Microhoria palicari (LaPorte, 1840)

Telnov, Dmitry, 2022, Revisional notes on the genus Microhoria Chevrolat, 1877 (Insecta: Coleoptera: Anthicidae) from the Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey, with new descriptions, an annotated catalogue, and a key, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 22 (2), pp. 195-312 : 268-270

Microhoria palicari (LaPorte, 1840) ( Fig. 39 ) Anthicus Palicari LaPorte, 1840: 258 (description).

Anthicus Palicari – LaFerté­Sénectère 1849a: 178 (supplementary description, notes); 1849b: 277 (supplementary description, notes); Gemminger & Harold 1870: 2098 (checklist); Marseul 1857: 128 (checklist); 1879: 257 (supplementary description); Jacquelin du Val 1863: 189 (checklist); Heyden et al. 1883: 141 (checklist); Pic 1901b: 177 (checklist, nota).

Anthicus (Aulacoderus) Palicari – Heyden et al. 1891: 268 (checklist).

Anthicus (Eonius) palicari – Winkler 1927: 848 (checklist).

Anthicus (Immicrohoria) palicari – Pic 1911a: 65 (checklist).

Microhoria palicari – Chandler et al. 2008: 441 (new combination, checklist, record – Turkey); Kejval & Chandler 2020: 131 (assigned to the M. terminata species group); Telnov 2020a: 611 (checklist).

Type material. Not studied.

New material (identification of these specimens is tentative since the type series was not available for this study). 1 specimen BMNH: Skaramanga pr. Athen 27.­ 30.5.39 P. H. Linbd. // Brit. Mus. 1915­ 318. // Anthicus palicari Cast. Harald Lindb. det.; 2 specimens BMNH: GREECE: Kefissos R. 21.vi.1957 . G. Mavromoustakis. B.M. 1957–718.; 1 specimen BMNH: S. GREECE: Spetsai I. 1.–10.VIII.1984 . // P.M. Hammond B.M. 1984­ 319.; 1 male ADC: GR.[EECE] KO­ RINTHOS – LOUTRAK, PERAHORA, 17.VI. 90, G. SAMA leg.; 1 male DTC [identification of this specimen is tentative since the aedeagus was damaged during the dissection]: Turkey, Gölhisar, 120 km W Antalya. N 36°57’40”; E 29°27’53” 7 km SW Altinyayla , W­trap 17 Hollow Quercus 2009­ 10­ 04 Nicklas Jansson / Mustafa Avci ; 2 males ADC: GRECIA: Eubea centro Or. Pili, 100m, wine trap. 20.VI–16.VII.2016, A. Sette leg.

Supplementary description (based on tentatively identified specimens, see note above). Male from Pili, Greece. Total body length 3.25 mm. Head dark reddish brown, pronotum pale rufous, elytra black with bright yellow, irregularly shaped transverse band in basal third (slightly prolonged posteriad along suture) and paired, transversely oval pale spot in apical third (not touching lateral margin and suture).Antennomeres 1–8 pale rufous, three terminal antennomeres brown. Palps and legs pale rufous, femora rufous brown. Head about 1.1–1.2× as long as wide, head posterior to compound eye broadly rounded in an arc. Compound eye rather large, longer than tempora, strongly protruding from lateral outline of head. Head dorsum moderately glossy, punctures strong, dense and deep. Intervening spaces smooth to delicately microreticulate, on frons generally narrower than punctures, becoming about twice as wide as punctures on occiput. Dorsal cranial setae yellowish, moderately dense, inconspicuous. Antenna slightly thickened in apical half. Terminal antennomere cylindrical, apically rounded to bluntly pointed, twice as long as penultimate antennomere, nearly as long as combined length of antennomeres 9–10. Pronotum barely longer than wide, distinctly narrower than head across eyes, moderately glossy, broadly rounded at anterior margin. Lateral margins moderately constricted in posterior half. Latero­basal pronotal fovea moderately broad, not supplemented with dense setae. Pronotal disc barely convex in dorsal aspect. Pronotal punctures and intervening spaces similar to those on head, punctures separated by nearly their diameters. Pronotal setae similar to those on head, subdecumbent. Elytra about 1.4– 1.5× as long as wide, laterally widened at midlength, dorsally flattened. Humerus broadly rounded, not protruding. Elytral disc moderately glossy, punctures large and coarse in basal half, becoming smaller and shallower postmedium. Intervening spaces smooth, as wide as punctures in basal half, about twice as wide in apical half of elytron. Elytral apex with minute, spine­like denticle at opening of gland channel. Elytral setae yellowish, moderately dense, slightly curved, generally appressed. Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII subtruncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin.Aedeagus as in Fig. 39B–C . Tegmen apex hooked but not acute angulate; fused baculi conspicuous, extending apically about half of endophallus length; endophallic armature of a paired, large and strong, strongly C­shaped spines, numerous narrow and slightly curved to sinuous spines and very numerous variably shaped spinules.

Sexual dimorphism. Female elytron apex without modifications.

Ecology. One of the studied specimens was collected in a flight interception trap installed 1.3 m above the ground on a hollow trunk of a veteran Quercus infectoria Oliv. of 260 cm circumference.

Distribution. Continental Greece, Turkey.

Chorotype. E­Mediterranean (3.03 EME).

Note. Microhoria aguilari Bonadona, 1960 ( Greece: Sporades: Lesvos Island) strongly resembles the discussed specimens tentatively identified here as M. palicari but is smaller (2.25 mm as in the original description (Bonadona 1960: 52, Fig. 7 ) versus about 3.25 mm in the studied specimens) and the aedeagus (as in the original description) without the strong, curved, paired spines which are present in discussed specimens ( Fig. 39B–C ).

Figures

Fig. 39. Microhoria palicari (LaPorte, 1840) male from Pili, Greece. A – Habitus, dorsal view; B –Aedeagus, lateral view; C – ditto, lateral view, specimen from Korinthos, Greece [not to scale; identification is tentative, see text; all images courtesy Augusto Degiovanni, Bubano, Italy].

Fig. 7. Microhoria bremeri sp. nov., paratype male. A – Habitus, dorsal view; B – Aedeagus, lateral view; C – ditto, apical portion; D – Lamina of tergite VIII; E – Morphological sternite VIII attached to the spiculum gastrale [not to scale].