Charopus crassicornis Wittmer, 1975

Franzini, Gabriele, 2022, Taxonomic notes on some species of Charopus Erichson, 1840 in the Mediterranean Region (Coleoptera: Cleroidea, Melyridae, Malachiinae), Fragmenta entomologica (Frag. Entomol., Roma) 54 (1), pp. 105-118 : 115

Charopus crassicornis Wittmer, 1975 ( Fig. 12)

Charopus crassicornis Wittmer, 1975: 266 . Type locality: Turkey, 30 km east of Bingöl.

Notes. Male holotype is shown in Fig. 12 (courtesy of NMHB). The description of this species sets it apart from the rest of the genus, in particular antennomeres 3-6 are widened and the pubescence has black erect setae. The same characters occur also in Cyrtosus (Oogynes) reitteri Abeille de Perrin (1890b) , type locality “Caucasus”, of which a male syntype from Araxes Valley ( Armenia) kept at NHMB is shown in Fig. 13 (courtesy NHMB). As might be expected from the similarities in the two descriptions, the holotype of C. crassicornis and the syntype of C. (O.) reitteri share the same habitus. The writer has examined another corresponding male specimen also from Armenia: Mount Arailer, leg. Z. Malinka (CZM). Cyrtosus (Oogynes) reitteri has also been cited by Yildirim & Bulak (2012) for Turkey: Erzurum, not so far from Bingöl. In the writer’s opinion, characters like modifications of antennomeres and double pubescence are more consistent with placement in Cyrtosus (Oogynes) than in Charopus ; therefore the following new subjective synonymy is proposed: Cyrtosus (Oogynes) reitteri Abeille de Perrin, 1890 = Charopus crassicornis Wittmer, 1975 .

Figures

Fig. 13 – Cyrtosus (Oogynes) reitteri Abeille de Perrin, 1890, Syntype ♂ habitus (Araxesthal, Armenia, NHMB). Scale bars = 1 mm, except for Fig. 2 = 0,5 mm.