Cerocoma (Meloides) azurea Reitter, 1913

Turco, Federica & Bologna, Marco A., 2011, Systematic revision of the genus Cerocoma Geoffroy, 1762 (Coleoptera: Meloidae: Cerocomini) 2853, Zootaxa 2853 (1), pp. 1-71 : 29-30

Cerocoma (Meloides) azurea Reitter, 1913

Figs 2P , 3P , 4P , 6P

Cerocoma azurea Reitter, 1913: 192 ; Mařan, 1944: 92.

Cerocoma (Cerocoma) syriaca var. azurea, Kaszab, 1951: 263 , 267, 271.

Cerocoma syriaca ab. humilis Muche, 1963: 12 (invalid name)

Cerocoma syriaca coeruleotincta Muche, 1963: 13 .

Cerocoma (Meloides) azurea, Dvořák, 1990: 4 .

Type locality. “ Syrien: Jaffa” ( Reitter 1913). Jaffa is a coastal town currently of Israel.

Type specimens. As explained for C. prochaskana , we accept the unpublished selection of Reitter’s types, probably made by Kaszab, and we designate them lectotype and paralectotypes. Lectotype and two paralectotypes, labeled as C. syriaca ab. azurea , have been examined:

Lectotype ♂: Jaffa Syrien (white, handwritten) // Holotypus 1913 / Cerocoma ♂ / azurea / Reitter (white with red frame, printed and handwritten) // Cerocoma ♂ / ab. Azurea Rtt. / det. dr. Kaszab (white, printed and handwritten) // LECTOTYPE ♂ / Cerocoma azurea / Reitter, 1913 / Turco & Bologna des. 2009 (red, printed) ( HNHM).

1 paralectotype ♂: Syrien / v. Schraderi (white, handwritten) // Allotypus 1913 / Cerocoma ♂ / azurea / Reitter (white with red frame, printed and handwritten) // Cerocoma ♂ / ab. Azurea Rtt. / det. dr. Kaszab (white, printed and handwritten) // PARALECTOTYPE ♂ / Cerocoma azurea / Reitter, 1913 / Turco & Bologna des. 2009 (red, printed) ( HNHM).

1 paralectotype ♂: Syrien / Kaifa. / Reitter. (white with black frame, printed) // Rahol. / Jaffa (white, handwritten) // Paratypus 1913 / Cerocoma ♂ / azurea / Reitter (white with red frame, printed and handwritten) // Cerocoma ♂ / ab. Azurea Rtt. / det. dr. Kaszab (white, printed and handwritten) // PARALECTOTYPE ♂ / Cerocoma azurea / Reitter, 1913 / Turco & Bologna des. 2009 (red, printed) ( HNHM). Claws of left hind leg and last three right antennomeres are missing.

Description. Male. Body metallic azure-blue with yellowish pubescence, except on elytra dark; legs, antennae and mouthparts, including maxillary palpi, yellow-orange; anterior and external portions of frontal calli orange; narrow orange line in the area between frontal calli, triangularly widened posteriad.

Head transverse with slightly protruding eyes. Maxillary palpi modified with palpomere II wide, flattened and curved; III very swollen and rounded on the external side; IV hatchet-shaped, narrow at base and then one edge straight and the other abruptly widened ( Fig. 3P ). Antennae strongly modified with antennomere I bearing a short, narrow and only slightly bent expansion on the external side and dorsal keel very wide, high and apically curved; III–VI very modified and ventrally expanded; V with short setae on distal face of ventral laminar expansion; VI with a very long, narrow and curved expansion on ventral side; V–VI bearing each a tuft of long and erect setae, especially on VI; IX slightly transverse, apically rounded and dorsally slightly flattened ( Fig. 2P ).

Protibial dorsal keel with apex rounded and distally sloping in lateral view, maximum height is about in the middle of keel ( Fig. 4P ). Protarsomeres weakly flattened; II with an obvious dorsal bulge; protarsomere III shorter than V, excluding claws.

Gonostyli, in lateral view, straight, with apical lobes directed forward; apical lobes, in dorsal view, slightly swollen and parallel. Apex of aedeagus pointed; aedeagal hooks equal in size. Sclerotised hooks of endophallus equal in size, the apical pointing outwards and the subapical backwards ( Fig. 6P ).

Female. Not distinctly modified. Refer to key for diagnostic characters.

Taxonomy. Cerocoma azurea is very similar and closely related to C. confusa from which it can be recognised because of: (a) male protibiae dorsal keel with a slightly sloping anterior edge, very high and not sloping in C. confusa ; (b) antennomere IX long and subsquared, more transverse in C. confusa ; (c) presence of a dense tuft of black setae below antennomere VI, absent or extremely scarce in C. confusa .

Distribution. Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, Jordan, Iran.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Male right antenna, lateral view: A, C. schreberi; B, C. martae; C, C. ephesica; D, C. prevezaensis; E, C. festiva; F, C. graeca; G, C. malatyensis; H, C. albopilosa; I, C. longiseta; J, C. barthelemyi; K, C. vahli; L, C. scovitzi; M, C. latreillei; N, C. adamovichiana; O, C. confusa; P, C. azurea; Q, C. turcica; R, C. muehlfeldi; S, C. schaefferi; T, C. prochaskana; U, C. dahli; V,C. bernhaueri; W, C. simplicicornis; X, C. gloriosa; Y, C. rapillyi; Z, C. marginiventris; AA, C. macedonica; AB, C. kunzei; AC, C. bodemeyeri. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Male right maxillary palp, dorsal view: for lettering refer to caption to Fig. 1. Scale bars = 1 mm (1: C–E, G–J, L– R, Y, AA–AC; 2: B, F, K, S–T, X, Z; 3: A, U–W).

FIGURE 4. Male right protibia, lateral view: for lettering refer to caption to Fig. 1. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 6. Male external genitalia (from left to right: tegmen, dorsal and lateral views; aedeagus, lateral view): for lettering refer to caption to Fig. 1. Scale bars = 1 mm (1: A–E, H, L–M, R; 2: F–G, I–K, N–P, S–T, X–Y, AA–AC; 3: Q, U–W, Z).