Cylindera (Cylindera) germanica persiana, Boetzl & Franzen, 2020

Boetzl, Fabian A. & Franzen, Michael, 2020, Taxonomy and distribution of Cylindera germanica (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Middle East with the description of two new subspecies (Coleoptera, Carabidae Cicindelinae), Zootaxa 4809 (1), pp. 95-110 : 104-106

Cylindera (Cylindera) germanica persiana ssp. nov. Boetzl & Franzen, 2020

Type locality: Iran, Kerman province, Dschiroft, Anbar-Abad.

Material examined: Holotype: ♂, ‘S.O. IRAN, [Djiroft], Anbar-Abad, 21. - 30.IV.1956, W. Richter leg.’ [black print on greyish-green cardboard label]; ‘GK 13’ [black ink written on mounting board]; ‘Cic. germanica descendens Fisch. , det. Ing. K. Mandl 1959 ’ [black print on yellowish cardboard label, ‘ germanica descendens Fisch. ’ hand- written in black ink]; ‘MUSEUM STUTTGART’ [black print on white label]; ‘ Cylindera (s.str.), obliquefasciata oblique-, fasciata (Adams, 1817) , det. J. Gebert 1992 ’ [black print on yellowish cardboard label]; ‘ HOLOTYPUS, Cylindera (Cylindera) germanica persiana ssp. nov., des. F. Boetzl & M. Franzen 2020’ (black print on red label) deposited in SMNS;

Paratypes: 2♀, ‘ IRAN, Khuzistan, Shadegan, 26. - 31.III.1956, Richter u. Schäuffele’, [black print on grey- ish-green cardboard label]; ‘Cic. germanica descendens Fisch. , det. Ing. K. Mandl 1959 ’ [black print on yellowish cardboard label, ‘ germanica descendens Fisch. ’ handwritten in black ink]; ‘MUSEUM STUTTGART’ [black print on white label]; ‘ Cylindera (s.str.), obliquefasciata oblique-, fasciata (Adams, 1817) , det. J. Gebert 1992 ’ [black print on yellowish cardboard label]; ‘ PARATYPUS, Cylindera (Cylindera) germanica persiana ssp. nov., des. F. Boetzl & M. Franzen 2020’ (black print on red label), [ SMNS]; 2♀, ‘ IRAN, Busher prov., 50 km N Busher city, Borazjan, Khoshmakan, river side, 35 m, leg. S. Azadbakhsh, 21.III.2018 ’ [black print on white label, collection numbers CI 01643 & CI 01644], ‘ PARATYPUS, Cylindera (Cylindera) germanica persiana ssp. nov., des. F. Boetzl & M. Franzen 2020’ (black print on red label), [ CFB].

Description: Total length of the holotype male is 10.6 mm (type series: ♀♀ 9.2 to 9.8 mm, mean: 9.58 ± 0.13 mm).

Labrum unidentate, yellowish brown except tip of spine black, with 7 submarginal setae (type series: 7 to 9, mean: 8 ± 0.41), transverse (LL / LW: ♂: 0.59; ♀♀ 0.54 to 0.60, mean: 0.55 ± 0.02), 0.8 mm long (0.75 mm without spine; type series: ♀♀ 0.65 to 0.75 mm, mean: 0.70 ± 0.02 mm; without spine: 0.55 to 0.6 mm, mean: 0.59 ± 0.01 mm) and 1.35 mm wide (type series: ♀♀ 1.2 to 1.3 mm, mean: 1.26 ± 0.02 mm). Maxillary and labial palpi yellow- ish brown with the last segment noticeably darkened.

Head wider than pronotum (holotype: 2.9 mm wide; type series: ♀♀ 2.2 to 2.7 mm, mean: 2.53 ± 0.11 mm), glabrous, metallic green sometimes with coppery sheen, longitudinally wrinkled with circular wrinkles on the frons typical for Cylindera . Genae glabrous, metallic dark blue. Two supraorbital setae, one at the anterior margin of the eye, one at the widest point of the head between the eyes. Antennae reaching approximately to the end of the first third of the elytra, segments 1 to 4 glabrous, metallic green with coppery reflections, segments 5 to 11 light brown and densely setose with short, thin setae. Scapus with one long apical seta, antennal segment 3 with 6 shorter setae (holotype) apart from the longer apical setae.

Pronotum cylindrical, with 2.0 mm wider (type series: ♀♀ 1.85 to 1.95 mm - mean: 1.9 ± 0.02 mm) than long (1.95 mm; type series: ♀♀ 1.70 to 1.85 mm, mean: 1.75 ± 0.04 mm), lateral edges setose, its sides glabrous. Dorsal colouration in holotype male dark coppery with dull green sheen, in the paratype series typically azure blueish green metallic. Pronotum disc convex, with clear midline and deep impressions forming a basal furrow near the posterior margin, wrinkled, especially near the anterior and posterior margins as well as around the midline. Sparsely setose along the basal furrow ( Figure 22 ). Thoracic segments dark metallic blue, all segments glabrous except for the metathorax which is covered with a brush of thick short white setae.

Legs metallic green with dark coppery reflections except for the dark brown tibiae and trochanters, fore and middle femora with sparse white setae along the anterior and posterior margins and on both sides in between, hind femora without setae between he margins on the side that faces the abdomen. Fore and middle trochanters with a single, long subapical seta. Basal three tarsomeres of forelegs in males broadened.

Elytra elliptical, slightly dilated in apical third in females, more parallel in the holotype male (length: holotype: 6.2 mm; type series: ♀♀ 5.5 to 5.9 mm, mean: 5.7 ± 0.08 mm; width (at broadest point): holotype: 3.7 mm; type series: ♀♀ 3.3 to 3.5 mm, mean: 3.44 ± 0.05 mm; width (at the tip of the scutellum): holotype: 3.1 mm; type series: ♀♀ 2.75 to 2.9 mm, mean: 2.81 ± 0.03 mm). Scutellum dark coppery metallic. Elytral disc dark blackish grey with dark coppery to anthracite metallic sheen, with a faint black band on each elytron reaching curved from the humeral (shoulder) spot over the basal spot (endpoint of the not present apical lunule) and the end tip of the middle band towards the apical lunule (recognizable as area without metallic sheen), the rest of the elytra covered more or less with small bright turquoise to blue metallic dots, with a line of large bright turquoise blue dots along the suture and a group of the same dots at the shoulder. Shoulders prominent with small round maculation. Basal maculation (endpoint of the not present apical lunule) centrally on each elytron at the end of the first quarter variable in size but always present, the middle band reaching straight from a very large marginal spot that is slightly distanced from the lateral margin of the elytron towards the suture near the elytral apex, thinning out towards the middle of the elytron but ending in a clear hook projecting towards the elytral base. The apical lunule is starting at the elytral apex, running along the margin to a spot shortly before the broadest point of the elytron and then projecting in a hook towards the central point of the middle band. Epipleura mid brown. Elytral apex with a clear but short, coppery metallic sutural spine.

Abdominal sternites glabrous, black, 1 st to 5 th segment with blue to violet sheen, 6 th segment more or less without metallic lustre.

The aedeagus generally resembles that of C. germanica germanica in shape ( Figure 23 ). The aedeagus of the holotype is 3.3 mm long and embedded in Xylol and therefore bleached. Due to the previous embedding of the genital of the only accessible male, we refrained from extracting the genital and from inflating the internal sack for the sake of conservation of the holotype specimen.

Holotype glued onto yellowish cardboard mounting board, pinhole from previous mounting on right elytron, centrally at the end of the first fifth of the elytron, left foreleg lacking all tarsomeres, aedeagus embedded in Xy- lol.

Etymology: The given name originates form the range of this new subspecies, the lowlands along the north coast of the Persian Gulf.

Differential diagnosis: This new subspecies resembles C. descendens in elytral pattern and colouration but is easily differentiated by the lack of setae on the abdominal sternites and the sparsely setose front and hind edges of the pronotum (glabrous in C. descendens ). Due to these differences and an apparent co-existence of C. descendens in the same region, the new subspecies is assigned to C. germanica .

From C. germanica germanica , occurring in northern Iran, this new subspecies is easily differentiated by the dark colouration, the broadly extended, elongated and hooked elytral maculations and the setose posterior edge of the pronotum (glabrous in C. germanica germanica ; Figures 20-22 ).

Variability: In the small series of specimens available for study, we detected little variation despite the large geographical range the specimens cover. The elytral maculation is rather conserved and all specimens show a very similar colouration. In some individuals, head and pronotum are more blueish-green metallic, while in others, they have a predominant coppery sheen. Also, while in all individuals the posterior edge of the pronotum is sparsely setose, only the holotype male also shows a sparsely setose anterior edge of the pronotum ( Figures 20 & 21 ).

Habitat and distribution: Although the type series is small, the few available records of C. germanica persiana ssp. nov. show an activity period early in the year in March and April, likely driven by the extremely hot and dry climate during the summer months. Populations of C. germanica germanica in northern Iran as well as in Turkey however are active later, mostly from May to July.

C. germanica persiana ssp. nov. seems to be distributed south of the main ridge of the Zargos mountain range in the lowlands along the north coast of the Persian Gulf in southern Iran and probably also in south-eastern Iraq ( Figure 1 ). All specimens investigated originate from river valleys.

Most of the specimens investigated by us were previously studied but assigned to Cylindera descendens (e.g. Mandl (1959), Gebert (1992)), which is clearly a misidentification due to their glabrous abdominal sternites. By contrast, specimens of C. germanica from Amara / Iraq mentioned in Horn (1927) were identified as C. germanica martorelli ( Kraatz, 1890) (described as a colour morph of the Iberian C. g. catalonica [Beuthin, 1890] by Kraatz (1890) and therefore a junior synonym of C. germanica sobrina [Gory, 1833]). The elytral pattern of C. germanica martorelli is similar to that of C. germanica persiana ssp. nov. but specimens of all Iberian populations, including individuals of the before mentioned populations, lack the setae at the hind margin of the pronotum. We therefore expect the individuals from Amara to have been misidentified by W. Horn and actually belong to C. germanica persiana ssp. nov.. Another record of C. descendens from Kusha / Hormozgan province listed in Tschitschérine (1903) may also refer to C. germanica persiana ssp. nov.. These populations south of the alpidic mountain ranges have clearly been overlooked so far. As there is a clear lack in collections from Syria, Iraq and south-eastern Turkey, we cannot exclude the possibility of further populations in this region.

Figures

FIGURE 1: Distribution of Cylindera germanica (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Middle East.

FIGURES 20-23: Cylindera germanica persiana ssp. nov. – (20) holotype (male), (21) paratype (female), (22) pronotum of female paratype, (23) adeagus of holotype male (left lateral view).