Microhoria caspia ( Desbrochers des Loges, 1875 )

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 : 218-223

Microhoria caspia ( Desbrochers des Loges, 1875) ( Figs 11–12 , 54A )

Anthicus caspius Desbrochers des Loges, 1875: 45 (description).

Anthicus caspius – Marseul 1879: 192, 223 (key, supplementary description); Winkler 1927: 849 (checklist).

Anthicus Caspius – Pic 1894: 50 (checklist).

Anthicus (Immicrohoria) caspius – Pic 1911: 39 (checklist).

Microhoria caspia – Uhmann 1985: 199 (new combinations, records – S European Russia); Telnov 1999: 30 (record – ‘Turkestan’); Chandler et al. 2008: 439 (checklist); Kejval & Chandler 2020: 131 (assigned to the M. terminata species group); Telnov 2020a: 608 (checklist).

Type material. Syntypes 2 males MNHN: Derbent. Becker [printed] .

New material. 3 males & 1 female DTC: Türk. Riviera Kemer M. 5.1996 Sieber ; 4 males DTC: Türk. Riviera bei Kemer M 5/ 96 Sieber ; 1 male ADC: Turchia: Van, 1600 m Timar , 25.7.2002 G. Sama leg. ; 1 male NME & 1 male DTC: TURCIA m. Prov. Antalya 18 km NE Demitras, Pass bei 1550 m, 36°28’38’’N, 32°23’16’’E blühende Bäume, Kieferwald 28.V.2006, leg. A. Kopetz ; 1 male NME: TURCIA m. Prov. Antalya 18 km NE Demitras, 1100m 36°30’N, 32°20’E 26.u. 28.V.2006, leg. A. Skale, Kahlschlag ; 1 female IUIT: Turkey, Gölhisar. 120 km W Antalya. N36°57’40”: E 29°27’53” 7 km SW Altinyayla, W­trap 2 Hollow Quercus 2009­ 06­ 28 Nicklas Jansson/Mustafa Avci [printed]; 1 male DTC: Turkey, Egirdir, Yukangökdere N37°42 964, S 30° 49 699 Kasnak forest Windowtrap [sic!] 6 Hollow Quercus 2007­ 07­ 19 Nicklas Jansson/Mustafa Avci [printed]; 1 male NME: Turkey, Gölhisar. 120 km W Antalya. N36°57’40”: E 29°27’53” 7 km SW Altinyayla, W­trap 6 Hollow Quercus 2009­ 07­ 25 Nicklas Jansson/MustafaAvci; 1 specimen [not dissected] NME: Turkey, Gölhisar. 120 km W Antalya. N36°57’40”: E 29°27’53” 7 km SW Altinyayla, W­trap 4 Hollow Quercus 2009­ 08­ 30 Nicklas Jansson/Mustafa Avci [printed]; 1 male BMNH: Turkey, Gölhisar. 120 km W Antalya. N 36°57’ 40”: E 29°27’53” 7 km SW Altinyayla, W­trap 2 Hollow Quercus 2009­ 07­ 25 Nicklas Jansson / Mustafa Avci [printed] .

Supplementary description. Belongs to the M. terminata species group. Syntype male from Derbent, S European Russia (Republic of Dagestan).Total body length 2.3 mm. Body slender, dorsally flattened. Dorsum and venter uniformly black­brown. Antennomeres 2–5 (in part also antennomere six) yellowish, remaining antennomeres brown. Femora brown, trochanters, tibiae and tarsi yellowish. Head nearly as long as wide, head base rounded. Tempora subparallel, posterior temporal angles rounded. Compound eye moderate, about as long as tempus, moderately protruding from lateral outline of head. Head dorsum glossy, punctures distinct, small, moderately dense. Intervening spaces smooth, generally from as wide as to twice as wide as punctures. Dorsal cranial setae whitish, inconspicuous. Antenna slightly thickened in apical half. Terminal antennomere acutely pointed, about twice as long as penultimate antennomere and slightly longer than combined length of antennomeres 9–10. Pronotum nearly as long as wide, slightly narrower than head across eyes, moderately glossy, broadly rounded at anterior margin. Lateral margins strongly rounded in anterior, constricted in posterior half. Latero­basal pronotal fovea rather broad and deep, with somewhat denser, curved, whitish setation. Pronotal punctures more distant than those on head. Intervening spaces glossy, wider than punctures. Setation inconspicuous. Elytra about 1.7× as long as wide, laterally subparallel. Humerus broadly rounded. Elytral disc moderately glossy, punctures dense, shallow. Intervening spaces smooth, generally as wide as punctures. Apex of elytron with minute, acute triangular denticle at gland channel opening. Elytral setae whitish to greyish, subdecumbent, moderately long and dense, directed posteriad. Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII truncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII short, broadly rounded at posterior margin. Aedeagus as in Fig. 12 . Tegmen short, apical hook large, opposing apical part of tegmen also shortly hooked; endophallic armature of two long, strongly C­like shaped spines, each acutely pointed apically and somewhat thickened basally; fused baculi conspicuous, extending apically towards about one third of endophallus length; ring­like primary gonopore distinct, rather large.

Sexual dimorphism. Female elytral apex without modifications.

Interspecific variability. Highly variable both in external morphology and shape of male genital organs. Several specimens with uniformly brown legs and antenna. Basal half of pronotum dark red in a specimen from Lake Van, eastern Turkey. Punctures of dorsum is dense and conspicuously deep in some specimens, small and shallow in other. Tempora subparallel in some specimens, broadly rounded in a single arc with head base in other. Apical hook of male tegmen varies in size and shape ( Fig. 12 ). Length and grade of “swirl” of C­like shaped spines of endophallic armature also varies.

Ecology. Several specimens sampled using flight interception traps installed on hollow trunks of veteran Quercus spp. trees in a semiopen pasture woodland at 1300 m a.s.l. ( Fig. 54A ). Trap No. 6 was installed on Q. trojana Webb 4.4 m above the ground on a hollow trunk of 290 cm circumference. Trap No. 2 was installed on Q. infectoria Oliv. 2.9 m above the ground on a hollow trunk of 217 cm circumference. Another No. 6 trap was installed on a hollow trunk of Q. libani G. Olivier 3.3 m above the ground. Additional specimen was collected from flowering trees in a pine forest. Additional specimens sampled at the elevation of 1100–1600 m.

Distribution. South of the European part of Russia, Turkey (first country record), “Turkestan” (this record ( Telnov 1999) has been incorrectly interpreted as “ Turkmenistan ” by Chandler et al. (2008) and subsequently followed Telnov (2020a). Occurrence of this species in Turkmenistan is not impossible but requires additional confirmation).

Chorotype. SW­Asiatic (1.13 SWA), but also includes southern part of the European Russia. Microhoria chakouri ( Pic, 1909) ( Fig. 13 ) Anthicus Chakouri Pic, 1909: 143 (description). Anthicus chakouri – Koch 1935b: 207 (key).

Anthicus (Immicrohoria) Chakouri – Pic 1911a: 40 (checklist); Winkler 1927: 849 (checklist). Immicrohoria chakouri – Alfieri 1976: 151 (new combination, checklist, records – Egypt).

Microhoria chakouri – Chandler et al. 2008: 439 (new combination, checklist); El­Torkey 2014: 183, 190 (key, record – Egypt); Kejval & Chandler 2020: 131 (assigned to the M. terminata species group); Telnov 2020a: 608 (checklist).

Type material. Syntype 1 female MNHN: Mokat. Avril [handwritten] // 75 [handwritten] // Egypt … Chakour [handwritten, in part unreadable] // type [handwritten] // TYPE [printed, label red] // Chakouri mihi [handwritten] .

New material. 1 male ABC: JORDAN mer. oc. 800 m 50 km NE AQABA, WADI RUM 4.– 5.4.1994 29,36–41N; 35,20–25E lgt. S. BEC­ VAR j.& s .; 1 male ADC: ISRAEL – Arava valley, Nahal Omer , 21.3.95, G. Sama leg ; 3 males & 1 female ADC: ISRAEL – Central Negev, 4/ 20 km. est. Dimona , 22.2.97, G. Sama leg ; 1 maleADC: ISRAEL – Jordan valley, 24 km. sud Mehola , 24.2.98, G. Sama leg ; 4 females ADC: Israele – Neghev, Hatzerim , 17–18/3/2005, leg. Tedeschi ; 1 male ADC: Israele – Neghev, Beer Sheva , 21­ 3­ 2005, leg. Tedeschi ; 1 male ADC: Israele – Negev, Gvulot , 13/3/2008, leg. Tedeschi ; 1 male ADC: Cyprus, SW Pollis env. 9.III.2014, Snizek leg.

Supplementary description. Belongs to the M. terminata species group. Syntype female. Total body length 2.8 mm. Dorsum and venter uniformly black to black­brown.Antennae and legs yellowish brown, femora distinctly darker than tibiae, antennomeres 7–11 darker than preceding antennomeres. Head 1.1–1.2× as long as wide, head base rounded. Tempora subparallel, posterior temporal angles rounded. Compound eye moderate, slightly shorter than tempus, slightly protruding from lateral outline of head. Head dorsum glossy, punctures distinct, variable dense. Intervening spaces smooth, from as wide as to much wider than punctures. Dorsal cranial setae whitish, moderately long, rather sparse, subdecumbent. Antenna slightly thickened in apical half. Terminal antennomere bluntly pointed, about twice as long as penultimate antennomere and as long as combined length of antennomeres 9–10. Pronotum as long as wide, nearly as wide as head across eyes, moderately glossy, broadly rounded at anterior margin. Lateral margins rounded in anterior, strongly constricted in posterior half. Latero­basal pronotal fovea broad and deep, with dense, curved setation. Pronotal disc flattened in dorsal aspect. Pronotal punctures, intervening spaces and setae similar to those on head. Elytra about 1.7–1.8× as long as wide, laterally subparallel, dorsally flattened. Humerus broadly rounded. Elytral disc moderately glossy, punctures dense. Intervening spaces smooth, generally narrower than to as wide as punctures.Apex of elytron without modifications. Elytral setae whitish to greyish, subdecumbent, moderately long and dense, directed posteriad. Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII subtruncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin.

Sexual dimorphism. Male from Mokattam, Egypt. Elytron apex with minute, acute triangular denticle at opening of gland channel. Tergite VII subtruncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin. Aedeagus as in Fig. 13D–F . Tegmen moderate, apex rod­like prolonged, apically somewhat widened and rounded; endophallic armature of numerous long, dense, narrow spines and a pair of curved spines and numerous small spinules.

Ecology. Unknown. One specimen collected at 800 m elevation.

Distribution. Cyprus (first country record), Egypt, Israel (first country record), Jordan (first country record). There is a mistyping in a distribution record of this species in Telnov (2020a: 608): “AG G”, that must be read “EG” ( Egypt). Identification of the specimens from Egypt as in the key by El­Torkey (2014) is doubtful and needs verification.

Chorotype. NE­African­Sindian? (5.11 NAS).

Figures

Fig. 11. Microhoria caspia (Desbrochers des Loges, 1875). A – Male, syntype from “Derbent”, Dagestan, S European Russia, habitus, dorsal view; B – ditto, another male; C – ditto, head, dorsal view; D – Female from Gölhisar, Turkey, habitus, dorsal view [not to scale].

Fig. 12. Microhoria caspia (Desbrochers des Loges, 1875) male aedeagi. A–B – Male from unknown locality, lateral and ventral view; C – Male from Altinyayla env., Turkey, lateral view; D – ditto, apical portion of aedeagus; E – Male from Altinyayla env., Turkey, lateral view [not to scale; images A–B courtesy Augusto Degiovanni, Bubano, Italy].

Fig. 54. Veteran tree­connected habitats of Microhoria in Turkey. A – Sampling plot near Yukangökdere, Kasnak oak reserve, Turkey; B – Sampling plot near Adiyaman, Turkey [images courtesy Nicklas Jansson, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden].

Fig. 13. Microhoria chakouri (Pic, 1909) specimens from Wadi Zoleigha, Egypt (NHMB) (published in Schatzmayr & Koch (1934)). A – Female, habitus, dorsal view; B – ditto, head, dorsal view; C – Male, habitus, dorsal view; D – Aedeagus, lateral view; E – ditto, apical portion of endophallic armature; F – ditto, basal portion of endophallic armature [not to scale].