<i>Tricorynus rudepunctatus</i> (PIC) (Coleoptera: Anobiidae): Diagnosis and damage

Autor/innen

  • F. C. Ceruti Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Email: fabianeceruti@gmail.com
  • S. M. N. Lazzari Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
  • G. H. R. Neto Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5073/jka.2010.425.134

Abstract

The objective of this research was to identify and study a species of Anobiidae that causes great damage and is a cause of concern as an urban pest in Brazil. This species has been found infesting wood, furniture, doors, books, insect collections, tea, dried fruits, handcrafts, and many other commodities. Inspections were done in houses and storehouses in the city of Curitiba, PR, Brazil in order to collect objects and materials that present signs of anobiid attack. The only species identified was Tricorynus rudepunctatus (Coleoptera: Anobiidae). There is only one reference to this species in the central region of Brazil. Another anobiid, the book pest Tricorynus herbarius has been recorded attacking books and historical documents and Tricorynus sp. attacking forest trees, but it was not recorded in our survey. Usually, the damage caused by T. rudepunctatus is mistaken with damage by termites; and when the insect is collected it is frequently misidentified as T. herbarius or as the cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne or even as Stegobium paniceum, the drugstore beetle. Some morphological characters useful to identify T. rudepunctatus are: oval body about 2.7 mm long; dark brown with smooth hairs all over the body; head concealed under the pronotum; 10-segmented antenna with the three apical segments forming a 3-segmented loose club; elytra with two grooves at the posterior edge; fore femur with a transversal line on its anterior face; pro and mesotibia with two distinct striae; metasternum longitudinally carinate in the middle. Adults and larvae bore inside the materials, forming galleries and producing a coarse powder. Keywords: Anobiids, Insect identification, Morphological characters, Urban pest.

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Veröffentlicht

2010-09-02