asteraceae), is described from the central Italian Alps. A new subgenus, Rhinolarinus subgen. nov., is created for this new species. The following new synonymy is propos...

Palaearctic species of the genus Cionus Clairville, 1798 are revised and 61 species are recognized as valid. Sixteen species are described as new to science: Cionus armeniacus sp. n., C. boroveci sp. n., C. colonnellii sp. n., C. dodeki sp. n., C. harani sp. n., C. himalayensis sp. n., C. khorasanicus sp. n., C. laibalei sp. n., C. maurus sp. n., C...

The scientific contribution of Carlo Pesarini (Milan, 1946 - Ferrara, 2017), entomologist, araneologist and museologist amongst the most prolific and respected in Italy, is here presented with a brief biographical note, a list of the taxa he described and revised and of those dedicated to him, and a complete list of his scientific and popular publi...

Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) represent one of the most diverse groups of organisms on Earth; interactions with their host plants have been recognized to play a central role in their remarkable diversity, yet the exact mechanisms and factors still remain poorly understood. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, here we investigate the evol...

The relationship between the genera Cleopomiarus and Miarus of Mecinini (Curculionidae, Curculioninae) was tested on the basis of morphological characters from the immature stages. The mature larvae of five Cleopomiarus species (C. distinctus (Boheman, 1845), C. graminis (Gyllenhal, 1813), C. longirostris (Gyllenhal, 1838), C. medius (Desbrochers d...

The presumed lost holotype of Absoloniella cylindrica Formánek, 1913 has been finally found. Moreover, two specimens identified as A. reitteri (Müller, 1912), the holotype of which is still considered lost, have been recently collected for the first time very close to the type locality. Therefore, the neotypes of these two recently-designated taxa...

The affinities and systematic position of Pachytychius Jekel, a genus currently incertae sedis in Coleoptera, Curculionidae, are assessed using new evidence from the immature stages and DNA sequences from the COI gene. The taxonomic history of genus Pachytychius denotes uncertainty in tribal placements from Erirhinini to various tribes of Curculion...

Four new species of the erirhinine genus Afroryzophilus Lyal, 1990 from Africa are described, A. centrafricanus sp. n., A. congoanus sp. n., A. kuscheli sp. n. and A. somalicus sp. n., with bibliographic reference to fuller descriptions and illustrations in the recent paper by Caldara & Košťál (2018) published in the journal Diversity 10 (2), 37, i...

Four new species belonging to the Afrotropical weevil genus Afroryzophilus Lyal, 1990 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Brachycerinae, Tanysphyrini) are described: A. centrafricanus n. sp. (Central African Republic), A. congoanus n. sp. (Democratic Republic of the Congo), A. kuscheli n. sp. (Senegal), and A. somalicus n. sp. (Somalia). Previously, this g...

Abstract. The purpose of this application under Article 23.9.3 of the Code is to conserve the name Orchestes Illiger, 1798 (Curculionoidea, Curculionidae), a large and well-known weevil genus, by giving it precedence over the little-used older name Salius Schrank, 1798 whenever these names are considered to be synonyms.

Sibinia (Sibinia) iberica Hoffmann, 1960 is reported from France (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) for the first time. Morphological characters for its identification and new information about plant association are reported.

The Chinese species of Cleopomiarus Pierce, 1919 (Curculionidae, Curculioninae, Mecinini) are revised. Six taxa are reported: two already know from China (C. distinctus (Boheman, 1845), C. vestitus (Roelofs, 1875)), two cited for the first time from this country (C. flavoscutellatus (Morimoto, 1959), C. graminis (Gyllenhal, 1813)), and two new to s...

The present catalogue contains 1,611 valid genera, 678 valid subgenera, 15,407 valid species, 1,042 valid subspecies and 9,381 names of invalid or nomenclaturally unavailable species-group or infrasubspecific taxa belonging to the six families of Coleoptera Curculionoidea recognised in the Palaearctic Region. New combinations are: Mecorhis holzschu...

Catalogue of the weevils of the Palaearctic Region

The relationship between the subtribes Lignyodina and Tychiina of the Tychiini were tested on the basis of morphological characters from the immature stages. The mature larvae of Lignyodes bischoffi (Blatchley, 1916) and L. enucleator (Panzer, 1798) (Curculionidae, Curculioninae, Tychiini, Lignyodina) and the pupae of L. bischoffi are described in...

Relationships of almost all known Bagoini from the world (Holarctic, Afrotropical and Oriental Regions, and Australia) were analyzed using morphological characters. To define relationships with other Curculionidae and among the species within the tribe, 119 characters were used: 64 of these are genital structures, mainly from the males, where the p...

Additions, corrections, comments and nomenclatural novelties for the volumes 7 and 8 of the Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera are provided. For the exact authorship of these check the text. One new species is described: Mecinus tavaresi Caldara & Fogato, sp. nov. from Portugal and Spain. New synonymies are: Compsapoderus (Compsapoderus) erythropt...

Colasposoma dauricum Mannerheim, 1849, a species native to the Eastern Asia, is newly found in Piedmont-Italy. This discovery constitutes the first report of the species from Europe, as well as its first report from outside the original area. The general habitus of the species, the distribution in Italy based on the current knowledge, ecological no...

The Holarctic species of Cleopomiarus Pierce, 1919 (Curculionidae, Curculioninae, Mecinini) are revised. Two North American and 19 Palaearctic species are recognized as valid. Three of the latter are new to science: C. afghanus sp. nov. (Afghanistan), C. caucasicus sp. nov. (Armenia), and C. reitteri sp. nov. (Algeria, Morocco). Cleopomiarus ruscin...

The larvae and pupae of six species of the Palaearctic genus Sibinia Germar, 1817 are described in detail for the first time. Five of them develop in seeds of Caryophyllaceae and belong to Sibinia (s. str.): S. attalica Gyllenhal, 1835; S. femoralis Germar, 1824; S. tibialis Gyllenhal, 1835; and S. viscariae (Linnaeus, 1760), which are included in...

A faunistic study on the tribes Tychiini and Mecinini (Curculionidae, Curculioninae) was carried out during the years 2010-2013 in different ecological regions of Iran. Twenty nine species belonging to the genera Mecinus all other 18 species are new for one or more provinces. Host plants of several species reported for the first time and commented...

A combined taxonomic, morphological, molecular and biological study revealed that stem‐galling weevils from the genus Rhinusa associated with toadflaxes from the genus Linaria ( P lantaginaceae) are composed of three different species: Rhinusa pilosa , Rhinusa brondelii and Rhinusa rara sp.n. The authentic field host plants are respectively, Linari...

A faunistic study on the tribes Tychiini and Mecinini (Curculionidae, Curculioninae) was carried out during the years 2010-2013 in different ecological regions of Iran. Twenty nine species belonging to the genera Mecinus all other 18 species are new for one or more provinces. Host plants of several species reported for the first time and commented...

The species of Rhinusa Stephens, 1829 (Curculionidae, Curculioninae, Mecinini) belonging to the R. tetra and R. bipustulata groups are revised. Four of them from Middle East are new to science. The R. bipustulata group includes five species: R. bipustulata (Rossi, 1792); R. pelletieri sp. nov.; R. scrophulariae Caldara, 2009; R. algirica (Brisout d...

Larvae of 14 species and pupae of 12 species of Palaearctic Tychius Germar, 1817 are described for the first time. Larvae and pupae of T.meliloti Stephens, 1831, T. squamulatus Gyllenhal, 1835 and T. quinquepunctatus (Linnaeus, 1758), are redescribed with addition of new characters. They belong to 10 of 22 groups of species assembled through adult...

Oberprieler R.G., Caldara R. & Skuhrovec J. (2014) 29.13. Bagoini Thomson, 1859; Gonipterini Lacordaire, 1863; Hyperini Marseul, 1863, pp. In . (R. A. B. Leschen and R. G. Beutel, editors). De Gruyter, Göttingen, 675 pp.

The PRL response to iv cimetidine was tested in 8 healthy males and 8 females at 4 different dose levels (0.75, 1.5, 3.0 and 6.0 mg/kg bw). Serum PRL levels were significantly increased in comparison with a placebo study by the second cimetidine dose in both sexes. The PRL response was significantly higher in females than in males at all but the lo...

A combined taxonomic, morphological, molecular and biological study revealed that the species presently named Mecinus heydenii is actually composed of five different species: M. heydenii Wencker, 1866; M. raphaelis Baviera & Caldara sp. n., M. laeviceps Tournier, 1873; M. peterharrisi Tosevski & Caldara sp. n. and M. bulgaricus Angelov, 1971. These...

Five new species belonging to the weevil genus Tychius are described: T. barclayi n. sp. (South Africa), T. gambiensis n. sp. (Gambia), T. muellerarum n. sp. (South Africa), T. rufotheivorus n. sp. (South Africa), T. stalsi n. sp. (South Africa). Moreover the neotype of T. suturellus Gyllenhal, 1836 is designated. Descriptions, photographs of their...

A phylogenetic analysis of all species belonging to the weevil genus Mecinus Germar, 1821 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Curculioninae: Mecinini) was carried out. Mecinus are exclusively Palaearctic and feed on Plantaginaceae belonging to the tribes Plantagineae and Antirrhineae. Based on a cladistic analysis of six outgroup and 47 ingroup taxa, and 3...

Palaearctic species of the weevil genus Mecinus Germar, 1821 are revised. A total of 47 species are recognized, one of which, M. baridioides sp. n. is new to science. Mecinus dorsalis var. tavaresi Hoffmann, 1958 (stat. rev.) is considered as a distinct species, whereas M. alboscutellatus var. atratulus (Solari, 1933) is maintained as a subspecies...

In accordance with the ICZN (1999), seven actions are taken to preserve nomenclatural stability of taxa currently belonging to Curculionidae. Following the provisions of Article 23.9.1 Dorytomus rufatus (Bedel, 1888) (formerly Eteophilus) is made a nomen protectum and Curculio arcuatus Panzer, 1794, Curculio fructuum Marsham, 1802 and Dorytomus sim...

Aim We test three alternative hypotheses for the disjunct Mediterranean–southern African distribution of endophagous weevils within the genera Rhinusa and Gymnetron (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): (1) a Palaearctic origin with dispersal to southern Africa; (2) a southern African origin with dispersal to the Palaearctic; and (3) a widespread ancestral...

Digital-Weevil-Determination for Curculionoidea of the West Palaearctic. Brachycerinae (Brachycerini, Erirhinini and Tanyspyhrini), including 402 colour photographs, 19 drawings and 52 distribution maps. Within the framework of the 'Digital Weevil Determination' project, a digital and interactive identification key for the species of the subfamily...

The presence of the weevil Gymnetron vittipenne Marseul, 1876 in the Iberian Peninsula is confirmed definitively due to the collection of this species in northern Spain (La Rioja province). Previously this species was quoted as collected near Madrid, but this datum was always considered doubtful. Its presence in the Iberian Peninsula is of great bi...

Siraton devillei Hustache, 1934, described from a single specimen collected on the island of Elba in Italy, is determined to be conspecific with the Australian cycad weevil Melanotranes internatus (Pascoe, 1870). Consequently, MelanotranesZimmerman, 1994 is a new junior synonym of Siraton Hustache, 1934 and Siraton devillei Hustache, 1934 a new jun...

Two actions preserve taxal nomenclatural stability within Curculionidae in accordance with the Code. Following the provisions of ICZN Article 23.9.1 Curculio pellitus (Boheman, 1843) (formerly Balaninus) becomes a nomen protectum and Curculio gulosus Fabricius, 1792 a nomen oblitum; Curculio villosus Fabricius, 1781 becomes a nomen protectum and Cu...

Seven Curculionoidea described from Lombardy (northern Italy) by Virginio Betta in 1857 and overlooked by subsequent authors are here treated. Since the Betta collection where their types are supposed to have been preserved was never traced, neotypes of all of them are designated with the purpose of clarifying their taxonomic status. Revised combin...

All taxa closely related to or synonymized with Rhinusa tetra (Fabricius, 1792) are studied, including the available type material. Four species are considered taxonomically valid: Rhinusa tetra, R. comosa (Rosenschoeld, 1838), R. moroderi (Reitter, 1906), R. verbasci (Rosenschoeld, 1838). The following four new synonymies are proposed: R. tetra (=...

A combined morphological, molecular and biological study shows that the weevil species presently named Mecinus janthinus is actually composed of two different cryptic species: M. janthinus Germar, 1821 and M. janthiniformis Toševski & Caldara sp.n. These species are morphologically distinguishable from each other by a few very subtle morphological...