Microhoria inobscura ( Pic, 1908 )

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 : 240-242

Microhoria inobscura ( Pic, 1908) ( Fig. 23 , 55B–C )

Anthicus tauricus var. inobscurus Pic, 1908: 66 (description).

Anthicus tauricus var. inobscurus – Pic 1911a: 76 (checklist).

Anthicus (Immicrohoria) tauricus a. inobscurus – Winkler 1927: 849 (checklist).

Microhoria taurica – Chandler et al. 2008: 443 (new, erroneous synonymy, checklist).

Microhoria inobscura – Kejval & Chandler 2020: 131, 139–140 (new status, new combination); Telnov 2020a: 610 (checklist); Telnov 2020b: 16 (new status).

Type material studied. Lectotype male [here designated] MNHN: tauricus Pic v. inobscurus Pic [handwritten] ; Paralectotypes 3 males & females, MNHN: same label as lectotype ; Paralectotype 1 female MNHN: syntype [handwritten, label red] // Hadjin Dagh Taurus [handwritten, in part unreadable] // tauricus inobscurus Pic [handwritten] // M. Platyhoria taurica v. inobscura Pic [handwritten] .

New material. 1 male DTC: Turkey. Mersin. 30 km N. Erdemeli. Devrent . 18W. 2005.05.23. M. Cuskun; 1 male DTC: Turkey, Devrent , 40 km N Erdemli, old oak 17P, 2005­06­ 17 N. Jansson / M. Coskun ; 1 male IUIT: Turkey. Mersin. 30 km N. Erdemeli. Devrent . 14P. Old Quercus sp. h 1139m 17/6­05. M. Cuskun / N. Jansson ; 2 males IUIT: Turkey, Devrent , 40 km N Erdemli, old oak 19P, 2005­06­ 17 N. Jansson / M. Coskun .

Supplementary description. Belongs to the M. terminata species group. Male lectotype. Total body length 2.3 mm. Head brown to black­brown, pronotum pale rufous to brown.Elytra pale brown to reddish­brown. Antennomeres generally yellowish, terminal antennomere. Palps and legs yellowish, tibiae slightly paler than femora. Head about 1.2–1.3× as long as wide, basal margin rather narrowly rounded in arc with posterior temporal angles. Compound eye rather small, slightly protruding from lateral outline of head. Tempus elongate, subparallel. Head dorsum glossy, punctures moderate, rather deep. Intervening spaces smooth, generally as wide as to twice as wide as punctures. Dorsal cranial setae yellowish, sparse, moderately long, appressed. Antenna moderately thickened in apical half. Terminal antennomere moderately elongate, bluntly pointed, slightly more than twice as long as penultimate antennomere and slightly longer than combined length of antennomeres 9–10. Pronotum barely longer than wide, narrower than head across eyes, subopaque to slightly glossy, rounded at anterior margin. Lateral margins moderately impressed in posterior half. Latero­basal pronotal fovea broad and deep, without conspicuous, curved setae. Pronotal disc slightly convex in dorsal aspect. Pronotal punctures large and dense, oval or irregularly elongate. Intervening spaces generally smaller than to as wide as punctures, slightly glossy. Pronotal setae yellowish, moderately long, rather sparse, appressed. Elytra short, about 1.3× as long as wide, laterally broadly rounded, dorsally slightly convex. Humerus obsolete. Apex of elytron subtruncate, modified, channel of gland forming small, circular opening and minute, acutely triangular denticle. Elytral disc moderately glossy, punctures moderate and dense. Intervening spaces as wide as to twice as wide as punctures, smooth, glossy. Elytral setae whitish, long, moderately dense, subdecumbent. Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII subtruncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII emarginate at posterior margin.Aedeagus as in Fig. 23E–F . Tegmen apex slender, slightly hooked; endophallic armature with a pair of moderate, slightly curved spines and some subparallel, straight spines.

Sexual dimorphism. Female generally larger, elytra less slender, morphological sternite VII broadly rounded to broadly obtuse angulate at posterior margin.

Interspecific variability. Three apical antennomeres darkened in one specimen.

Ecology. Several specimens obtained using flight interception and pitfall traps installed in hollows and on trunks of veteran Quercus spp. trees in an open pasture woodland at 1139 m a.s.l. ( Fig. 55B–C ). All three pitfall traps (coded “P” on the labels, No. 14, 17, 19) were installed in hollow openings at the ground level. Trap No. 14 was installed in a hollow cavity of a Q. infectoria Oliv. of 190 cm trunk circumference, trap No. 17 – Q. infectoria Oliv. of 230 cm circumference, trap No. 18 – 2.4 m above the ground on Q. infectoria Oliv. of 330 cm circumference, and trap No. 19 – Q. cerris L. of 230 cm circumference.

Distribution. Adana & Mersin provinces, southern Turkey.

Chorotype. SW­Asiatic (1.13 SWA). Possible S­Anatolian (= Taurian) endemic (3000.08 ANAS).

Figures

Fig. 23. Microhoria inobscura (Pic, 1908). A – Female paralectotype, habitus, dorsal view; B – ditto, head, dorsal view; C – Male from Devrent, Turkey, habitus, dorsal view; D – ditto, forebody, dorsal view; E – ditto, aedeagus, lateral view; F – ditto, apical portion [not to scale].

Fig. 55. Veteran tree­connected habitats of Microhoria in Turkey.A – Sampling plot near Antakya, Turkey; B–C – Sampling plots near Erdemli, Turkey [images courtesy Nicklas Jansson, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden].