Iphthiminus italicus croaticus ( Truqui, 1857 )

Sivilov, Ognyan, 2012, First record of Iphthiminus italicus (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) in Bulgaria, ZooNotes 35, pp. 1-4 : 1-2

Iphthiminus italicus croaticus ( Truqui, 1857)

New data: Bulgaria, Kresna Gorge , N41°47'41.95" E23°09'28.73", 265 m, 16.07.2012, 1 ♀, at night on the ground, leg. O. Sivilov.

Body length: 26 mm. The specimen displays characters typical for ssp. croaticus ( Fig. 1). It is distinguished by the following features: pronotum with relatively large and dense punctures, rear angles nearly spiniform; elytra finely wrinkled (like shagreen), with rows of dense punctures.

According to W. Schawaller (pers. comm.) ssp. croaticus and ssp. bellardi should be synonymised with the nominate form. In his opinion the species is somewhat variable and the separation into subspecies has no scientific reasons.

The beetle was collected in the southern part of Kresna Gorge located in southwestern Bulgaria ( Fig. 2). The gorge is very dry, hot and covered by xerotermic forest dominated by Quercus pubescens Willd. and some typical Mediterranean species as Phyllirea latifolia L., Juniperus excelsa M. B., Pistacia terebinthus L. etc. The habitat where the beetle was collected is a small gully, more humid than surroundings, with steep rocky slopes. Main plant species are Tilia , Carpinus orientalis Mill. and Lunaria (Fig. 3).

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