Microhoria angulifer (Pic, 1893)

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 : 205-207

Microhoria angulifer (Pic, 1893) ( Fig. 4 )

= Anthicus angulifer Pic, 1893 (repeated description)

Anthicus angulifer Pic, 1893a : cclxx (description); Pic, 1893b: 42 (repeated description).

Anthicus angulifer – Pic 1894: 48 (checklist); Pic 1896b: 179 (records – Israel & mainland Greece (the Greek record is based on misidentified specimen); Pic 1911a: 32 (checklist).

Anthicus (Clavicomus) angulifer – Winkler 1927: 842 (checklist); Koch 1935 a: 258 (note on systematic position).

Clavicomus angulifer – Chikatunov et al. 1999: 196 (informal new combination, activity period and biogeography in Israel, general distribution); Chikatunov et al. 2004: 157 (distribution in Israel, general distribution, bionomy); Uhmann et al. 2005: 5 & 41 as Clavicomus angulifer (Pic, 1892) [sic!] (biogeography, records, bionomy); Chandler et al. 2008: 430 (checklist); Telnov 2020a: 604 (checklist).

Microhoria angulifer – Kejval & Chandler 2020: 120 (new combination, assigned to M. longiceps species group).

Type material. Not studied.

New material. 1 male ADC: ISRAEL – Haifa province Nakhal Oren near Oren junction – station #5 5 IV 1995 – E. Colonnelli // Collezione: A. Degiovanni // Microhoria Chevr. cf. angulifer (Pic) Z. Kejval det. 2020; 1 female MNHN: Haifa, Carmello. Schatzmayr; 1 female NME: LEBANON, S Beirut env. Dammour II.2013, pitfall trap ~ 200 m, leg. Reuter.

Supplementary description. Belongs to the M. longiceps species group. Female from env. Beirut, Lebanon. Total body length 3.6 mm. Forebody reddish­brown, elytra brown. Legs, antennae and maxillary palps rufous­brown, tibiae slightly paler than femora. Head triangular, flattened in dorsal aspect, 1.2–1.3× as long as wide, basal margin truncate to shallowly concave, posterior temporal angles obtuse angulate. Compound eye rather small, protruding from lateral outline of head. Head dorsum moderately opaque, densely punctate with somewhat irregular punctures. Intervening spaces distinctly narrower than punctures, smooth and glossy. Dorsal cranial setae yellowish, long and rather dense, appressed. Antenna long and slender, vaguely thickened in apical third. Terminal antennomere elongate cylindrical, apically rounded, about 1.6–1.7× as long as penultimate antennomere. Pronotum about 1.1–1.2× as long as wide, same wide as head across eyes, evenly rounded at anterior margin. Lateral margins strongly impressed in posterior half. Pronotal disc slightly flattened in dorsal aspect, punctures irregularly circular, somewhat larger and same dense as those on head. Intervening spaces and dorsal pronotal setae as those on head. Elytra about 1.6–1.7× as long as wide, elongate, broadly rounded at lateral margins, dorsally slightly convex. Humerus obsolete, not protruding. Apex of elytron modified into a short, broadly triangular process. Elytral disc moderately glossy, rather densely, minutely punctate, punctures much smaller than those on forebody. Intervening spaces up to 3× as wide as punctures, smooth and glossy. Elytral setae yellowish, inconspicuous, appressed, comparatively shorter than those on forebody. Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII and morphological sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin.

Sexual dimorphism. Male from Nakhal Oren env., Israel: total body length 3.5 mm, head and elytra distinctly darker than reddish pronotum, terminal antennomere about 1.7× as long as penultimate antennomere, tergite VII and morphological sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin, aedeagus as in Fig. 4D–E .

Ecology. One specimen collected using pitfall trap installed on the ground at 200 m elevation.

Distribution. Israel, Lebanon (first country record). Originally described from “ Syrie, Kaifa” = Haifa in Israel. No reliable records are yet known from Syria.

Chorotype. SW­Asiatic (1.13 SWA), considered restricted to Levant.

Figures

Fig. 4. Microhoria angulifer (Pic, 1893).A – Female from Haifa, Israel, habitus, dorsal view; B – ditto, forebody, dorsal view; C – Male from Nakhal Oren env., Israel, habitus, dorsal view; D – ditto, aedeagus, lateral view; E – ditto, ventral view [not to scale; images C–E courtesy Augusto Degiovanni, Bubano, Italy].