New Record of The Billbug Genus Sphenophorus Schoenherr, 1838 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Dryophthorinae) From Egypt

the specimen is billbug species of the genus Sphenophorus but they cannot confirm the species. During the present work, the specimens were described, photographed, and identified using the available taxonomic keys and previous descriptions. The taxonomic work confirmed that the specimens belong to Sphenophorus venatus Chittenden (hunting billbug) and were reported for the first time from Egypt. This finding with data about damage, distribution, and host plants contributes to enriching lists of Egypt’s insect fauna and conservation of biodiversity.


INTRODUCTION
Curculionidae is a cosmopolitan family and among the largest in the order Coleoptera (about 48,000 species) (Name et al. 2007). Hunting billbug (Sphenophorus venatus Chittenden) was described by Chittenden (1904) as S. vestitus and was later placed under S. venatus. It is an important pest of many host species including most species of grasses and sedges (Huang and Buss, 2013). In Egypt, Curculionidae is represented by 301 species within 81 genera of 20 subfamilies. The Dryophthorinae were not recorded in Egypt in any of the available published sources, e.g., Alfieri (1976) in his valuable catalog " The Coleoptera of Egypt" didn't record any member of this subfamily within Curculionidae, also, ministerial decree (Egypt), No 3007 (2018) concerning the quarantine pest list for Egypt, recorded Sphenophorus venatus under title " Unrecorded pests to be declined entry into Egypt". There are no valid publications mentioned and studied such groups in Egypt, therefore, the current work announced the genus Sphenophorus and S. venatus as recorded from Egypt for the first time. The genus Sphenophorus is the cosmopolitan genus (Alonso-Zarazaga and Lyal, 1999), with nine species recorded in the Palearctic Region (Alonso-Zarazaga, et al., 2017).

Insect Specimens' Collection and Preserving:
The field survey was conducted on a sugarcane field in Qena governorate, southern Egypt in 2019. The specimens were collected by hand from the mud, roots, and stem of the plants (Figs.1-4), killed and preserved in ethyl acetate, mounted on a paper card, and photographed.

Identification:
As the collected specimens differ from that of the Egyptian fauna, specimens were sent to some experts, namely, Dr.Lee Miller, University of Missouri, Division of plant sciences, Colombia, USA, Dr. Michael L. Ferro, Clemson University, South Carolina, Arthropod collection, department of plant and environmental sciences, USA and Dr. Nico Franz and Johnson, M. Andrew, Arizona State University, USA. They suggested that the specimens are billbug species of the genus Sphenophorus but couldn't determine the species if they belong to S. venatus (as it is characterized by raised Yshaped marking on the thorax) or S. parvulus. Identification is carried out depending on description and using taxonomic keys and any available images.

Diagnosis (After Vaurie, 1951):
Antennal club truncated cone, with a spongy distal part; funiculus with four to six articles; scrobe short. Prementum hidden. The apex of tarsal segment 5 with dorsal and ventral lobes extended between claws. This genus was formerly called Calendra Clairville and Shellenberg, (in some publications. International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), consulting experts, finally rejected the names Calendra and they recommended the Sphenophorus as the valid name (ICZN 1958(ICZN , 1959

Description:
Body, small to medium; black or dark red, bare, or coated; pronotum with three bare vittae, the median enclosing an apical depression, the laterals not reaching the apex; elytra variable, but strial punctures much larger than interval punctures.
Rostrum (from the side) curved, compressed, broader at apex, base with puncture between eyes and depression of concentrated punctures. Eye reaching below the insertion of the rostrum. Thoracic lobe present. Pronotum with three feebly or strongly raised, not welldefined, bare strips, the median Y shaped, often disappearing towards the base, enclosing an ill-or well-defined, round subapical depression of dense or merging punctures, the lateral vittae narrow or broad, straight, or oblique, raised in basal one-half or two-thirds only. Scutellum narrower than long, sometimes grooved. Elytra variable, bare or coated, in all or part, smooth or rugose, third and fifth intervals usually somewhat raised and somewhat wider than other intervals; striae with a large round or oval punctures six to eight times larger than interval punctures and cutting into intervals, making their sides sinuous. Under surface finely or coarsely punctured. Legs, front tibiae with an outer apical angle not prolonged, all tarsi with third segment narrow, longer than wide, below mostly smooth, with sparse hair at sides. Pygidium with tufts of hair at apex at sides.

Comparison:
The closest species to Sphenophorus venatus (hunting billbug) is S. parvulus (bluegrass billbug) (Huang and Buss, 2013). The hunting billbug is slightly larger than the bluegrass billbug, the pronotum of the adult has uneven punctures and tubercles, marked with a bare Y-like shape enclosed in parentheses (Kuhn, et al. 2013). The Sphenophorus venatus also has grooves on its elytra, more distinct in the S. parvulus. In addition, the life history of the Sphenophorus venatus appears to be similar to that of the S. parvulus, but hunting billbug adults are nocturnal, and eggs are deposited in or around feeding scratches made by the female on plant stems (Huang and Buss, 2009).
During the field survey, some specimens (belonging to the genus Sphenophorus) were found very similar to the S. venatus but differ in that the marks on the pronotum are not as distinct as S. venatus, they need critical examination (They may be S. cicatristriatus or S. phoeniciensis).

Geographical Distribution:
Sphenophorus venatus is geographically distributed across the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the southern US, additionally, it has been reported in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Martinique, and Japan (Marsden 1979, O'Brien and Wibmer 1982, Hatsukade 1997.