Pygopleurus anemoninus ( Brullé, 1832 )

Bollino, Maurizio, Uliana, Marco & Sabatinelli, Guido, 2019, The Pygopleurus Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Glaphyridae) of mainland Greece: taxonomy, faunistics and ecological notes, Zootaxa 4674 (2), pp. 151-202 : 163

Pygopleurus anemoninus ( Brullé, 1832) ( Figs. 18–24 , 32 )

Amphicoma anemonina Brullé, 1832: 180 , Pl. XXXIX, fig. 7.

Type series. Lectotype ♂ designed by Baraud (1989: 342), in MNHN.

Type locality. Peloponnese [Morée] (of the lectotype). The original type locality was [ Greece, Peloponnese], Messenia .

Material examined. 206 ♂♂, 136 ♀♀, detailed in supplementary materials.

Type specimens examined. Lectotype of Amphicoma anemonina Brullé : White (man.) A. vulpes Fab. / var anemonina Brullé / Morée // Red (man.) Pygopleurus / anemoninus / (Brullé) / LECTOTYPE ♂ / J. Baraud 1988.

Verified distribution.

Greece.

Peloponnese. Messinia: 3 km W of Messini ; Haravgi, Polilimnio; Kazarma .

Western Greece. Achaia: Araxos; Kalogria. Elis: Keramidia; 1.5 km E of Keramidia; Kaiafa; Olympia.

Diagnosis. Characters of the anemoninus species-group described above, plus the following characters. Male with lateral setation of abdomen light-yellow, setation of elytra usually of mixed black and light-colored. Head and pronotum usually with bright and saturated hues of green to copper red. Paramera similar to those of P. pseudopsilotrichius and not diagnostic, everted endophallus ( Fig. 23 ) similar to that of P. pseudopsilotrichius but diagnostic. Female similar to that of P. pseudopsilotrichius , reliably identifiable only by association with males.

Distribution ( Fig. 32 ). Pygopleurus anemoninus appears to be restricted to Western Peloponnese in Achaia, Elis and Messenia regional units. Its presence on the nearby Island of Zante (cf. Baraud 1989) is plausible but we did not study any specimen from there. Records from elsewhere should be discarded: those from Lebanon ( Baraud, 1989) should be referred to wrongly labelled specimens or to gross mistakes in identification, as no species of this group are present in that area; those from Turkey ( Baraud 1989; Rozner & Rozner 2009b; etc.) should be referred to its close and vicariant species P. kareli ( Petrovitz, 1962) as happened for records from Lesbos ( Baraud 1989) discussed and rejected by Bollino & Ruzzante (2015). Indeed, Turkish specimens identified and published as P. anemoninus by Rozner & Rozner (2009b), and preserved in DZCB, have been examined by MU and found to be referable partly to P. kareli and partly to P. foina .

Eco-ethological notes ( Fig. 32 ). The documented period of activity of the adults is particularly narrow, although this may be biased by the scarcity of records (16). Adults were recorded between 23 th April (Ahaia, Kalogria, sea level) and 9 th May (in the same locality). Its vicariant sister-species is however recorded in Peloponnese until the end of May. We only know P. anemoninus from low altitudes, from sea level (Ahaia, Kalogria; Elis Kaiafa) to 340 m (Messinia, Kazarma). Adults are commonly observed in Papaver , on Cistus incanus , and on Asteracee (mostly white or yellow Tubuliflorae and Liguliflorae like Anthemis and Crepis ), but occasionally may feed on other flowers like light blue Scabiosa .

Taxonomic remarks. See discussion below under P. pseudopsilotrichius , which was previously considered a synonym of this species.

Figures

FIGURE 32. Pygopleurus anemoninus (Brullé, 1832) and P. pseudopsilotrichius (Petrovitz, 1958): geographical, altitudinal, and temporal distribution of records. Red curves showing the expected distribution if the species was uniformly present at all heights and all times (see Material and methods).

FIGURES 18–24. Pygopleurus anemoninus (Brullé, 1832), habitus and genitalia. 18, male (Achaia, Kalogria); 19, male (Elis, Keramidia); 20, female (Achaia, Kalogria); 21, female (Elis, Keramidia); 22, left paramere in lateral and dorsal view (Messenia, Messini); 23, everted endophallus in left lateral view (Messenia, Messini); 24, left genital sclerites of female (Achaia, Araxos).