Tituboea atriceps Pic, 1924

Bezdċk, Jan & Regalin, Renato, 2015, Identity of species-group taxa of the Western Palaearctic Clytrini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) described by Maurice Pic and Louis Kocher, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (suppl.) 55, pp. 1-114 : 43-46

Tituboea atriceps Pic, 1924 , stat. nov.

( Figs 22–25 , 155–164 )

Titubaea minor var. atriceps Pic, 1924a: 22 (original description).

Antipa (Titubaea) minor var. decemmaculata Pic, 1937: 13 (original description), syn. nov.

Antipa israelita Medvedev, 1992: 54 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Tituboea minor var. atriceps : ‘Egypte’. Antipa minor var. decemmaculata : ‘ Egypte: Hammam’. Antipa israelita : ‘ Israel, Kurnub’.

Type material examined. Tituboea minor var. atriceps : not examined.

Antipa minor var. decemmaculata : HOLOTYPE: 1 ♀, ‘ EGYPTE [p] Hammam / Mer 14.6.1936 [h] / A. RABI-NOVITCH [w, p] // Coll. Alħeri / Egypte [w, p] // Décrit dans / l ̓ Echange, No 470, / 1937, p. 13 [w, h] // Antipa / ( Tituboea ) / minor var. / decemmaculata Pic / (1937) TYPE [w, h] // 1905 [w, h] // F. Monros / collection / 1959 [w, p]’ ( USNM).

Antipa israelita : POSSIBLE PARATYPE (see comments below): 1 ♂, ‘ISR- Wadi Ramon / 6 km O Mizpe Ramon / 11.4.90 Warncke [w, p] // PARATYPE [r, p] // Antipa / israelita m. [h] / L. N. Medvedev 19 [p] 92 [w, h] // coll. / Kippenberg [w, p]’ ( HKCH). The photo of holotype ( Figs 163–164 ) deposited in Medvedev ̓ s collection in Moscow was kindly provided by Pavel Romantsov. HOLOTYPE: 1 ♂, ‘ ISRAEL [p] / Kurnub / 25.III. [h] 197 [p] 5 [h] / M. KAPLAN [w, p] // [blank red label] // Coptocephala / sp. [w, h] // HOLOTYPUS [p] / Antipa / israelita m. [h] / L. Medvedev 199 [p] 1 [w, h]’.

Invalid type material examined. Tituboea minor var. atriceps : 1 ♀, ‘Wadi Um Assad / 18.3.1935 [w, h] // Coll. Alħeri / Egypte [w, p] // TYPE [r, h] // Anastase Alħeri / Collection / 1965 [white label with red horizontal stripe, p] // Antipa / ( Tituboea ) / minor / atriceps Pic [w, h]’ ( USNM).

Additional material examined. EGYPT: Hammam , 14.vi.1936, 1 ♂ 2 ♀♀, A. Rabinovitch leg. ( USNM) . IRAQ: W Iraq, Western Desert , Wádí al Hazimi, 21.iii.1979, 1 ♂, J. Macek leg. ( RRCM) ; same data, 25.iii.1979, 1 ♀ ( RRCM) . ISRAEL: Arava Valley , Nahal Omer, 21.iii.1995, 1 ♀, G. Sama leg. ( RRCM) ; Ein Gedi , 25.iii.1960, 1 ♂, L. Kugler leg. ( TAU) ; Ha Makhtesh Ha Qatan , Nahal Hazeva, 0–80 m, 26.iii.2015, 4 ♂♂1 ♀, L. Friedman leg. ( TAU) ; Hazeva , 23.iii.1997, 1 ♂ 1 ♀, R. Hoffman leg. ( TAU) ; Hazeva , 1.iii.1994, 1 ♂, Shapira leg. ( TAU) ; Horbat Mamshit , 1.iv.2014, 1 ♂ 1 ♀, A. Freidberg leg. ( TAU) ; Kurnub , 25.iii.1975, 1 ♂, M. Kaplan leg. ( TAU) ; Mishor Yamin , 25.iv.1997, 1 ♀, R. Hoffman leg. ( TAU) ; Nahal Shahaq , 22.iii.1998, 1 ♂, E. Ashkenazi leg. ( TAU) ; Nahal Gidron , 5 km W of Arava, 12.iii.1998, 1 ♀, E. Ashkenazi leg. ( TAU) ; Oron , rt. 206, 21.iv.2005, 2 ♂♂, L. Friedman leg. ( TAU) ; 6 km S of Zomet Rotem , 410 m, 1.iv.2014, on Calligonum comosum , 1 ♂, L. Friedman leg. ( TAU) .

Redescription. Body length: ♂ 4.3–7.2 mm; ♀♀ 3.8–5.9 mm.

Male ( Fig. 161 ). Head black with orange labrum and mandibles, anterior margin of clypeus brownish, antennae with four basal antennomeres orange, black from antennomere V. Pronotum yellow with brown transverse band with irregular anterior margin situated along posterior pronotal margin. Scutellum black. Elytra yellow with 4 small black spots (1, 2, 1), apical one slightly larger than others. Ventral side black. Legs orange, coxae brown, tarsi black, last tarsomere brownish apically.

Head and mandibles moderately enlarged ( Fig. 162 ). Mandibles robust, left mandible longer, hook-like. Labrum transverse, anterior margin concave, lateral margins convergent and rounded, surface anterolaterally with several long pale setae. Clypeus nearly impunctate, sparsely covered with long pale setae. Eyes small. Frons very wide, 4.00 times as wide as diameter of eye, in middle slightly depressed. Frons and vertex punctate and covered with very dense pale setae. Antennae short, 0.35 times as long as body, antennomere I club-shaped, II and III small, subglobular, IV small elongate triangular, antennae serrated from antennomere V, antennomeres V–X wider than long.

Pronotum strongly transverse, 1.75 times as wide as long, widest in basal third, moderately convex, lustrous, very densely covered with large punctures, glabrous. Anterior margin slightly convex, lateral margins moderately rounded and slightly convergent anteriorly, posterior margin nearly straight but moderately bisinuate in scutellar area. Anterior angles nearly rectangular with tip rounded, posterior angles very widely rounded with indicated tip. Both anterior and posterior angles with several pale setae on pronotal margin near the tip. Lateral and posterior margins bordered, anterior margin bordered only in lateral parts. Posterior angles not elevated above elytral base. Surface along posterior margin with distinct long depression, in middle almost touching posterior margin, lateraly oblique in angle ca 20° to posterior margin. Scutellum triangular with rounded tip, covered with microsculpture and short setae, scutellar apex elevated above elytral level.

Elytra subcylindrical, 0.62 times as long as body, 1.25 times as long as wide in humeral part, glabrous, lustrous, densely covered with small confused punctures. Basal margin with complete thin border, in middle distinctly elevated forming narrow keel. Epipleura impunctate, with several setae along anterior angle, wide in humeral area, short, disappearing in 1/4 of elytral length. Lateral margin of elytra widely shallowly concave in lateral view.

Legs. Protarsi and protibiae prolonged. Protarsi ( Fig. 25 ) very slender, protarsomere I subparallel, 4.00 times as long as broad, protarsomere II parallel, 2.65 times as long as broad, length ratios of protarsomeres I–IV equal to 100-67-42-58. Metatarsi short and slender, length ratios of metatarsomeres I–IV equal to 100-60-60-100. Claws simple.

Male genitalia. Aedeagus short and robust, with triangular apex, with one long and wide dorsal sclerite, aedeagus in lateral view S-shaped ( Figs 22–23 ).

Female ( Figs 155, 158 ). Head and mandibles not enlarged ( Figs 156, 159 ). Frons about 4.10 times as wide as diameter of eye. Depression along posterior margin of pronotum not so distinct as in male. Protibiae not enlarged, protarsi short, length ratios of protarsomeres I–IV equal to 100-60-60-100. Spermatheca: cornu V-shaped, basally slender, apically slightly wider, spermathecal duct short, thin, moderately bent ( Fig. 24 ).

Variability. One female from Egypt has black labrum, anterior margin of clypeus and also mandibles are dark brown to black. All studied specimens from Israel have completely black head. Almost all females have brown band on pronotum separated into three spots: two large lateral with irregular anterior margins and one small transverse in the middle. The black pattern on elytra is variable: one female from Egypt has only three black spots (1, 2), one male and one female from Egypt four black spots (1, 2, 1), an additional male from Egypt and all specimens from Israel also four spots but (2, 2) and two females from Egypt ħve spots (2, 2, 1). Females have tarsi dark brown (not black) with tarsomeres I and IV somewhat paler.

Differential diagnosis. Tituboea atriceps is similar to T. chobauti . The punctation of pronotum is larger and sparser in T. atriceps while smaller and denser in T. chobauti . Moreover, T. chobauti is on average a larger species (about 6–7 mm) and black spots on elytra are larger, contrary to smaller T. atriceps (3.8–7.2 mm) with smaller elytral spots. Both species differ also in the structure of aedeagus ( Figs 22–23 , 26 ).

Distribution. Egypt ( REGALIN & MEDVEDEV 2010b, present paper), Israel ( MEDVEDEV 1992, present paper). New species for Iraq.

Comments. Both Pic ̓ s varieties were originally associated with T. minor Fairmaire, 1894 described from one male from ‘ Ouargla, bordj Dzelfana’ in Algeria ( FAIRMAIRE 1894). Based on the original description of T. minor it is impossible to conħrm if T. minor and both varieties described by Pic are conspeciħc or not. The arrangement of black spots on elytra (1, 2, 1) as published by FAIRMAIRE (1894) is different to both varieties. The deposition of the holotype of T. minor is unknown to us, it was not found in MNHN and other European institutions visited by the authors in the past 10 years. We decided to treat T. minor as a nomen dubium. A subsequent record of T. minor from Libya ( GRIDELLI 1930) is also uncertain as it can refer to any other Tituboea species. The voucher specimen is probably still deposited in Libya and is inaccessible now.

Tituboea minor var. atriceps was described from Egypt from material collected by Alħeri ( PIC 1924a). One female specimen originated from Alħeri ̓ s collection and labelled as a type of T. minor var. atriceps is deposited in USNM (see section ‘invalid type material examined’). Undoubtedly, this specimen, collected eleven years after the publication of the original description, is not the primary type. The red label ‘TYPE’ was added by Alħeri but in many cases was used also for specimens collected in the type locality or for specimens only compared with the original description (cf. note of K. V. Krombein in introduction to ALFIERI 1976: vii). Also the colouration of elytra in the specimen examined does not match exactly the original description. PIC (1924a) explicitely mentioned four black spots obliquely on each elytron (2, 2). Female from USNM has reduced postscutellar spot (1, 2). The deposition of the true type material of T. minor var. atriceps is unknown to us. On the other hand, based on the examined female we have no doubts about the identity of this taxon. As var. atriceps is the oldest available name we rise it to species rank with Antipa minor var. decemmaculata Pic, 1937 and A. israelita Medvedev, 1992 as its new junior subjective synonyms.

The male specimen of A. israelita labelled as a paratype was found in HKCH. This specimen was not included in the original description. However, as it was collected in 1990, two years before the description of A. israelita , we cannot exclude the possibility that it is a valid paratype based on Article 72.4.1.1 of the Code ( ICZN 1999) and thus we treat it as a possible paratype. Nevertheless, it perfectly corresponds with the photos of holotype ( Fig. 163 ) kindly sent to us by Pavel Romatsov.

Figures

Figs 19–25. 19–21 – Tituboea arabica (Olivier, 1808): 19 – aedeagus (dorsal, lateral and ventral views); 20 – spermatheca; 21 – right male protarsus. 22–25 – Tituboea atriceps Pic, 1924: 22 – aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views, from Egypt); 23 – aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views, from Israel); 24 – spermatheca; 25 – right male protarsus. Scale bars: 1 mm for Figs 21 and 25; 0.5 mm for Figs 19, 20, 22 and 23, 0.25 mm for Fig. 24.

Figs 155–164. Tituboea atriceps Pic, 1924. 155–157 – Invalid type of T.minor var. atriceps (female, 5.2 mm): 155 habitus; 156 – head; 157 – labels. 158–160 – Holotype of T. minor var. decemmaculata Pic, 1937 (female, 3.9 mm): 158 – habitus; 159 – head; 160 – labels. 161 – male (4.4 mm); 162 – head of male. 163–164 – Holotype of Antipa israelita Medvedev, 1992 (male, Romantsov orig.): 163 – habitus; 164 – labels.

Figs 26–29. 26–27 – Tituboea chobauti (Pic, 1896): 26 – aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views); 27 – spermatheca. 28–29 – Tituboea cingulata (Lefèvre, 1884): 28 – aedeagus (dorsal, lateral and ventral views); 29 – right male protarsus. Scale bars: 1 mm for Fig. 29; 0.5 mm for Figs 26–28.