Anoxia (Protanoxia) maljuzhenkoi ( Zaitzev, 1928 ) Bezděk & Kalashian & Ghrejyan, 2019

Bezděk, Aleš, Kalashian, Mark & Ghrejyan, Tigran, 2019, On the identity of Cyphonoxia maljuzhenkoi Zaitzev, 1928 (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae), Zootaxa 4671 (3), pp. 439-445 : 440-444

Anoxia (Protanoxia) maljuzhenkoi ( Zaitzev, 1928) new combination

( Figs. 1–10, 12, 15 )

Cyphonoxia maljuzhenkoi Zaitzev, 1928: 397 (original description); Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1967: 176.

Cryptotrogus maljuzhenkoi: Medvedev 1951: 174 ; Baraud 1992: 441; Bezděk 2006: 193; Shokhin 2007: 154; Bezděk 2016: 229; Montreuil & Keith 2017: 408.

Type locality. “Nachkraj: Alishar, distr. Sharur” [= Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, Sharur district, Alishar , 39°32’N 44°55’E] .

Type material examined. Lectotype, ♂, present designation ( IZAY), labelled: “Erivansk. g. [printed] | Alis- hari [handwritten, in Cyrillic script] | Maljushenco [printed] || Meganoxia ♂ | orita Reitt. !! [handwritten] | Zaitzev det. [printed] || Alishary | Maljuzhenko [Iablokoff-Khnzorian’s handwriting, in Cyrillic script] || Cryptotrogus | maluzhenkoi [Iablokoff-Khnzorian’s handwriting] || Cyphonoxia | maluzhenkoi Zaitz. [handwritten] Khnzorian det. [printed] || Cyphonoxia maljuzhenkoi | LECTOTYPUS, ♂ | A. Bezděk, M. Kalashian, | T. Ghrejyan des. 2019 [printed, red label]” ( Figs. 8, 9 ); paralectotype, ♂ ( IZAY): “Erivansk. g. [printed] | Alishari [handwritten, in Cyrillic script] | Maljushenco [printed] || Cyphonoxia maljuzhenkoi | PARALECTOTYPUS, ♂ | A. Bezděk, M. Kalashian, | T. Ghrejyan des. 2019 [printed, red label]”.

Additional material examined (3 specimens). Armenia: Arazap environs, 12 km SE of Armavir, Araratskaya Koshenil Reserve [= “Vordan Karmir” State Sanctuary], salt marsh, 40°3’48”N 44°7’46”E, 853 m, 13.vi.2017, Jan Šumpich , 1 ♂ 1 ♀ ( NMPC) ; Arazap environs, Armavir, Araratskaya Koshenil Reserve [= “Vordan Karmir” State Sanctuary], salt marsh, 40°3’48”N 44°7’46”E, 853 m, Alois Pavlíčko, 1 ♀ ( IECA)

.

Redescription of the lectotype (male). Body elongate, almost parallel, convex. Dorsal and ventral surface moderately shiny, brown; macrosetation pale ( Fig. 8 ). Dorsal surface of head, pronotum, scutellar shield, and elytra covered with white and pale yellow, short, recumbent scale-like macrosetae; ventral surface of thorax densely covered with pale yellow, long, erect macrosetae; ventral surface of abdomen with densely spaced, white, recumbent, scale-like macrosetae. Head appendages and legs covered with pale yellow, moderately long macrosetae sparsely mixed with white, recumbent, scale-like macrosetae.

Head. Labrum transverse, deeply bilobed, lobes rounded, irregularly and coarsely punctate, covered with long, erect macrosetae and basally with few scale-like macrosetae. Clypeus transverse, rectangular, anterior margin upturned, anterior angles rounded apically. Frontoclypeal suture weakly visible, forming continuous bisinuate flat line. Clypeus and frons densely, irregularly, coarsely punctate; covered with short, erect, scale-like macrosetae; macrosetae mixed on frons with long, erect macrosetae. Eye canthus narrow, with row of short, scale-like macrosetae and few long, erect macrosetae. Eye moderately large, only minutely extending beyond eye canthus. Antenna with 10 antennomeres; antennomere III somewhat longer than antennomeres IV and V combined; club with five antennomeres, shorter than antennal shaft. Antennomere I with long, erect macrosetae apically and laterally; antennomeres II–IV with few isolated, long macrosetae; club with sparse, short macrosetae. Terminal maxillary palpomere elongate, apically rounded, approximately as long as palpomeres II and III combined.

Pronotum transverse, moderately convex with distinct longitudinal groove in the middle, widest approximately in the middle. Basal border present, broadly interrupted in the middle, lateral borders complete, anterior border missing. Lateral margins weakly crenate. Anterior margin regularly, broadly sinuate. Anterior angles obtuse-angular; posterior angles broadly rounded. Punctation consisting of coarse, irregularly-spaced punctures becoming denser in the longitudinal groove, each puncture bearing white, scale-like, recumbent macroseta; two rounded, impunctate, bare lateral areas on each side of pronotum present.

Scutellar shield large, transverse, sides and apex broadly rounded; disc punctate

laterally, densely covered with white, scale-like, recumbent macrosetae.

Elytra convex, parallel sided, rounded apically; apical angle obtuse-angular. Striae missing; humeral umbones present, vaguely swollen. Surface moderately shiny; punctation coarse, irregularly spaced. Each puncture bearing short, white, scale-like, almost recumbent macroseta. Epipleura narrow, with several macrosetae in basal third.

Macropterous.

Legs. Femora narrow, shiny, irregularly punctate; densely covered with long, semierect, pale yellow macrosetae mixed with short, white, recumbent, scale-like macrosetae. Protibia narrow, tridentate, terminal calcar missing. Mesotibia and metatibia slightly expanded apicad, with two macrosetiferous longitudinal and two incomplete oblique transversal carinae, sparsely covered with short scale-like macrosetae, inner part densely covered by long erect macrosetae. Upper terminal calcar of metatibia flattened, blunt apically, about 1.5 times as long as lower calcar. Tarsal claws bifid, with well-developed, unequal ventrobasal teeth. Protarsus with distinctly longer ventrobasal tooth of inner claw, whereas mesotarsi and metatarsi with more robust ventrobasal teeth on outer claws.

Ventral surface of thorax densely covered with pale yellow, long, erect macrosetae; ventral surface of abdomen with densely-spaced, white, recumbent, scale-like macrosetae.

Pygidium almost flat, completely bordered; apically broadly rounded; irregularly covered with coarse punctures bearing short, recumbent, scale-like macrosetae.

Male genitalia. Parameres symmetrical, two times as long as phallobasis ( Figs. 3–4 ).

Sexual dimorphism. Female ( Figs. 5–6 ) differs from male in the following characters: pronotum dark brown to black; clypeus broadly rounded; antennal club with four antennomeres, shorter; terminal calcar of protibia present ( Fig. 7 ); tarsal claws of all legs with ventrobasal teeth equal.

Variability. In comparison with lectotype, recently collected male from “Vordan Karmir” State Sanctuary has partially abraded scale-like macrosetae on pronotum and protibia, as well as external teeth on protibia.

Measurements. Total body length of males: 22.1–22.5 mm (lectotype 22.1 mm), females: 21.4–21.8 mm.

Diagnosis. An examination of both sexes helps us to clarify the generic placement of the species. The presence of terminal calcar of protibia in the female, its absence in the male, and the length of antennomere III clearly place this species in the genus Anoxia . The rounded apex of the pygidium more precisely place it in the subgenus Protanoxia . Therefore, the following combination is proposed: Anoxia (Protanoxia) maljuzhenkoi ( Zaitzev, 1928) , new combination.

Previously, eight members of Protanoxia were known ( Baraud 1980, 1992, Bezděk 2016). Two of them, A. (P.) kocheri Dewailly, 1957 and A. (P.) rotroui Dewailly, 1957 are endemitic to Morocco. The remaining species are distributed in southeastern Europe and the Near East. Anoxia (P.) maljuzhenkoi , A. (P.) ciliciensis Baraud, 1989 , and A. (P.) smyrnensis Petrovitz, 1965 form a trio of habitually similar and rarely collected species, the males of which are characterized by an antennal club as long as the antennal shaft and by the presence of three external teeth on the protibia. Males of other Protanoxia species differ from this trio in displaying an antennal club that is distinctly longer than the antennal shaft (A. (P.) laevimacula Petrovitz, 1973 ) or by the presence of only an apical external tooth on the protibia (A. (P.) orentalis (Krynicki, 1832), A. (P.) cingulata Marseul, 1868 , A. (P.) baraudi Keith, 2003 , and A. (P.) rotroui ), see also Baraud (1989) and Rittner (2016). Males of the Moroccan species A. (P.) kocheri also bear a barely visible basal external tooth on the protibia ( Baraud 1980). For discrimination of A. (P.) maljuzhenkoi , A. (P.) ciliciensis , and A. (P.) smyrnensis , see identification key below.

Collecting events. All recently recorded specimens from Arazap were collected by light trap (J. Šumpich and A. Pavlíčko, personal communication). The biotope, where the specimens were collected, is very specific ( Fig. 17 ). According to the European Nature Information System habitat classification ( Davies et al. 2004), it belongs to the category E6.2. (continental inland salt steppes), habitats completely included in Resolution 4 of the Bern Convention as specifically protected. The particular biotope belongs to the subcategories E6.25 -AM (salt steppes and solonchaks grasslands) and E6.251 -AM (Aleuropus ( Poaceae ) dominated habitats) ( Fayvush & Aleksanyan 2016). The latter being one of the few remained spots of this type of habitat and it is protected as a biotope of the critically endangered Araratian cochineal or Vordan karmir – Porphyrophora hamelii (Brandt, 1833) ( Hemiptera : Margarodi- dae).

Distribution. Azerbaijan (Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic), first record for Armenia.

Figures

FIGURE 17. “Vordan Karmir” State Sanctuary, Armenia – the biotope of Anoxia (Protanoxia) maljuzhenkoi (Zaitzev, 1928). Photograph by Jan Šumpich, June 2017.

FIGURES 1–7. Anoxia (Protanoxia) maljuzhenkoi (Zaitzev, 1928) from “Vordan Karmir” State Sanctuary, Armenia. 1, male (length 22.5 mm), dorsal view; 2, male, lateral view; 3, male aedeagus, lateral view; 4, male aedeagus, dorsal view; 5, female (length 21.4 mm), dorsal view; 6, female, lateral view; 7, female protibia, ventral view. Not to scale.

FIGURES 8–16. Comparison of Anoxia (Protanoxia) species. 8, Lectotype of Anoxia maljuzhenkoi (Zaitzev, 1928), male, dorsal view; 9, A. maljuzhenkoi lectotype labels; 10, A. maljuzhenkoi base of pronotum and elytra; 11, A. ciliciensis Baraud, 1989 base of pronotum and elytra; 12, A. maljuzhenkoi pygidium; 13, A. ciliciensis pygidium; 14, A. smyrnensis Petrovitz, 1965 terminal maxillary palpomere; 15, A. maljuzhenkoi terminal maxillary palpomere; 16, A. ciliciensis terminal maxillary palpomere. Not to scale.