Anthocomus (Celidus) equestris ( Fabricius, 1781 ), 2012

Tshernyshev, Sergei E., 2021, A review of the genus Anthocomus Erichson, 1840 (Coleoptera, Cleroidea Malachiidae) species of Inner Asia, Zootaxa 4969 (3), pp. 511-525 : 521-522

Anthocomus (Celidus) equestris ( Fabricius, 1781)

Malachius equestris Fabricius, 1781: 500 ;

Anthocomus equestris: Erichson 1840: 98 ;

Anthocomus (Celidus) equestris: Mulsant and Rey 1867: 131 , 135–138, Plate 4, Figs 8 , 15, 17;

Celidus equestris: Švihla 1996: 480 ; 1998: 235;

Anthocomus (Celidus) equestris: Mayor 2004: 89, 2007: 439 .

Remarks. This is a common Anthocomus Erichson species widely distributed in Eurasia throughout Far East and introduced to North America. Small beetles black with distinct green metallic lustre and red elytra possessing Wshape dark fascia below middle. Male of the species is distinctive in posterior tibiae with flexure in middle, elytral apices impressed and provided with lamellate appendages. The species is associated with woody plants during its life-cycle, the larvae feeding on small invertebrates occurring under bark. In the Asian part of Russia, imagos often can be found creeping on windows in city transport saloons, on windows inside buildings, and other urban habitats. This can probably be explained by the compact planting of poplar trees (and possibly other trees too) in residential areas during the 70 year period of the former USSR. In Siberia this species can usually be collected in poplar forests near rivers or other water reservoirs, and probably poplars are the most preferable trees for larvae A. equestris (Fabricius) development. The idea that larvae of the species can feed on fungi stated by Skvarla (2019) has not been established since all Malachiidae larvae are known as predators, and the author’s statement that “Larval fungus-feeding seems possible because adults have been reared from fungi and half of all adults found in homes are in bathrooms, which, presuming the beetles are breeding indoors, often have high humidity and are the most likely room to support hidden fungal growth. Their presence in stored food products may also be due to fungal growth that can occur when said products are stored improperly, which is known to support other fungivorous beetles (e.g., Latridius minutus (Linnaeus, 1767) and Cartodere nodifera (Westwood, 1839) ” ( Skvarla 2019: 697, 698) could be considered to related to larvae of A. equestris (Fabricius) which may feed on “… other fungivorous beetles (e.g., Latridius minutus (Linnaeus, 1767) and Cartodere nodifera (Westwood, 1839) ”.

Distribution. The species is widely distributed in the forest zone of Eurasia and has been introduced to North America. It is recorded from Central and Southern Europe, Caucasus, to the Russian Far East: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and North America: USA and Canada.

Figures

FIGURES 1–9. Anthocomus (Anthocomus) kovali Tshernyshev, sp. n., holotype, male, external appearance, dorsal view (1); external appearance, lateral view (2); head, pronotum and scutellum, dorsal view (3); apices of elytra (4); pygidium (apical tergite) (5); ultimate abdominal ventrite (apical sternite) (6); aedeagus, dorsal view (7); tegmen (8); locality map (9). Scale bar 0.5 mm.