Mylabris (Mylabris) olivieri Billberg, 1813

Pan, Zhao & Bologna, Marco A., 2014, Taxonomy, Bionomics and Faunistics of the Nominate Subgenus of Mylabris Fabricius, 1775, with the description of five new species (Coleoptera: Meloidae: Mylabrini), Zootaxa 3806 (1), pp. 1-78 : 34-35

Mylabris (Mylabris) olivieri Billberg, 1813

Figs. 1 Q, 20A–G

Mylabris olivieri Billberg, 1813: 71 ; Sumakov, 1924: 83; 1929: 7; 1930: 26; Kolov, 2003: 163.

Mylabris caspia Ménétriés, 1832: 206 .

Mylabris grisescens Reiche, 1866: 638 ; Marseul, 1870: 119; 1872: 522.

Mylabris impar Baudi di Selve, 1878a: 372, 375; 1878b: 1141; Beauregard, 1890: 529; Sumakov, 1915: 22; Borchmann, 1917: 39; Mader, 1927: 858; Reichardt, 1934: 216, 230.

Zonabris impar, Heyden et al., 1883: 144 ; Escherich, 1899: 91.

Zonabris impar var. impexa Escherich, 1899: 107 .

Zonabris impar var. kopetensis Pic, 1930: 2 .

Mylabris olivieri ab. impexa, Kaszab, 1941: 676; 1959: 86.

Mylabris (Mylabris) olivieri, Kuzin, 1953: 125 ; 1954: 354; Kaszab, 1959: 86; 1968b: 759; Bologna, 1979: 156; 1991a: 233; 1994: 41; 2008: 397; Nikolaev & Kolov, 2005: 63; Serri et al., 2012: 85.

Type locality. Billberg (1813) did not define the type locality.

Type specimens. We did not examine types of this species, which probably are missing. The type of M. olivieri is not cited in the list of beetle specimens of the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, where the Billberg’s collection is preserved.

Description. Body length: 9–14 mm; setae only black, but mixed golden and black on legs; antennomeres III–X reddish (particularly VII–X), XI brownish, III ca. 1.5 times as long as IV, last antennomeres clearly widened, XI ca. 1.5 times as long as wide ( Fig. 20 A); pronotum without fore transverse depression; elytral black pattern as in Fig. 20 B, two fore spots, rarely confluent, one middle sinuous and complete fascia, a transverse subapical fascia, which not reach the external and usually extended along the inner suture to the very narrow apical fascia; mesosternum as in Fig. 20 C; male gonoforceps slender in lateral view ( Fig. 20 E), fused ventrally in basal half ( Fig. 20 D); aedeagal distal hook positioned almost at apex, proximal hook far from the distal one ( Fig. 20 F).

Taxonomic remarks. The synonymy of M. impar and M. caspia with M. olivieri , accepted in the recent literature, was not confirmed by types examination and it was considered doubtful by Sumakov (1924). Escherich (1899) described a variety (impexa) from eastern Turkey (Erzurum) with unicolour red-brown elytra; we never examined specimens with this elytral pattern and the validity of this form needs confirmation.

Distribution. Macedonia, Greece, Romania, Ukraine, Russia (Central and South European Territory), Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of the Mylabris (Mylabris) spp., dorsal view: A. M. alpicola, ♂; B. M. amorii, ♀; C. M. apiceguttata, ♂; D. M. apicenigra, ♂; E. M. barezensis, ♂; F. M. batnensis, ♂; G. M. cernyi, ♂; H. M. ciliciensis, ♂; I. M. concolor, ♂; J. M. desertica, ♀; K. M. emiliae, ♂; L. M. guerini, ♂; M. M. kodymi, ♂; N. M. madani, ♂; O. M. madoni, ♂; P. M. mediorientalis, ♂; Q. M. olivieri, ♂; R. M. parumpicta, ♀; S. M. poggii, ♂; T. M. pseudoemiliae, ♂; U. M. quadripunctata, ♂; V. M. schreibersi, ♂; W. M. tauricola, ♂; X. M. tricincta, ♂; Y. M. variabilis, ♂. Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIGURE 20. Mylabris (M.) olivieri Billberg: A. antenna; B. elytral pattern; C. mesosternum; D. tegmen, ventral view; E. tegmen, lateral view; F. aedeagus, lateral view; G. spiculum gastrale, dorsal view. Scale bar = 1 mm.