Pygopleurus apicalis ( Brullé, 1832 )

Bollino, Maurizio, Uliana, Marco & Sabatinelli, Guido, 2019, The Pygopleurus Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Glaphyridae) of mainland Greece: taxonomy, faunistics and ecological notes, Zootaxa 4674 (2), pp. 151-202 : 156-159

Pygopleurus apicalis ( Brullé, 1832)

( Figs. 2–9 , 131–132 )

Amphicoma apicalis Brullé, 1832: 182 , Pl. XXXIX, fig. 9.

= Amphicoma humeralis Brullé, 1832: 183 , Pl. XXXIX, fig. 12, new synonymy.

= Amphicoma (Pygopleurus) vulpes v. humerosa Reitter, 1890: 55 .

Type series. Original type specimens are lost ( Baraud 1989: 344). See taxonomic remarks below regarding designation of a neotype by Baraud.

Type locality. [ Greece, Peloponnese], Messenia, “au pied du Manglava, entre Koubeh et Gargaliano ” [at the foot of Manglava, between Koubeh and Gargaliano ( Gargaliano corresponds to the current Gargalianoi)] .

Material examined. 306 ♂♂, 220 ♀♀, detailed in supplementary material.

Type specimens examined. Lectotype of Amphicoma (Pygopleurus) vulpes v. humerosa Reitter, 1890 : Morea / Cumani / Brenske // humeralis / v. humerosa / m. (♀, HNHM), subsequently labeled by G. Dahlgren and J. Baraud as P. apicalis .

Verified distribution.

Republic of Macedonia. Kruševo: Kruševo . Radoviš: Radoviš ( Rozner & Rozner 2009a). Skopje: Skopska Crna Gora, Mon. Sv.[eti] Jovan (also cited by Rozner & Rozner 2009a). Mak. Brod: Treska-valley, 4 km N of Devič ( Rozner & Rozner 2009a). Resen: Lake Prespa, Otesevo (also cited by Baraud 1989).

Bulgaria. Blagoevgrad: Petrich ( Minkova 1959); 2 km NE Kolarovo ( Petrova et al. 2019); Belasitsa Mts., Klyuch Vill. ( Petrova et al. 2019); Belasitsa Vill. ( Petrova et al. 2019).

Greece.

Western Macedonia. Florina: above Pisoderion; Pisoderi; between Kato Idroussa and Perasma; Drossopigi. Grevena: Mt. Hasia , 3 km S of Anixi.

Central Macedonia. Pieria: Katerini.

Epirus. Metsovo: 4-5 km NW of Metsovon; Katara pass. Ioannina: near Grimbovo; near Exochi; near Karies.

Thessaly. Larissa: Mt. Ossa; Mt. Ossa, EOS Larisis Refuge; 10 km E of Spilià; 3-5 km W of Spilià; 4 km S of Spilià; 4 km SW of Stomio; Mt. Olympos; Olympos, Agios Dimitris; Trikala: Mt. Antihassia, Vlachava; 6 km S of Vlahava; 5 km S of Vlachava; near Kastania; Meteora; near Metsovon, Katara; 2 km SE of Skepari; between Panagia and Koridallos; Kastri; Hagate; Kalampaka; 3.5 km NE of Kalambaka; Kastanea (Pindos).

Central Greece. Evrytania: Karpenision. Beotia: Parnass. Phocis: 8 km S of Amfiklia. Phtiothis: Lamia, W of Bralos; Termopyles; river Moenos near Limnitsa.

Attica. Athens.

Peloponnese. Corinthia: Stilia; Feneos Lake (behind dam). Arcadia: near Dirrachi; near Paradisia. Messinia: 2 km S of Dasochori. Laconia: 1 km S of Pikoulianika; 2 km SW of Polovitsa; 3 km E of Sohas; 5 km S of Anavriti; Mystras; Moni Golas; Nihori (Mt. Taygetos, Paleopanagia); Silimperis; Sparta; road Anavritis-Mystras; Aghios Vasilios (Taygetos); Tripì.

Western Greece. Achaia: Likouria (Mt. Khelmos, SW); 7 km from Alephori (Erimanthos). Elis: 1.5 km E of Keramidia; Amaliada; Cumani [=Koumanis].

Ionian Islands. Corfu: Corfu.

Greece, placement unknown: Hani Panapoulo.

Diagnosis. Elytra bicolored and sutural angle toothed in both sexes. Male: elytra brown and apex shining black; paramera and everted endophallus diagnostic ( Figs. 6–7 ). Female: elytra brown and metallic golden, green or blue.

Distribution ( Fig. 9 ). This species is present in Southern Macedonia, South-Western Bulgaria, Central and Western mainland Greece, southward to southern Peloponnese. Although there are no records, according to the documented distribution in the Balkans, P. apicalis is also expected in Albania, at least in its southeastern part.

Eco-ethological notes ( Fig. 9 ). The adults of this species have a long activity period. Based on 85 records, the species is recorded between early April (7 th April, Larissa, Kastri, 70 m) and late June (19–24 th June, Thessalia, Metso- von, 1000–1300 m). The species is mostly distributed at middle and high altitudes, but it has been documented as low as 70 m (Larissa, Kastri; Phthiotis, Termopyles) and 200 m (Elis, Keramidia). Highest recorded altitude is 1800 m in Macedonia ( Florina, Pisoderi ). Adults are mostly attracted to yellow flowers of Ranunculus and Potentilla , and Asteracee (white or yellow Tubuliflorae and Liguliflorae like Anthemis , Crepis and Picris ); they are observed, but less frequently, also in Papaver .

Taxonomic remarks. Baraud (1989) designated a neotype for Amphicoma apicalis , but his choice does not conform to most of the requirements of ICZN Article 75.3. In fact there was neither an exceptional need for designation, being Pygopleurus apicalis clearly identifiable and separable from any other Greek species (based on the unique combination of elytral color and toothed elytral apex), nor any need was stated expressly. Moreover the choice of the neotype is not compliant with the geographic information: since we know that Brullé collected in SW Peloponnese, a neotype from such a vague indication as “ Grèce ” [ Greece] does not conform to Article 75.3.6 which requires expressly that “the designation is published with […] evidence that the neotype came as nearly as practicable from the original type locality”. Based on these circumstances, we consider the designation of the neotype of A. apicalis by Baraud invalid and useless.

Pygopleurus humeralis was described by Brullé (sub Amphicoma ) based on female specimens only, while in the same article, and from the same locality (i.e. “au pied du Manglava, entre Koubeh et Gargaliano”) the author described P. apicalis (sub Amphicoma ) based on male specimens only. According to that, we can identify P. apicalis based on the color pattern described by Brullé, as only one taxon matching this description is present in the mentioned area, and confirm that this name corresponds to the correct sense of the author. On the contrary, the original description of P. humeralis may apply to P. bulgaricus , P. viridisuturatus or to females of P. apicalis . We can reasonably exclude the first two species based on their distribution, and therefore identify Brullé’s P. humeralis as the female of P. apicalis (new synonymy). Baraud (1989) designated the lectotype of humeralis , but the designated specimen is a female with the dark brown apex of elytra, hence very different from specimens described by Brullé in this way: “ Elytres d’un beau vert brillant sans reflet doré, presque aussi velu que le corselet; une longue tache de couleur châtaigne couvre l’angle extérieur de la base de chaque élytre ” [= Elytra of a beautiful brilliant green without golden reflection, almost as hairy as the corselet; a long chestnut-colored spot covers the outer corner of the base of each elytron]. Therefore, we confidently conclude that the specimen designated as lectotype by Baraud was not part of the syntypic series, and consequently also consider the designation of the lectotype of A. humeralis invalid (ICZN Article 74.2).

Figures

FIGURE 9. Pygopleurus apicalis (Brullé, 1832), geographical, altitudinal, and temporal distribution of records. Red curves showing the expected distribution if the species was uniformly present at all heights and all times (see Material and methods).

FIGURES 2–8. Pygopleurus apicalis (Brullé, 1832), habitus and genitalia. 2, male, common form (Thessalia, Kalampaka); 3, male, with unusually strong metallic shine on elytra (Korinthia, Feneos Lake); 4, female, green form (Thessalia, Kalampaka); 5, female, blue form (Larissa, 4 km S of Spillia); 6, left paramere in lateral and dorsal view (Laconia, Polovitsa); 7, everted endophallus in left lateral view (Elis, Keramidia); 8, left genital sclerites of female (Laconia, Taygetos).

FIGURES 131–136. Variability in the shape of elytra. Apex of right elytron. 131, Pygopleurus apicalis (Brullé, 1832), male; 132, Pygopleurus apicalis, female; 133, Pygopleurus hirsutus (Brullé, 1832), male; 134, Pygopleurus hirsutus, female; 135, Pygopleurus viridisuturatus (Reitter, 1903), female; 136, Pygopleurus chrysonotus (Brullé, 1832), male.