ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

--- CONTENT ---
Coniocleonus nigrosuturatus, occasionally called furrowed steppe proboscis, is a bug from the family of proboscis (Curculionidae) and the subfamily of Lixinae. The genus Coniocleonus is represented in Europe with 18 species, some of which are very similar. In particular, Coniocleonus nigrosuturatus resembles the species Coniocleonus pseudobliquus.

Note on name and synonyms
The species was first described by Goeze in 1777 under the name Curculio nigrosuturatus. Goeze refers to an older French description of the beetle, but the name given there does not correspond to the nomenclature rules and the description is therefore not considered an initial description. In the French description, the beetle is called Charanson à suture noire. The species name nigrosuturatus (lat. nigro for black and sutura for suture) is merely a translation of the French name into Latin. Accordingly, Goeze Schwarznaht chooses as the German name for the Beetle. However, the names do not mean that the wing ceiling seam stands out as a black line. Rather, in individuals who appear in brown tones, the wing-cap seam is embedded between two pale brown intervals (Fig. 4). In individuals with a predominantly black-and-white drawing, the seam is bordered on both sides by a grey interval (FIG. 6).

The variant in grays of the beetle was described by Fahraeus as its own species Cleonus leucomelas (gr. λευκός, leukós, white and μέλας, melás, black, i.e. black and white). Another synonym is Curculio obliquus (lat. obliquus oblique, after the course of the ligaments on the wing covers) after a description by Fabricius. The name Plagiographus albirostris is still often used as a synonym for Coniocleonus nigrosuturatus. However, the beetle described by Chevrolat as Plagiographus albirostris is recognized as Coniocleonus excoriatus after examination of the type specimen by Meregalli.

The genus Curculio was split several times and differently by different authors. Accordingly, the beetle was temporarily placed in the genus Cleonus, which was defined by Schönherr in 1826. Motschulsky decomposed the genus Cleonus in 1860 and defined the genus Coniocleonus by a key. According to Schenkling, the name is derived from the generic name Cleōnus and altgr. κονία "konía" for "dust", but the key of Motschulsky gives no indication of what the species has to do with dust.

Properties of the beetle

The nine to over fourteen millimeter long beetle is only about three to five millimeters wide. It is black, but due to the short adjacent and different dense hair of single pointed shed hair, a lively drawing in brown shades or in gray shades is produced. However, this does not make the bug noticeable, but improves its camouflage. In addition to the shed hair, short hair also occurs in places.

.