Ancistronycha consobrina Märkel, 1852: 589

Kazantsev, Sergey, 2005, A Review of Ancistronycha Märkel with the Description of Atalantycha, a New Nearctic Genus (Coleoptera: Cantharidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 59 (2), pp. 204-210 : 206

Ancistronycha consobrina Märkel, 1852: 589

Cantharis cyanea Curtis, 1828: 215

Ancistronycha cyanea Dietrich, 1857: 119

Ancistronycha cyannipennis Bach, 1854: 64

Ancistronycha maculithorax Pic, 1904: 2

Distribution: Western and Central Europe, including the British Isles. Distribution limits in the Mediterranean are not clear due to the possible confusion with A. astur and A. occipitalis .

2. Ancistronycha astur Heyden Ancistronycha astur Heyden, 1880: 298

Distribution: Spain and Portugal.

The male copulatory organs of A. astur are hardly distinguishable from those of A. abdominalis .

3. Ancistronycha erichsonii Bach Ancistronycha erichsonii Bach, 1854: 68 Ancistronycha rotundicollis Dietrich, 1857: 131

Distribution: Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Turkey. New record for Turkey (S Turkey, Anthalya, Akdag Mts, env. Gombe, 1,200 –2,200 m, June 11–12, 2000, S. & I. Kazantsev, ICM). A subspecies A. erichsonii kurbatovi Kazantsev 1989 , distinguishable by the shape of the laterophyses, occurs in South Russia and Georgia (in the Northern Caucasus).

4. Ancistronycha lucens Moscardini Ancistronycha lucens Moscardini, 1967: 32

Distribution: Croatia, Italy.

5. Ancistronycha occipitalis (Rosenhauer) Cantharis occipitalis Rosenhauer, 1847: 18 Ancistronycha taygetana Pic, 1902: 63 , new synonym

Distribution: Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine.

I had a chance to study Ancistronycha material from the Taygetos Mountains in Greece, the type locality of A. taygetana . The specimens that appeared to be A. occipitalis completely agreed with Pic’s description (1902), which strongly suggests that the two taxa are identical. Ancistronycha occipitalis was recently illustrated and reported for the first time from Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine by Kuska (1995).

6. Ancistronycha violacea (Paykull) Cantharis violacea Paykull, 1798: 260 Ancistronycha violacea Dietrich, 1857: 118

Distribution: This is the most widely distributed species of the genus. It is known to occur in almost all of Europe, with the exception of the British Isles and the Mediterranean. Its range extends as far east as the Ural Mountains in Russia.

The six valid species of Ancistronycha may be differentiated by the characters given in the following key.