Tituboea fasciaticeps ( Pic, 1929 )

Bezdċk, Jan & Regalin, Renato, 2015, Identity of species-group taxa of the Western Palaearctic Clytrini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) described by Maurice Pic and Louis Kocher, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (suppl.) 55, pp. 1-114 : 49-50

Tituboea fasciaticeps ( Pic, 1929) nomen dubium

Antipa (Titubaea) fasciaticeps Pic, 1929b: 95 (original description).

Type locality. ‘Agedabia’ [= Libya, Ajdabiya].

Type material examined. Not examined.

Distribution. Libya ( PIC 1929b, GRIDELLI 1930).

Comments. The deposition of the type specimen(s) is unknown to us. The species was described based on at least one male collected by C. Krüger (R. Ufħcio Agrario per la Cirenaica, Benghasi). The type specimens of some other species described by Pic from the same collection are deposited in MSNG but not those of T. fasciaticeps (Poggi, pers. comm. 2014). It is possible that the types are in Ufħcio Agrario Benghasi as it is mentioned by GRIDELLI (1930) who also published extended redescription of this species.

Based on the original description ( PIC 1929b) and the redescription by GRIDELLI (1930), it is impossible to ħgure out the true identity of this species. Moreover, the high chromatic and morphological variability of some North African Tituboea species does not allow us to ascertain even its possible afħnities or possible synonymy. For these reasons we decided to treat T. fasciaticeps as a nomen dubium.