Articerodes syriacus Saulcy, 1865

Hlavac, Peter, Banar, Petr & Stoces, Dominik, 2024, Clavigeritae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Pselaphinae) of the Arabian Peninsula with the description of a new species of Corynotopsis Jeannel, 1951 from Oman, ZooKeys 1198, pp. 173-184 : 173

Articerodes syriacus Saulcy, 1865

Articerus syriacus Saulcy, 1865: 25. Type locality: Saïda [ Sidón], en Syrie; types: HT, probably ♂.

Articerus ponticus Sharp, 1878: 62. Type locality: Mésopotamie; types: unknown, synonymy in Raffray 1890: 167.

Commatocerus bucharicus Reitter, 1900: 50. Type locality: Transcaspien, Buchara, Karatak; types: more ST, synonymy in Winkler 1925: 470.

Commatocerus sbg. Articerus subnitidus Pic, 1903: 145. Type locality: Crete; types: more ST, synonymy in Besuchet 1999: 63 (as C. subnitidius [sic]).

Articerus spriacus Saulcy: King 1869: 57. [error]

Host ant.

Lasius (Lasius) niger (Linnaeus, 1758); Lepisiota capensis Mayr, 1862; L. canescens Emery, 1897 and L. spinisquama (Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929).

Distribution.

Greece (Crete), Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Yemen (Socotra I..), Ethiopia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

Remarks.

The genus Articerodes Raffray 1890, comprising 11 species, is distributed in a large area from the Republic of South Africa, through the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Middle East, Central Asia, southern India, Indochina, and north to Japan. Such a large distribution is relatively unusual for genera of Clavigeritae and it is possible that not all species will remain in the genus. The type species of the genus, Articerodes syriacus Saulcy, 1865, is also unusually widespread. We tried to find all localities from where the species was recorded and they are listed here. The only locality listed in the last edition of the Palaearctic catalogue ( Schülke and Smetana 2015) which remains unknown to us is Iran.

Literature records.

Ethiopia, Mekallé in Enderta and Harrar; Greece, Crete (type locality of C. subnitidus ); Iraq, as Mesopotamia, but more precise information on the locality is unknown (type locality of C. ponticus ); Israel, St.- Jean-d’Acre [Akko]; Lebanon, Sidón (type locality C. syriacus ); Uzbekistan, Buchara, Karakat (type locality of C. bucharicus ); Yemen, island Socotra, Al Haghier Mts., wadi Madar, 1180-1230 m 12°33.2'N, 54°00.4'E.

New records.

Turkey, 1 ♀: one label “N36°50’ E028°42' / T Umg. Mugla / Köycegiz; Auenwald / 29.4.2001 / Meybohm/Brachat" (PCPH). 1 ♂: one label “Türkei / Südküste / zw. Antalya u. Alanya / 22.5-3.6.1983 / leg. V u. C. Brachat" (PCPH). Tadjikistan, 1 ex, one label "Mts. Karategthin [Rasht Valley], Baldshuan, 924 m" (PCPH).