Saprinus (Saprinus) subnitescens Bickhardt, 1909

Shayya, Salman, Degallier, Nicolas, Nel, Andre, Azar, Dany & Lackner, Tomas, 2018, Contribution to the knowledge of Saprinus Erichson, 1834 of forensic relevance from Lebanon (Coleoptera, Histeridae), ZooKeys 738, pp. 117-152 : 127

12. Saprinus (Saprinus) subnitescens Bickhardt, 1909 Figs 13 , 63 , 64-72 , 84 , 88b

Saprinus Saprinus subnitescens = Saprinus fagniezi Auzat, 1912

Saprinus Saprinus subnitescens = Saprinus lecontei Casey, 1916

Saprinus Saprinus subnitescens = Saprinus meridionalis Ihssen, 1949

Saprinus Saprinus subnitescens = Saprinus simulans J. Sahlberg, 1913

Type locality.

Hungary, Romania.

Distribution.

Central and south Europe, North Africa, Spain (including Canary Islands), Portugal (including Madeira), Turkey, central Asia, introduced to north America ( Mazur 2011). From Lebanon already reported by Lackner et al. (2015). We herein report this species from the following Lebanese localities: Fanar, Badghan, Naas, Deir El-Ahmar and Hammana (Fig. 84 ).

Biology.

A typical free-living volant predator found on carrion as well as in dung. In our samples we collected 242 specimens. Saprinus (S.) subnitescens was the most abundant species on the carcasses during both the active and advanced stage of decomposition.

Figures

Figure 13. Saprinus (S.) subnitescens Bickhardt, 1909 habitus, dorsal view.

Figure 63. Saprinus (S.) subnitescens Bickhardt, 1909 prosternum.

Figure 84. Distribution of S. (S.) strigil, S. (S.) submarginatus, S. (S.) subnitescens, and S. (S.) tenuistrius sparsutus in Lebanon.

Figure 88. Abundance of Saprinus (S.) strigil (88 a) and S. (S.) subnitescens (88 b) during the decomposition stages in different Lebanese localities.

Figures 64 - 72. 64 Saprinus (S.) subnitescens Bickhardt, 1909 male genitalia: 8 th sternite and tergite, ventral view 65 8 th sternite and tergite, dorsal view 66 8 th sternite and tergite, lateral view 67 9 th + 10 th tergites, dorsal view 68 9 th + 10 th tergites, lateral view 69 spiculum gastrale (9 th sternite), ventral view 70 spiculum gastrale (9 th sternite), lateral view 71 aedeagus, dorsal view 72 aedeagus, lateral view.