Poecilus (Ancholeus) puncticollis (Dejean, 1828)

Muilwijk, Jan, Seiedy, Marjan & Wrase, David W., 2021, Contribution to the knowledge of Carabidae in Iran with the descriptions of five new taxa, proposing of four synonyms and providing of nine new records (Insecta: Coleoptera), Zootaxa 5067 (1), pp. 55-81 : 68-70

Poecilus (Ancholeus) puncticollis (Dejean, 1828)

( Figs. 7.1–7.7 )

Poecilus (Ancholeus) aeneolus ( Chaudoir, 1868) syn. n.

Poecilus (Ancholeus) hafezi (Morvan, 1975) syn. n.

Examined types. P. (A.) aeneolus ( Chaudoir, 1868) : Holotype ♂ with label “ Holotypus ” (red, printed). (MNHN). Without further labels. Obviously, the label “ Holotypus ” is added subsequently, Chaudoir never used the word “ Holotypus ”.

Not examined type. P. (A.) hafezi (Morvan, 1975) , described from Iran, East Azerbaijan, Mt. Sabalan, South of Tabriz , 2600 m, vi.1973. The holotype in collection Morvan was not available for study. The description was based on one female specimen .

Additional examined material of P. (A.) puncticollis (Dejean, 1828) : France: 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, Herault, Palavas , i.1955, L. Schaefer leg., CDW . Austria: 1 ♀, Burgenland, Illmitz, Albensee , 3.v.1991; M. Egger leg., CDW . Italy: 1 ♂, Lazio, Frosinone, Lago di Cantern , 9.viii.1983, Gigli leg., CJM . Greece: 1 ♀, Préveza, Ammoudia , 40 km N Préveza (swamp area), v.2002; T. Lebenbauer leg., CDW ; 1 ♀, Peloponnes, W. Nemea, Stymphalia lake , 616 m, 37°51´03.8´´ N, 22°26´47.3´´ E (cultural landscape, reed banks), 29.iv.2007; P. Schnitter leg., CDW ; 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, Peloponnes, Tripolis env., ii 1991; P. Pokornı leg., CDW . Bulgaria: 1 ♂, Stara Planina, Dolno Sakhrane, reservoir Georgi Dimitroff , 18.v.1984; D.W. Wrase leg., CDW ; 1 ♀, Pomorie , 25.v.1984; D.W. Wrase leg., CDW ; 1 ♀, Pomorie , saline, 9–13.v.1985; D.W. Wrase leg.; CDW . Ukraine: Crimea, Krasnogvardejs region, Kalinino , steppe, 24.iv.1989, Lobko leg., CDW . 2 ♂♂, 1 female. Georgia: Transcaucasus, Kumisi near Tbilisi ( Salt Lake ), 3– 24.vi.1987; D.W. Wrase / M. Schülke leg.; CDW . 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀. Azerbaijan : 1 ♀, Gobustan , 19–25.vi.1981, Scholz leg., CDW , Turkey: 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, Bingöl, Gönük , 1800 m, 25–29.iv.1989, W. Heinz leg., SMNS ; 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, Bingöl, Solhan , 1200 m, 20.iv.1992, W. Heinz leg., SMNS ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Bingöl, Yolcati , 1300 m, 18.iv.1981, W. Heinz leg., SMNS ; 1 ♂, Agri, Balık Gölü, Taşlıçay , 2250 m, 17.07.76; W. Heinz leg., SMNS ; 1 ♂, Şanlıurfa, Hilvan Urfa, 700 m, 14.iv.1980, Heinz leg., SMNS ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Van, Gürpinar, Pass S.W. Van, 2200 m, 3.vii.1987, W. Heinz leg., SMNS ; 2 ♀♀, Van, Muradiye , 1800 m, 10.v.1989, W. Heinz leg., SMNS ; 1 ♂, Van, ca. 25 km S Başkale , 1950–2100 m, 7.v.1989, W. Heinz leg., CDW ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Van, ca. 10 km S Kisiltas , S. Gevaş, 2100 m, 8.v.1989, W. Heinz leg., CDW ; 1 ♂, Hakkâri, Esendere , 1900–2000 m, 5.v.1989, W. Heinz leg., SMNS ; 1 ♀, Erzurum, Kuruca , 1600 m, 19.iv.1992, W. Heinz leg., SMNS ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Kahramanmaraş, Pören geçidi, nr. Göksun , 1500 m, 24.iv.1989, W. Heinz leg., CDW ; 1 ♂, Kars, Sarıkamış env., 1800 m, 8.vi.1992; S. Kadlec leg.; CDW . Iran: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, East Azerbaijan, ca. 20 km NW Kivi , 14.iv.96, Heinz leg., SMNS ; 1 ♂, Mazandaran, Dasht , 900 m, 2.iv.96, W. Heinz leg., SMNS ; 5 ♂♂, 7 ♀♀, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Sulegan lagoon, Cheshmeye Gholamhossein , 28.v.2019, 31° 57ˊ57 N, 50° 49ˊ27 E, J. Muilwijk leg., HMIM & CJM ; 5 ♂♂, 6 ♀♀, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Zagros Mts. , Choghakhor lake nr. Boldaghi vill., 2270 m, 31°55´13´´ N 50°52´58 E (muddy shore/under stones, or running), 22.iv.2018, D.W. Wrase & B. Laser leg., CDW ; 2 ♂♂, 5 ♀♀, same data but: M. Hartmann leg., NME ; 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, same data but: A. Weigel leg., NME . Israel: 1 ♀, Upper Galilea, Alma plateau, 630 m, D.W. Wrase leg., CDW ; 7 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, North district, Bental Reservoir , W Merom Golan, ca 1000 m (stony wetland near shore), 30.iv.2006, D.W. Wrase leg., CDW ; 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, North district, Mt. Bental, Merom Golan , 33°08.813 N, 035°47.052 E, 30.iv.2018, W. Grosser leg., CDW . Syria: 1 ♂, as-Suwaida, Djebel Drouz, between Soueida and Salkhad , ca. 1400 m, 8.iv.1982, W. Heinz leg., SMNS .

Comparative notes. P. (A.) puncticollis (Dejean, 1828) is a black coloured Poecilus with roughly punctate head and pronotum with or without light metallic lustre ( Fig. 7.1 ). The species is distributed in Southern Europe, Levant, Transcaucasus, Iran and Turkmenistan ( Bousquet, 2017).

Later, Chaudoir described P. (A.) aeneolus ( Chaudoir, 1868) ( Fig. 7.2 ). Unfortunately, Chaudoir did not give any information on the locality in the description of his new species. The consultation of Chaudoir’s paper of 1876 indicated P. aeneolus originated from Syria and was collected by Kindermann. At the time of Chaudoir Syria encompassed several countries, therefore, it can mean modern Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and also south-eastern Turkey. This species also has punctured head and pronotum, but more metallic lustre.

Morvan described P. (A.) hafezi ( Morvan, 1975a) from East Azerbaijan. This species is characterised by head and pronotum covered with punctures and bronze lustre on head and elytra. Morvan compared P. (A.) hafezi with P. (A.) puncticollis and P. (A.) lissoderus Chaudoir, 1876 (= P. (A.) laevicollis Chaudoir, 1842) but not with P. (A.) aeneolus . P. (A.) laevicollis has no punctures on the head and along the midline of the pronotum, and is therefore easy to distinguish from P. (A.) hafezi . According to Morvan, the differences to P. (A.) puncticollis are mainly based on features of body shape such as a less sinuate pronotum and a shorter body length.

We examined a huge material of the Ancholeus species with punctured forebody and more or less metallic lustre from Turkey and Iran ( Fig. 7.3 ), including regions surrounding the type locality of P. (A.) hafezi (see Distribution map, Fig. 7.7 ). All characters indicated by the authors to distinguish these three species are indeed considerably variable. No differences in the structure of the median lobe ( Figs. 7.4, 7.5 ) (including endophallus shape and copulatory piece, Figure 7.6 ) were found either. We can conclude, that only one species with punctured forebody inhabit Iran and adjacent regions. Therefore, the following new synonymies are proposed: Poecilus (Ancholeus) puncticollis (Dejean, 1828) = Poecilus (Ancholeus) aeneolus ( Chaudoir, 1868) syn. n. = Poecilus (Ancholeus) hafezi (Morvan, 1975) syn. n. The gradual change of colour of the upper side from dark or slightly metallic from the western range to a more vivid metallic colouration in the eastern or south-eastern region is interpreted as a phenomenon of clinal variability.

Identification references: Chaudoir (1868); Morvan (1975); Arndt et al. (2011).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Poecilus puncticollis 7.1 Poecilus puncticollis habitus, Israel, scale: 5 mm. 7.2 Poecilus aeneolus holotype habitus. 7.3 Poecilus puncticollis habitus, Sulegan lagoon, scale: 5 mm. 7.4 Poecilus puncticollis Kodir, median lobe, ventral view; scale: 1 mm. 7.5 Poecilus puncticollis Sulegan lagoon, median lobe, ventral view; scale: 1 mm. 7.6 Poecilus puncticollis, Balık Gölü, inflated endophallus; scale: 1 mm. 7.7 Distribution map Poecilus puncticollis in the Middle East; P. puncticollis ●, P. hafezi ◘, type locality.