Harpalus contemptus Dejean, 1829: 277

Serrano, José, 2022, Designation of types of European Harpalini (Coleoptera: Carabidae) described by Dejean and deposited in the MNHN, Paris, Zootaxa 5141 (5), pp. 484-500 : 489

Harpalus contemptus Dejean, 1829: 277 .

Lectotype (present designation: beetle labelled but not published by Pantel and Mlynář) is a male bearing labels “ contemptus m. in Hispania”, “ex-Museo Chaudoir”, “ R. P. Pantel ”, “ HOLOTYPE ”, “vidit 1974 Z. Mylnář ”, and “ Lectotype of Harpalus contemptus Dejean, 1829 desig. by J. Serrano ”.

Dejean (1829) mentioned that he studied two individuals collected in Spain. Possibly , Mlynář only received a single beetle for study and this is why he labelled it with a red card “ HOLOTYPE ” .

The species is a synonym of H. tenuelimbatus Reitter, 1900 , whose syntypes were designated by Kataev (1989). Kataev corrected the statement of Jeanne (1971), who considered H. tenuelimbatus as a synonym of H. distinguendus (Duftschmid, 1812) . H. contemptus is closely related to H. oblitus Dejean, 1829 and is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula; this may explain the lack of works describing its characteristics except for the review of Kataev (1989), who also illustrated the aedeagus. In the key of Fuente (1927) the species appears as an aberration of H. oblitus Dejean, 1829 , mixed with other aberrations not easy to be separated. Mlynář (1979) did not refer to it when commenting on the synonyms of H. oblitus . Other available key to separate H. contemptus and H. oblitus patruelis is found in Novoa Docet (2015). Comparison between H. contemptus and H. oblitus patruelis (the subspecies inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula) shows that H. contemptus has a very fine and shallow microsculpture in the elytra that is more marked and visible in H. oblitus patruelis ; the pronotum side of H. contemptus is almost straight toward posterior angle and not arcuate, the posterior angle of pronotum is well-marked and not rounded; the pronotum basis is somewhat arcuate whereas is straight in H. oblitus ; the aedeagus is much more robust in H. contemptus and the endophallus shows basally two small teeth not seen in H. oblitus patruelis . As indicated above, the species is orophilous and endemic to Iberia: North and Central mountains, Sierra Nevada.