Attalus sicanus Erichson, 1840

Švihla, Vladimír & Mifsud, David, 2006, Annotated review of the Cantharidae and Malachiidae (Coleoptera) of the Maltese Islands, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 46, pp. 89-105 : 97

Attalus sicanus Erichson, 1840

Attalus sicanus Erichson, 1840: 91 .

Attalus melitensis var. testaceipes Pic, 1903b: 169 , syn. nov.

Attalus melitensis var. testaceipes: CAMERON & CARUANA GATTO (1907) : 397.

Attalus var. testaceipes : TONNA- BARTHET (1931): 7.

Attalus melitensis testaceipes: CILIA (1989) : 119.

Material examined. MALTA: 1 ex. ( BMNH): 7337 [= June 1902, A. dalmatinus, Jniena ] // M. Cameron Coll. B.M. 1936-555 // var. testaceipes [Pic’s handwriting], [? Syntype]; 15 exs. ( BMNH): M. Cameron Coll. B.M. 1936-555.

Distribution. Tunisia, Algeria, Balearics, Sardinia, Sicily, Austria, Croatia, Greece and Turkey ( GREINER 1937, PLATA & SANTIAGO 1990) and Malta.

Comments. Attalus sicanus represents a new record for the Maltese Islands. This species is now known with certainty from Sicily and Malta, and its occurrence in the Balearics and Sardinia is possible. However, the occurrence in all the other countries mentioned by PLATA & SANTIAGO (1990) is very unlikely and possibly refers to other species such as A. dalmatinus Erichson, 1840 . PIC (1903b) described A. melitensis var. testaceipes on the basis of Cameron’s material, which was at least partly available for examination. This material is identical to specimens of A. sicanus from Sicily; hence the above synonymy is established.