Catomus, Allard, 1876

Nabozhenko, M. V. & Tichý, V., 2019, Darkling beetles of the tribe Helopini (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) of Jordan, Far Eastern Entomologist 384, pp. 1-9 : 3

Catomus (s. str.) hesperides (Reiche, 1861)

Helops hesperides Reiche, 1861: 7 (type localities: Beirut and Turkey: Mersin) .

Isopedes berytensis Kraatz, 1880: 299 (type locality: Beirut); synonymized by Seidlitz

(1896).

Catomus lepidus Reitter, 1922: 10 (type locality: Syria), syn. n.

TYPE MATERIAL. Types of Helops hesperides were not found and probably lost. Two specimens from MNHN with labels “ Syntypes ” “ Catomus hesperides

Beyrouth ” are not types because Reiche described this species as Helops Fabricius ,

1775 and his handwritten labels are absent. Type locality: “Berytam Syriae et

Mersinam Caramaniae” (Beirut and Mersin) (Reiche, 1861). Holotype of Isopedes berytensis ( DEI), female, with labels: “ Beirut (Zach)”, “ Krtz typ.”, “ berytensis

Kraatz, 1880”, “ DEI Müncheberg Col-02802”. Holotype of Catomus lepidus

( NMB), female, with labels: “ Aleppo Syrien ” (press), “Staud.”, “ lepidus ”, “Reitt .

det.”, “ TYPUS ” (press, pink).

DISRIBUTION. Turkey (Taurus and Amanos mountains) (Reiche, 1861), Western Syria (Reiche, 1861; Allard, 1876, 1877; Seidlitz, 1896; Reitter, 1922), Lebanon,

Israel (Seidlitz, 1896), Jordan (Nabozhenko & Löbl, 2008).

NOTES. Catomus lepidus has weakly sinuated lateral margins of pronotum and wrinkled (without punctures) prohypomera. These combination of female characters can be found within many populations of Catomus hesperides from

Amanos Mountains and Northern Syria. Punctation of pronotum also can be variable even in one population, females often have sparser punctation, than males.

So, differential characters used by Reitter (1922) for C. lepidus is only case of variability of widespread C. hesperides. As a result a new synonymy is proposed:

Catomus (s. str.) hesperides (Reiche, 1861) = Catomus lepidus Reitter, 1922 , syn. n.