Protapalochrus (Latapalochrus) persicus ( Champion, 1920 )

Tshernyshev, Sergei E., 2016, A review of species of the genera Protapalochrus Erichson and Paratinoides L. Medvedev (Coleoptera, Malachiidae), Zootaxa 4139 (3), pp. 369-390 : 384-386

Protapalochrus (Latapalochrus) persicus ( Champion, 1920)

( Figs 8 , 37–43 )

Hapalochrus persicus Champion, 1920: 324 — Iran: “Turkomania, Kurdistan ”. Protapalochrus persicus ( Champion, 1920) : Evers 1987: 60, 61.

Material examined. Holotypus, ♂ ( BMNH) with labels ( Fig.42 ): paper circle with red ringing and printed words “ Type H. T.”; white paper card with handwritten name “ Hapalochrus persicus GC”; three white paper cards with handwritten text: “Turcom a Kurd”, “Millin gen” and “40126”; two white cards with printed designation of male and “Fry Coll. 1905.100.”. The species was collected in “Turcomanian Kurdistan ”, frontier territory of modern Iran and Turkey.

Description. Holotypus, male ( Figs 8 , 37 ). Head behind the antennae and most part of pronotum black with blue metallic luster, clypeus, mandibles, genae and labrum, mouthparts, palpi excepting small black spot in the apex of the posterior segment, antennae with darker apical half, legs excepting black spots in apices of femora wider in posterior legs and traceable in anterior, small black spots in apices of hind tibiae and apical tarsomeres, anterior coxae and all trochanters, middle areas of abdomen yellow. Elytra yellow with two separately located black-blue metallic stripes, semi-triangular in basal half expanded to humeri and outer side, and angular narrowed to lower part of the stripe near the suture, apical common stripe slightly widened at outer side not reaching elytral apices; scutellum black. Ventral side of thorax, lateral sides of abdomen black, thoracic mesepimera black with metallic luster, vesicles yellow.

Head slightly narrower than pronotum, not impressed, with a thin longitudinal carina in middle of basal part of disc; rarely covered with thin, long semi-erect light hairs, with several (3–4) long gold erect bristles on temple behind eyes; surface coarsely punctate, with indistinct microsculpture, slightly wrinkled on temple near eyes, shining; labrum short, transverse, bearing semi-erect short white hairs; genae short, straight; eyes protruding, round. Maxillary palpi short, 1st segment triangular, half the length of and narrower than 3rd, 2nd segment cylindrical, elongate, apical segment dolabriform, twice as long as 1st and 1.5 times as long as 2nd segments, truncate at apex; surface shining with light semi-erect hairs. Antennae long, reaching bases of elytra; 2nd segment very small, rounded, almost completely hidden by scape, 1st and 3rd segments cylindrical, not swollen, 3rd segment the largest, 1.2 times longer than 1st; 4–5th segments rectangular, 6–10th subtriangular, each one slightly shorter than previous, slightly sinuate at base, narrower than or the same width as basal segment, apical segment almost completely oval with rounded tip. All segments covered with thin light and very short sparse semi-erect pubescence.

Pronotum equilateral, transverse, not sinuate at base, anterior margin very slightly convex and protruding, posterior straight, all angles rounded, anterior almost completely right-angled; disc of pronotum transversally depressed at base; surface smooth, shining, sparsely and finely punctured in middle and densely punctured on sides and near hind angles, microsculpture indistinct; covered with double pubescence: uniform light short semi-erect hairs, and several sparse long goldish erect hairs on anterior angles. Coloration of pronotum is given in Fig.37 .

Scutellum trapezoid, small, almost completely hidden by pronotum, with straight distal margin; surface shining, densely punctate and pubescent with thin light adpressed hairs.

Elytra parallel, narrow, elongate, slightly widened posteriorly; shoulders distinct; apices evenly rounded, simple, lacking impressions or appendages; surface dull, densely and roughly punctured, evenly covered with fine, short light semi-erect pubescence and with sparse erect goldish long setae. Margination of suture and epipleurae distinct, not protrudent or elevated.

Hind wings normally developed.

Legs not long, thin, posterior femora not reaching apices of the elytra, covered with light short adpressed and somewhat longer sparse hairs. Tibiae thin, very slightly expanded anteriorly, rounded. All tarsi 5-segmented, narrow, slightly compressed; claw segment the longest, same length as 1st and 2nd in anterior and intermediate legs, 1.3 times shorter of these segments in posterior legs, and somewhat longer than 3rd and 4th.segments. Claws narrow, sharp, slightly curved, with a small oval lamella basally. Protarsi with wide transversal comb above the 2nd segment, yellow in colour with a row of black chaetae on distal margin.

Abdominal ventrite ( Fig. 39 ) narrow, transverse, 2.3 times wider than long, distinctly divided into two lobes coupled with transparent membrane, each lobe possess six long strong dark hairs; pygidium ( Fig. 38 ) almost completely equilateral, 1.2 times longer than wide, evenly rounded posteriorly and truncate at apex, covered with several black-brown strong hairs. Phallus ( Fig. 40 ) simple, slightly curved ventrally, with short slightly stretched small lamella; groups of small denticles noticeable in inner sac near basal part, two strong teeth curved ventrally disposed in apical part of aedeagus. Tegmen elongate, 1.8 times longer than wide, not deeply emarginate in middle, with very short thin pointed appendages ( Fig. 41 ).

Length (male) 6.0 mm, width (at elytral base) 1.9 mm.

Female unknown.

Distribution. Iran, Kurdistan, Turkey ( Fig. 43 ).

Remarks. The species is known from a male described from Central Asia: Iran or Turkey. According to the original description it seems to be similar to P. fedtschenkoi (Solsky) and P. festivus (Zoubkoff) , or Apalochrus turkestanicus Pic. Type investigation shows strong similarity of the species with P. festivus (Zoubkoff) , of which it can be separated by colouration of the elytra with interrupted longitudinal dark stripes and wider pygidium. These characters are variable, and apparently P. persicus (Champion) is a synonym of P. f e s t i vu s (Zoubkoff). Final conclusion can only be attained after a study of series material from the type territory.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 10. External appearance of Protapalochrus Ev. species, males. P. arcticus (L. Medvedev, 1958), holotypus (1); P. puncticollis (Wittmer 1970), dark form (2); P. puncticollis (Wittmer 1970), light form (3), holotypus, dorsal (5), lateral (6); P. festivus (Zoubkoff, 1833), (7); P. persicus (Champion, 1920), holotypus (8); P. fedtschenkoi (Solsky, 1882), (9); P. flavolimbatus (Mulsant et Rey, 1853), (10). Scale bar 1.0 mm.

FIGURES 37 – 43. Protapalochrus (Latapalochrus) persicus (Champion, 1920), holotypus, male; external appearance (37); pygidium (38); abdominal ventrite (39); aedeagus, dorsal (40); tegmen (41); original labels (42); distribution map (43). Scale bar 1.0 mm.