Mylabris (Mylabris) tauricola Marseul, 1870

Pan, Zhao & Bologna, Marco A., 2014, Taxonomy, Bionomics and Faunistics of the Nominate Subgenus of Mylabris Fabricius, 1775, with the description of five new species (Coleoptera: Meloidae: Mylabrini), Zootaxa 3806 (1), pp. 1-78 : 42-43

Mylabris (Mylabris) tauricola Marseul, 1870

Figs. 1 W, 26A–G

Mylabris tauricola Marseul, 1870: 73 ; 1872: 133; Gemminger & Harold, 1870: 2143; Baudi di Selve, 1878b: 1158; Beauregard, 1890: 537; Sumakov, 1915: 26; 1930: 41; Borchmann, 1917: 53; Mader, 1927: 858.

Zonabris tauricola, Escherich, 1899: 90 .

Mylabris (Micrabris) tauricola, Kuzin, 1954: 352 .

Mylabris (Mylabris) tauricola, Bologna, 2008: 397 .

Type locality. “ Syrie, Taurus”. Taurus is a mountain range of southern Turkey (in Turkish Toros Dağlari), parallel to the Mediterranean Sea. This chain extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east. Most entomological records from Taurus were published in C XIX and early C XX, and concern specimens collected in the central area of this mountain range, near the towns of Mersin and Adana. During the Ottoman Empire, until the First World War, that part of the Ottoman Empire was considered as “ Syria ” together with the Hatay province and most of the Levant, although in reality these mountains are in Turkey.

Type specimens. Lectotype male ( MNHN), with the following labels: label with male genitalia glumed (white, rectangular, added by A. Pardo Alcaide); “77” (light blue, squared, printed); “ Mylabris tauricola Ol., Taurus 1867 ” (yellow, round, handwritten by Marseul); “Museum de Paris, coll. De Marseul 2842-90 ” (white, rectangular, printed); “ Mylabris tauricola Mars. Type ” (white, rectangular, handwritten by S. de Marseul); “Pardo Alcaide vid. 1955” (white, rectangular, handwritten by A. Pardo Alcaide); “Museum Paris, coll. De Marseul, 1890” (white, rectangular, printed); “ Lectotypus Mylabris tauricola Marseul, M. Bologna des. 1987” (red, rectangular, handwritten by M. A. Bologna); “ Mylabris (s.str.) tauricola Marseul, M. Bologna det. 1987” (white, rectangular, handwritten by M. A. Bologna). This specimen has the right elytron damaged.

Two paralectotypes females ( MNHN), with the following labels: “ Mylabris tauricola Taurus Leder 67” (one “68”) (yellow, rounded, handwritten); “Museum de Paris coll. De Marseul 1890” (white, rectangular, printed); “Paralectypus Mylabris tauricola Marseul, M. Bologna des. 1987” (red, rectangular, handwritten by M. A. Bologna); “ Mylabris (s.str.) tauricola Marseul, M. Bologna det. 1987” (white, rectangular, handwritten by M. A. Bologna).

Description. Body length: 8.5–11 mm; setae yellow and black; antennomeres uniformly black, III ca. 1.5 times as long as IV, XI ca. twice as long as wide ( Fig. 26 A); pronotum narrow and clearly narrowed in front, with one shallow fore transverse depression; elytral black pattern ( Fig. 26 B) composed by an oval humeral spot, a black narrow margin at base extended along the scutellum and the basal part of the inner margin, two subrounded spots in the middle, the external one wider, and a wide apical fascia; mesosternal “scutum” narrow ( Fig. 26 C); male gonoforceps relatively wide in lateral view ( Fig. 26 E), fused ventrally in basal half ( Fig. 26 D); aedeagal distal hook positioned almost at apex, proximal hook relatively far from the distal one ( Fig. 26 F).

Taxonomic remarks. This Mylabris ’s general shape resembles some species of the subgenus Micrabris (such as M. pusilla ), because of the small size, the shiny integument, and the unique elytral pattern.

Distribution. Central-eastern and southern Turkey.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of the Mylabris (Mylabris) spp., dorsal view: A. M. alpicola, ♂; B. M. amorii, ♀; C. M. apiceguttata, ♂; D. M. apicenigra, ♂; E. M. barezensis, ♂; F. M. batnensis, ♂; G. M. cernyi, ♂; H. M. ciliciensis, ♂; I. M. concolor, ♂; J. M. desertica, ♀; K. M. emiliae, ♂; L. M. guerini, ♂; M. M. kodymi, ♂; N. M. madani, ♂; O. M. madoni, ♂; P. M. mediorientalis, ♂; Q. M. olivieri, ♂; R. M. parumpicta, ♀; S. M. poggii, ♂; T. M. pseudoemiliae, ♂; U. M. quadripunctata, ♂; V. M. schreibersi, ♂; W. M. tauricola, ♂; X. M. tricincta, ♂; Y. M. variabilis, ♂. Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIGURE 26. Mylabris (M.) tauricola Marseul: A. antenna; B. elytral pattern; C. mesosternum; D. tegmen, ventral view; E. tegmen, lateral view; F. aedeagus, lateral view; G. spiculum gastrale, dorsal view. Scale bar = 1 mm.