Mniophila turcica Medvedev, 1970

Damaška, Albert František, Fikáček, Martin, Daňková, Klára, Čičovský, Daniel, Smyčková, Marie, Koštíř, Vojtěch & Munclinger, Pavel, 2024, From Europe to Caucasus: cryptic diversity and unexpected biogeographic history of a Western Palaearctic moss-inhabiting flea beetle (Chrysomelidae: Mniophila), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 201 (4), pp. 1-25 : 20-21

Mniophila turcica Medvedev, 1970

( Fig. 13E , 15 )

Mniophila muscorum turcica Medvedev 1970: 317 .

Mniophila turcica Medvedev, 1970 ; Nadein (2009): 118.

Material eoamined: Types. Paratypes: four ( MHNG): (i) Turquie Rize, Yol Üstu /Rize, 600 m, 15. v. 67 Cl. Besuchet; (ii) Paratypus. (iii) PAÞTYPE Mniophila muscorum var. turcica Medvedev, 1970 . 1 ( MHNG): (i) Turquie Artvin, Hopa-Arhavi 14. v. 67 Cl. Besuchet (ii) Paratypus (3) PAÞTYPE Mniophila muscorum var. turcica Medvedev, 1970 . Additional specimens. See the Supporting Information, Appendix S3.

Type locality: Turkey, Rize, Yol Üstü .

Differential diagnosis: Mniophila turcica can be distinguished from M. caucasica and M. transcaucasica by having irregular elytral puncturation (puncturation regular or arranged to partly irregular striae in M. caucasica and M. transcaucasica), by having a

nearly rounded body outline in dorsal view (more oval body outline in M. caucasica and M. transcaucasica ), and by the structure of aedeagus. It can be distinguished from M. bosnica by having a row of deep punctures in the anterior part of frons ( M bosnica lacks a frontal row of deep punctures).

Redescription: Habitus. Body ovate, convex, 1.3–1.4 mm long, 1 mm wide maximum, 0.8 mm high. Ventral surfaces black without metallic lustre or with very feeble greenish metallic lustre; dorsal surfaces dark brown; antennae and legs reddish brown. Head. Hypognathous, triangular, black. Supraorbital and orbital sulci very deep, suprafrontal sulcus triangular, supracallinal sulcus well-developed. Frontal calli projecting, triangular, well-delimited. Posterolateral edges of frontal calli connected by a shallow supravertical sulcus, space between frontal calli and vertex forming a delimited triangular callus. Basal part of vertex with a row of deep setiferous punctures. Vertex chagrined. Frontal ridge projecting, narrowing anteriorly. Orbit wide. Clypeus black, sharply cut. Labrum brownish black, widely incised in the middle of apical margin. Eyes round. Antennae short, barely reaching humeral part of elytra. Antennomere I long and wide, antennomere II elongated but bulbose, longer than antennomere III but shorter than III and IV combined. Antennomere III elongated, antennomeres VI – V short. Antennomere VII widened, protruded anteriorly.

Antennomere VIII slightly shorter but wider than antennomere V. Antennomeres IX–XI widened. Thorax. Pronotum convex, strongly protruded posteriorly; anterior pronotal margin about half as long as maximum length of pronotum. Pronotal surface black or black with feeble greenish metallic lustre, densely covered by shallow punctures, about half the size of elytral punctures. Elytra strongly widened, maximum elytral width about 1.6× larger than maximum width of pronotum. Elytral Puncturation dense, deep, irregular, first two rows of punctures more or less regularly developed in some specimens. Elytral margin sharp, epipleura widened in basal two-thirds. Prosternal process densely and deeply punctured. Anterior metaventral process dull, almost as wide as mesocoxal cavity, emarginated by a row of punctures in its basal part, covered by scaưered setae. Legs reddish brown, metatibiae almost straight, nearly not curved laterally. Protibiae only slightly narrowed posteriolaterally in basal third. Metatarsomere slightly elongated, triangular. Abdomen. Ventrites I and V each longer than ventrites II – IV combined. Ventrite I bearing an anterior process reaching the space between mesocoxae, emarginated. All abdominal ventrites bearing transverse rows of long yellowish setae. Ventrite V chagrined. Genitalia. Median lobe of aedeagus short, wide, parallel-sided in ventral and dorsal views; moderately curved in lateral view. Apex of aedeagus narrowed, apical denticle wide. Spermathecal pump wide, receptacle only slightly widened; apical part of receptacle wide. Duct very short. Vaginal palpi short, parallel, wide; basal fused part longer than apical part. Tignum slender.

Figures

Figure 13. Comparison of the head morphology of different Mniophila species. A, M.muscorum; B, M.haveli; C, M. wroblewskii; D, M. bosnica; E, M. turcica; F, M. caucasica; G, M. transcaucasica; H, M.taurica.

Figure 15. Mniophila turcica. A, habitus in dorsal view; B, habitus in lateral view; C, habitus in ventral view; D, median lobe of aedeagus in ventral view; E, median lobe of aedeagus in lateral view; F, median lobe of aedeagus in dorsal view; G, detailed view of the aedeagus apex (up: ventral view; below: dorsal view); H, spermatheca; I, vaginal palpi; J, tignum.