Microhoria lafertei ( Truqui, 1855 )

Telnov, Dmitry, 2022, Revisional notes on the genus Microhoria Chevrolat, 1877 (Insecta: Coleoptera: Anthicidae) from the Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey, with new descriptions, an annotated catalogue, and a key, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 22 (2), pp. 195-312 : 250-252

Microhoria lafertei ( Truqui, 1855) ( Fig. 28 ) Anthicus Lafertei Truqui, 1855: 365 (description).

Anthicus Lafertei – Lacordaire 1859: 597 (checklist); Gemminger & Harold 1870: 2097 (checklist); Baudi di Selve 1877: 155 (supplementary description); Baudi di Selve 1878: 19 (diagnosis); Marseul 1879: 191 & 219 (key, supplementary description); Pic 1896b: 180 (key, record – Greece (Cyclades)); 1901b: 177 (distribution); Pic 1902a: 41 (key); Pic 1911a: 57 (checklist); Bodenheimer 1937: 133 (checklist; biogeography).

Anthicus (Eonius) Lafertei – Reitter 1906: 444 (checklist).

Anthicus (Immicrohoria) Lafertei – Winkler 1927: 849 (checklist).

Microhoria lafertei – Uhmann 1985: 200 (new combination, records – Greece (Kríti )); 2000: 159 (record – Turkey); Uhmann et al. 2005: 43

(bibliography, bionomy, records – Iraq, Israel, Turkey); Chandler et al. 2008: 440 (new synonymy, checklist); Kejval & Chandler 2020: 131 (assigned to the M. terminata species group); Telnov 2020a: 610 (checklist).

Type material not studied.

New material. 1 specimen MNHN:1345 [printed, label green] / Chypre Madon [printed] / Ant. Lafertei Truqui [handwritten, black frame] ; 5 specimens PSC & 2 specmens DTC: CYPRUS: Umg. Polis Kato Akourdaleia ; 350m SPRICK ­ 2­ 19.04. 1995 ; 1 specimen KLC: Cyprus, Pissouri , 200 m, 14.IV.1995, leg. K. Lienemann ; 1 specimen KLC & 1 specimen DTC: Cyprus, Pissouri , 200 m, 21.IV.1995, leg. K. Lienemann ; 1 specimen NME & 1 specimen DTC: CYPRUS S, 59 Larnaka, 20 km W, Kormos, 500 m NN Fritzlar leg. 31.III.2009; 2 specimens NME: CYPRUS, Distr. Lemesos Lemesos, E, 06.– 13.IV.2012 34°42’20” N, 33°06’11” E 0­ 40 m, leg. D. Frenzel #01; 1 specimen NME: CYPRUS, Distr. Lemesos Lemesos, 15 km NW, Alassa , NW, 250 m NN 34°46’02” N, 32°54’25” E 10.IV.12, leg. D. Frenzel #16; 1 specimen NME: CYPRUS, Distr. Lemesos // Lemesos, 15 km NW, Alassa , NW 34°46’02” N, 32°54’25” E 250 m NN, 10.IV.2012 leg. A. Kopetz #16; 11 specimens NME & 3 specimens DTC: CYPRUS, Distr. Lemesos Lemesos, E, 06.–13.IV.2012 34°42’20” N, 33°06’11” E 0­40 m NN leg. A. Kopetz #01; 4 specimens NME: CYPRUS, Lemesos, E, 95 m NN, left side inflow Germasogeia Reservoir 34°45’27” N, 35°05’04” E 30.III.2016, leg. D.+ M. Frenzel #49 ; 1 specimen NME: CYPRUS, Lemesos, NE, Alassa, NW, dry slope, inflow Kouris Reservoir , 34°46’08” N, 32°54’41” E 260 m NN, 01.IV. 2016, leg. D.+ M. Frenzel #52 ; 1 specimen: CYPRUS, Distr. Larnaca, Odou, 14 km S, Machcia , 34°51’12” N, 33°13’47” E 460 m NN, 14.IV.2019, leg. A. Kopetz #85; 1 specimen: CYPRUS, N, Girne, 37 km W, Korucam, NW, Cape Kormaklitis, 10 m NN, 35°24’12” N, 32°55’15” E 30.IV.15 leg. D. Frenzel #41; 1 specimen HBC: Cedar Valley Lefkosia distr. O. CYPRUS pièges à vin 6.–13.VI.2016 leg.: G. Miessen.

Supplementary description. Belongs to the M. terminata species group. Male from Cape Kormaklitis, Cyprus.Total body length 3.2 mm. Head black, pronotum pale rufous, elytra black.Antennomeres 2–4 and legs pale rufous. Pro­ and mesosternum pale rufous, rest of venter dark brown. Head about 1.2–1.3× as long as wide, basal margin rounded in one broad arc with posterior temporal angles. Compound eye rather small, moderately protruding from lateral outline of head, as long as subparallel tempora. Head dorsum moderately glossy, punctures moderately deep and dense. Intervening spaces smooth, smaller than to as wide as punctures. Dorsal cranial setae inconspicuous, sparse.Antenna slightly thickened in apical half. Terminal antennomere moderately elongate, apically bluntly pointed, about 2.5× as long as penultimate antennomere, as long as combined length of antennomeres 9– 10. Pronotum barely longer than wide, distinctly narrower than head across eyes, moderately glossy, rounded at anterior margin. Lateral margins strongly converging in posterior half. Latero­basal pronotal fovea broad and deep, with curved, whitish setation. Pronotal disc slightly convex in dorsal aspect. Pronotal punctures smaller and sparser than those on head. Intervening spaces glossy. Pronotal setae yellowish, inconspicuous. Elytra about 1.5× as long as wide, ovoid, dorsally convex. Humerus obsolete. Apex of elytron subtruncate, with short and narrow process at gland opening. Elytral disc moderately glossy, punctures much larger than those on forebody, dense. Intervening spaces moderately glossy, generally narrower than punctures. Elytral setae pale yellowish, moderately long and dense, subdecumbent, directed posteriad. Apterous. Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII truncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII shallowly emarginate at posterior margin.Aedeagus as in Fig. 28C–E . Tegmen with elongate, apically widened and rounded rod­like process; endophallic armature with a series of 5–7 variably long, slightly curved spines, a bunch of longer, narrower, subparallel spines and numerous subtriangular, acutely pointed spinules.

Sexual dimorphism. Female generally larger than male, elytra more robust, elytral apex broadly rounded, without modifications. Female tergite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin.

Interspecific variability. In some specimens, head is reddish brown, elytra dark brown with paler base, femora darker than tibiae and tarsi.

Distribution. Cyprus, Greece (Cyclades Islands). Records by Pic (1896b) from Cyclades Islands, by Uhmann (1985) from Kríti / Crete Island, and Uhmann (2005) from Iraq, Israel, and Turkey are dubious and require confirmation.

Chorotype. E­Mediterranean (3.03 EME). Here considered Cypriot endemic (3570.01 CYPR).

Figures

Fig. 28. Microhoria lafertei (Truqui, 1855). A – Male from Lemesos env., Cyprus, habitus, dorsal view; B – Female from Lemesos env., Cyprus, habitus, dorsal view; C – Aedeagus, lateral view; D – ditto, lateral view, different specimen; E – Endophallic armature [not to scale; image E courtesy Augusto Degiovanni, Bubano, Italy].