Xantholinus luteipennis COIFFAIT , 1970

Assing, Volker, 2016, On the Staphylinidae of Turkey XI. Two new species, new synonymies, and additional records (Insecta: Coleoptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 48 (1), pp. 269-280 : 278

Xantholinus luteipennis COIFFAIT, 1970

Xantholinus luteipennis COIFFAIT, 1970: 293 .

Xantholinus khachikovi ANLAS, 2014: 20 ff.; nov.syn.

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Turkey:13, Bitlis, Yelkenli, Van lake, 38°28'N, 42°32'E, 1800 m, pitfall, 21.IV.-20.V.2014, leg. Reuter (cFel).

C o m m e n t: The holotype of X. luteipennis , which was collected to the east of Kayseri, was revised by ASSING (2007a), who recorded the species also from Gaziantep and Adıyaman provinces. According to the original description of X. khachikovi , which is based on two males and one female from two localities in Muş province, this species is distinguished from X. luteipennis by the paler coloration of the head and pronotum, as well as by "less dense and less numerous sclerotised spines in the aedeagus" ( ANLAŞ 2014). The coloration may be subject to enormous intraspecific variation in Helicophallus species and is consequently of little taxonomic signifance. More importantly, the somewhat unclear photographs of the aedeagus ( ANLAŞ 2014: figures 46-49) do not reveal any significant differences between the internal structures of the aedeagus of the type material of X. khachikovi and those of the holotype of X. luteipennis ; the number, shapes, and degree of sclerotization of the spines are practically identical, so that there is little doubt that the holotypes of X. khachikovi and X. luteipennis are conspecific. Hence the synonymy proposed above.

As can be inferred from the new records (Bitlis, Muş), X. luteipennis is remarkably widespread in southeastern Anatolia, its currently known distribution ranging from Kayseri in the west to Bitlis in the east.