Microhoria breviuscula ( 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 : 213-215

Microhoria breviuscula ( Desbrochers des Loges, 1875) ( Fig. 8 )

Anthicus breviusculus Desbrochers des Loges, 1875: 48 (description).

Anthicus breviusculus – Marseul 1879: 252 (diagnosis, checklist); Pic 1894: 49 (checklist). Anthicus (Immicrohoria) breviusculus – Pic 1911a: 38 (checklist); Winkler 1927: 848 (checklist). Microhoria breviuscula – Uhmann et al. 2005: 4–5 & 41 (new combination, biogeography, checklist); Chandler et al. 2008: 439 (checklist); Kejval & Chandler 2020: 131 (assigned to the M. terminata species group); Telnov 2020a: 608 (checklist).

Type material. Not studied (see note below).

New material. 3 males and females NHRM & 1 male DTC: TURKIET Istanbul E. Kjellander // Riksmuseum Stockholm ; 1 male MNHN [possibly syntype]: Liban Brûlerie. [handwritten] ; 1 male MNHN [identification uncertain]: Syrie Coll Reitter [handwritten] // ? breviuscula Desbr. [handwritten, label pink] ; 1 male HMNH: SYRIA, prov. Latakia, Salah Addin citadel, oak­plane forest, netted from oaks, // 6. VI. 2010, leg. Attila Kotán, Edvárd Mizsei, Tamás Németh & Nikola Rahmé.

Supplementary description. Belongs to the M. terminata species group. Male from “ Liban ”, MNHN. Total body length 2.5 mm. Forebody reddish black, pronotum paler. Elytra black with yellowish, postbasal, transverse fascia that narrows medially towards suture and here shortly interrupted and with paired, oval, isolated yellow spot in apical third of each elytron. Antennomeres 1–7(7) yellow, remaining antennomeres darkened. Palps and legs yellowish brown, tibiae moderately paler than femora. Head about 1.1× as long as wide, basal margin rounded in one arc with posterior temporal angles. Compound eye large, strongly protruding from lateral outline of head. Head dorsum moderately glossy, sparsely punctate with sporadic, circular punctures. Intervening spaces much wider than punctures, smooth. Dorsal cranial setae whitish to yellowish, sparse, subdecumbent. Antenna vaguely thickened in apical third. Terminal antennomere elongate, apically pointed, about twice as long as penultimate antennomere. Pronotum barely longer than wide, distinctly narrower than head across eyes, moderately glossy, rounded at anterior margin. Lateral margins strongly impressed in posterior half. Pronotal disc slightly convex in dorsal aspect, punctures and setae sporadic, similar to those on head. Elytra about 1.6–1.7× as long as wide, widened laterally in apical half, dorsally slightly convex. Humerus broadly rounded, not protruding.Apex of elytron modified, channel of gland forming oval opening and short, rather broad process at posterior margin. Elytral disc glossy, sparse, somewhat stronger punctate than forebody. Intervening spaces much wider than punctures, smooth, glossy. Elytral setae yellowish, moderately long, subdecumbent. Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII and morphological sternite VII subtruncate at posterior margin. Aedeagus as in Fig. 8D–E . Tegmen apex hooked; endophallic armature with pair of hooklike, curved spines, three long and narrow subparallel spines, and a bunch of several smaller spinules.

Sexual dimorphism. Female elytral apex without modifications, elytra more robust, less elongate. Female tergite VII rounded at posterior margin.

Interspecific variability. Forebody uniformly reddish in studied specimen from Latakia Province, Syria.

Ecology. In Syria, one specimen was swept from oak leaves and branches in oak forest .

Distribution. Lebanon, Syria.

Chorotype. SW­Asiatic (1.13 SWA).

Note. This species appears close to M. terminata (W.L.E. Schmidt, 1842) both in the body colouration and the shape and structure of aedeagus. However, in M. breviuscula the thickened basal part of the paired hook­like spine of the endophallus is much shorter, hooked only at apex but longer, strongly and continuously curved inward, sickle­shaped in M. terminata (cf. Kejval & Chandler 2022, p. 132, Fig. 93). Posterior margin of female elytron is not modified in M. breviuscula , posterodorsally concave and acutely angulate produced posteriad in M. terminata .

Figures

Fig. 8. Microhoria breviuscula (Desbrochers des Loges, 1875). A – male from “Liban”, possibly syntype, habitus, dorsal view; B – Male from “Syrie”, habitus, dorsal view; C – Head, dorsal view; D – Aedeagus, lateral view; E – Aedeagus, different specimen, lateral view [not to scale].