Hycleus balteatus (Pallas, 1782)

Bologna, Marco A., B, Ladislav Černý & B, Ahmed Zubair, 2018, Meloidae (Coleoptera) of Pakistan and Kashmir with the description of three new species, new faunistic and taxonomic records, and a zoogeographic analysis, Turkish Journal of Zoology 42 (6), pp. 637-660 : 648

Hycleus balteatus (Pallas, 1782)

Distribution. Indian species, recorded from Pakistan by Hashmi and Tashfeen (1992) as Mylabris , but not reported by Bologna (2008).

Hycleus bipunctatus (Olivier, 1811)

New records. Pakistan: 15 exx., Baluchistan, Nushki , 16.vi.2012 ( CB) ; 8 exx., idem, 16.vii.2015 ( CB) ; 4 exx. idem, 8.x.2016 ( CB; FUUZM) ; 1 ex., idem, 16.vi.2016 ( CB) ; 1 ex., Baluchistan, Nushki, Kili Jamaldini , 25.v.2016 ( CB) ; 3 exx. idem, 22.vi.2013 ( FUUZM) ; 1 ex. idem, 22.vii.2016 ( FUUZM) ; 1 ex., Baluchistan, Tump , 15.4.1993 ( CK) ; 30 exx., western Baluchistan, Tump, 90 km west of Turbat , 13–15.iv.1993, S. Bečvář ( CC) ; 2 exx., western Baluchistan, Turbat , 8–19.iv.1993, S. Bečvář ( CC) ; 1 ex., Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa, Dera Ismail Khan , 12.v.2016 ( FUUZM) .

Distribution. Recorded from Arabia, Iran, and Iraq; new species record for Pakistan.

Remarks. This species belongs to the group of Hycleus sexmaculatus (see Bologna and Turco, 2007). This group was considered in the literature (Kuzin, 1954) as Mylabris (Sphenabris) , but actually represents a complex lineage of Hycleus with the mesosternum of the Mesogorbatus-type, and, in most species, having the last antennomere narrowed or highly tapered and pointed ( Bologna and Turco, 2007). The taxonomy and relationships of this group of species is under study (Serri and Bologna, unpublished). Unfortunately, the type of H. bipunctatus (Olivier, 1811) , a species described from Arabia and recorded also from Iran and Iraq ( Kaszab, 1983; Bologna, 2008), is probably lost. Although we did not find the type at MNHN, we examined old specimens in Marseul’s collection from Arabia, Syria, and Iraq, which probably were compared with Olivier’s types. These, as well as our specimens and the figure of the Arabic specimen published by Kaszab (1983), are similar to H. trianguliferus reitterioides ( Kaszab, 1956) in elytral pattern and pronotal punctation. We have not seen the types of reitterioides, described from S Iran, but have examined specimens from this region and suspect that reitterioides is distinct from H. trianguliferus (Heyden, 1883) (distributed from Iran to Afghanistan and in Central Asia; Bologna, 2008) and is a synonym of H. bipunctatus . Pending a revision of this group (Serri and Bologna, unpublished), we prefer to not formally propose the synonymy at this time.

Hycleus javeti umbilicatus ( Kaszab, 1958)

New records. Pakistan: 1 ex., NWFP, 85 km NE Chitral, Chitral-Mastuj road, 15.vii.1998 ( CV) .

Distribution. Polytypic species, distributed in Iraq, Iran, and Turkmenistan (nominotypical subspecies) and in Afghanistan ( subsp. umbilicatus ); new species record for Pakistan.