Acinopus (Acinopus) lepeletieri Lucas, 1846

Kataev, Boris M. & Wrase, David W., 2015, Acinopus sabulosus and A. lepeletieri from north-west Africa are two distinct species (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Harpalini), Zootaxa 4007 (2), pp. 290-294 : 292-293

Acinopus (Acinopus) lepeletieri Lucas, 1846 , stat. rev.

( Figs 5–11 )

Acinopus Lepeletieri Lucas, 1846: 66 . Type locality: "environs d'Oran, Mers-el-Kebir", Algeria.

Type material: Syntypes: 1 ♂, with a rectangular piece of blue paper and a label " Acinopus peltieri " [! sic; handwritten] (Coll. Lucas: MNHN); 1 ♂, " Acinopus peltierii " [! sic; handwritten] (Coll. Lucas: MNHN); 1 ♀, " Acinopus peletierii " [! sic; handwritten] (Coll. Lucas: MNHN); 1 ♂, "♂", " Peletieri [! sic] m., Oran ", "S. Fargeau" [all three labels on blue paper, Dejean's handwriting], "Ex Musaeo Chaudoir" [printed], and with bottom label in common " Pelletieri Lucas, Barbarie occid., Guerin" [Chaudoir’s handwriting] (Coll. Chaudoir: MNHN); 2 ♂, 3 ♀, labelled "Ex Musaeo Chaudoir" [printed] and with same bottom label (Coll. Chaudoir: MNHN).

We examined as additional material from the following localities: Algeria: 1 ♀, " A. Lepelletiere Lucas Algier Dohrn", "Mus. Westerm." ( ZMUC); 1 ♀, " A. Lepelletieri Lucas Algier ", "Mus. Westerm" ( ZMUC); 1 ♂, " Algeria, Narget", " A. sabulosus F. (= Lepelletieri Luc.)" ( ZIN); 1 ♂, 2 ♀, " Acin. sp.?, Algir, c. Tchitscherin" ( ZIN); 1 ♀, " Acin. sabulosus F., c. Tchitcherin" ( ZIN); 1 ♀, " Algiria " ( ZIN); 1 ♂, " Algeria ", " Acinopus Lepelletieri Luc. " ( ZIN); 1 ♂, " Acinopus Peletieri Luc., Algiria ", "c. G. Sivers" ( ZIN); 1 ♂, " Acinopus Lepelletieri , Oran St", " sabulosus F., ♂. VI. 97, A. Semenov det." ( ZIN); 1 ♀, " Acinopus sabulosus, Db , Alger ", " sabulosus F. ♀, VI.97, A. Semenov det." ( ZIN); 2 ♂, " sabulosus F. (Desbroch. o Loges 88.), Algerie ", " sabulosus F., ♂ VI.97, A. Semenov det." ( ZIN); 1 ♂, " Algir, Pars", " grassator Coqu. = laevipennis Fairm Oran " ( MFNB); 1 ♂, " Oran " ( MFNB); 1 ♂, "Oberan[?]douf", "Sammlung Cl. Müller" ( ZSM). Tunisia: 1 ♀, "Kairouran, Tunis, Exp. Obenb.", " Acinopus sabulosus Fab., Dr. Mařan det." ( ZIN). Greece: 1 ♂, " Grece ", " Graecia, Sec. Prad. sed dubit.!", "Lepelletier., 2863", " Acin. sp.?, c. Tchitscherin" ( ZIN); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, " Subquadratus Brull. Graecia ", "Mus. Hauschild, 12-9-1914 " ( ZMUC); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, " Megacephalus Rossi, Graecia ", "Mus. Hauschild, 12–9–1914 " ( ZMUC). Spain: 2 ♂, 1 ♀, " Spanien, Hispan", " giganteus Dej. Hispan " ( MFNB).

Specimens without geographical data: 1 ♂, without label data ( MFNB); 1 ♂, "543" ( MFNB).

Diagnosis. A large, plump species very similar to A. sabulosus in general habitus and in having the clypeus with one setigerous pore on each side, right mandible with distinct incision on outer margin at level of anterior margin of clypeus, left mandible without incision at base of outer margin, metepisterna wider than long, hind wings strongly reduced to small scales, elytra fused at suture in some specimens, legs black or dark brown, and protarsi in male dilated and with biseriate vestiture ventrally. Acinopus lepeletieri differs distinctly from A. sabulosus in the shape of the pronotum ( Fig. 5 ) with a very wide base and with sides almost straight in middle portion, more or less parallel to each other, and in the construction of the median lobe of the aedeagus ( Figs 6–11 ) which is comparatively smaller and stouter, with terminal lamella shorter, serrate on ventral surface, somewhat straight, not or only slightly curved dorsad in lateral aspect and more strongly converging apicad in dorsal aspect ( Figs 8, 11 ). In addition, the outer margin of the left mandible is more prominent, forming an expanded costa, the apical angles of the pronotum are usually narrower and more strongly protruded, and the pro- and mesotarsi in the male are less strongly widened. In all examined specimens, the elytra have three to four preapical setigerous pores on interval 7. Body length 15.6–19.3 mm, width 6.7–7.0 mm.

Proportions (5 males, 4 females): PW/PL = 1.63–1.76 (mean 1.67); EL/EW = 1.26–1.39 (mean 1.34); EL/PL = 2.16–2.38 (mean 2.27); EW/PW = 0.99–1.05 (mean 1.02); HWmax/PW = 0.83–0.89 (mean 0.86); HWmin/PW = 0.79– 0.84 (mean 0.82); HWmax/HWmin = 1.01–1.06 (mean 1.04).

Distribution. The species is distributed in Algeria and probably in Tunisia. The occurrence of A. lepeletieri in Greece and Spain is very questionable, since the specimens listed above from these countries might be mislabelled. It should be noted that all specimens examined were obviously collected in the 19th century. The species was probably rather abundant at that time, since it is represented by series of specimens in several museum collections. The absence of any newly collected material of this large, remarkable species argues for the possibly extinction of A. lepeletieri as a result of destruction of its natural biotopes. A special search in Algeria and Tunisia is required to confirm or reject this assumption.

Remarks. Although information about etymology is absent in the original description of A. lepeletieri , the name of this species was apparently dedicated to the French entomologist Amédée Louis Michel le Peletier, comte de Saint- Fargeau (1770–1845), also spelled Lepeletier or Lepelletier. According to the labels supplied by the specimens of A. lepeletieri in the former Lucas’ and Dejean-Chaudoir’s collections (both in MNHN), Lucas first used for his species the name proposed by Dejean who was going to describe (but did not actually do so) this species as " peletieri ". In the original description, Lucas used as name for the new species " lepeletieri ", but did not change the determination labels attached to the type specimens which retained with the words " peltieri ", " peltierii " and " peletierii ". It should be mentioned that most of the Acinipus specimens in the Lucas’ collection do not bear any labels thus making the identification of type specimens difficult.

Figures

FIGURE 1 – 11. Acinopus. 1 – 4, A. sabulosus (lectotype); 5 – 11, A. lepeletieri (Algeria). 1, 5, pronotum; 2, 6, 9, median lobe of aedeagus, dorsal view; 3, 7, 10, same, lateral view; 4, 8, 11, terminal lamella. Scales: A = 1.0 mm (Figs 1, 5), B = 1.0 mm (Figs 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10), C = 0.5 mm (Figs 4, 8, 11).