Drilus akbesianus ( Fairmaire, 1895 ) Fairmaire, 1895

Kundrata, Robin, Kobieluszova, Lucie & Bocak, Ladislav, 2014, A review of Drilini (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Agrypninae) of the Northern Levant, with description of a new species from Syria and a key to Levantine species, Zootaxa 3755 (5), pp. 457-469 : 461-463

Drilus akbesianus ( Fairmaire, 1895) , comb. nov.

( Figs 2 , 8, 14 , 20 )

Malacogaster akbesiana Fairmaire, 1895 : cx.

Malacogaster akbesianus: Olivier 1910: 4 , Wittmer 1944: 204, Bocak 2007: 210.

Material examined. Holotype, 1 male, SYRIE, AKBES, C.D. 1891 // Bul. 95 cx ( MNHP).

Diagnosis. Drilus akbesianus belongs along with D. rectus and D. nemethi sp. nov. to a group of species with yellowish to light brown pronotum and dark elytra, head and antennae ( Figs 2, 4–5 ). D. akbesianus differs from D.

rectus in the large eyes, light coloration of mesanepisternum, mesepimeron and abdomen, and a rounded silhouette of the paramerae ( Figs 20, 23 ) and from D. nemethi in the narrow clypeal margin, robust antennae ( Figs 8, 10 ), antennomeres 1–2 apparently lighter than remaining ones, higher ratio between width and length of pronotum ( Figs 14, 16 ), and relatively longer paramerae ( Figs 20, 22 ).

Redescription. Male. Body medium-sized, elongate, 2.9 times as long as width at humeri, slightly convex dorsally ( Fig. 2 ). Head, antennomeres 3–11, metasternum and elytra dark brown, rest of body yellowish to light brown; whole body covered with yellow pubescence.

Head slightly hypognathous, partly retracted into pronotum, including eyes slightly wider than anterior margin of pronotum. Surface of cranium coarsely punctured, with shallow depression between prominent antennal sockets, with long sparse semierect pubescence. Clypeus slightly prolonged and narrowed apically, clypeal margin emarginate. Eyes large, hemispherically prominent, partly hidden by pronotum, their frontal distance 1.7 times eye diameter. Mandibles robust, considerably curved, incisor margin with conspicuous tooth in middle part, shiny. Maxillary palpi slender, apical palpomere narrow, slightly compressed, obliquely cut; labial palpi tiny, apical palpomere pointed. Antennae 11-segmented, reaching one third of elytral length, scapus robust, pedicel minute, antennomere 3 long, more than 3 times longer than antennomere 2, antennomeres 4–10 shortly flabellate, with flattened lamellae, subequal in length, apical antennomere longest, simple, about twice longer than stem of penultimate antennomere ( Fig. 8 ).

Pronotum flat, transverse, widest in middle, 1.5 times wider posteriorly than length at midline. Anterior margin moderately emarginate in middle, lateral margins convex, posterior margin shallowly emarginate medially. Anterior angles almost rectangular, conspicuous, prominent, slightly turned upward ( Fig. 14 ); surface of disc covered coarsely by large, shallow punctures, with sparse, semierect, long setae, pubescence denser at margins. Scutellum flat, triangle-shaped. Prosternum transverse, prosternal process short, slightly elevated in middle part. Mesoventrite narrow, v-shaped. Metaventrite large, trapezoidal, shallowly punctured. Elytra subparallel-sided, widest basally, 2.3 times longer than width at humeri, tapered apically, shallowly punctured, covered by semierect, uniformly distributed pubescence. Abdomen slender, ventrites with fine microstructure and sparse, long hairs. Legs slender, slightly compressed, with sparse, long, semierect setae, coxae long, robust, trochanters slender, obliquely attached to femora, tarsomeres 1–4 gradually shortened, tarsomere 4 shortest, apical tarsomere long, claws simple, slender, slightly curved.

Male genitalia with phallus considerably curved, longer than paramerae; paramerae robust, their apical part membranous, with visible setae; phallobase robust, longer than paramerae ( Fig. 20 ).

Measurements. BL 6.7 mm, EL 5.3 mm, WH 2.3 mm, PL 1.3 mm, PW 1.9 mm, Edist 0.9 mm, Ediam 0.5 mm.

Distribution. Southern Turkey ("Akbes" refers to the Hatay Province).

Remarks and taxonomic decisions. Drilus akbesianus was described as Malacogaster ( Fairmaire 1895) , however, the morphological characters of this species agree fully with the definition of Drilus ( Reitter 1894, Kundrata & Bocak 2007). Therefore, we transfer M. akbesianus to Drilus .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. General appearance. 1 — Drilus adustus; 2 — D. akbesianus; 3 — D. bicolor; 4 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 5 — D. rectus; 6 — D. rufipes. Scale 2.0 mm.

FIGURES 7 – 18. Antenna. 7 — Drilus adustus; 8 — D. akbesianus; 9 — D. bicolor; 10 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 11 — D. rectus; 12 — D. rufipes. Pronotum. 13 — Drilus adustus; 14 — D. akbesianus; 15 — D. bicolor; 16 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 17 — D. rectus; 18 — D. rufipes. Scale 1.0 mm (Figs 7 – 12), 0.5 mm (Figs 13 – 18).

FIGURES 19 – 24. Male genitalia. 19 — Drilus adustus; 20 — D. akbesianus; 21 — D. bicolor; 22 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 23 — D. rectus; 24 — D. rufipes. Scale 0.25 mm.