Tituboea olivieri ( Lacordaire, 1848 )

Bezděk, Jan, 2018, Contribution to the knowledge of the Clytrini of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Near East and the Arabian Peninsula, with descriptions of four new species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cryptocephalinae), European Journal of Taxonomy 481, pp. 1-37 : 18-19

Tituboea olivieri ( Lacordaire, 1848)

Fig. 8

Clythra (Tituboea) olivieri Lacordaire, 1848: 159 (original description).

Tituboea femoralis Medvedev, 1962: 335 (original description), syn. nov.

Material examined

Type material

TUNISIA: 1 ♂, holotype of Tituboea femoralis , “ Tunis, Sfax / leg. V. Boerio [w, p] // Holotypus [red letters, p] 1961. / Tituboea / femoralis / Medvedev. [white label with red borders, h] // Holotypus [r, p] // Tituboea / femoralis m. [h] / L. N. Medvedev det. 19 [p] 61 [w, h]” ( HNHM).

EGYPT: 1 ♂, neotype of Tituboea olivieri , “Ikinghi / Mariout / 24.6.24 [w, h] // Coll. Alfieri / Egypte [w, p] // F. Monros / Collection / 1959 [w, p] // Tituboea / olivieri / Lac. [h] / F. Monrós det. 19 [p] 57 [w, h] // NEOTYPUS, / Clythra (Tituboea) / olivieri / Lacordaire, 1848 / J. Bezděk des., 2018 [r, p]” ( USNM).

Other material

EGYPT: 1 ♂, Ikinghi, Mariout, 28 May 1924, A. Alfieri leg. ( USNM); 1 ♂, Ikinghi, Mariout, 12 Jun. 1925, A. Alfieri leg. ( USNM).

LIBYA: 1 ♀, Misurata, 20 Jan. [without year of collecting], Bačovský leg. ( JBCB).

TUNISIA: 2 ♂♂, Gabes, without date of collecting, J. Obenberger leg. ( NMPC) .

Type localities

Clythra olivieri

EGYPT: “Égypte”.

Tituboea femoralis

TUNISIA: Sfax.

Comments

Lacordaire (1848) described Tituboea olivieri from Egypt based on material received from Chevrolat, but did not specify the number of specimens, only explicitly mentioning the unknown female. Lefèvre (1872) noted only one male in Chevrolat’s collection (presumably the holotype) and published a colour drawing of its habitus ( Fig. 8E ). Unfortunately, the type has not been traced in either the MNHN or BMNH, where Clytrini from Chevrolat’s collection are deposited now. I treat the holotype as lost.

Recently, I examined 3 specimens from Egypt deposited in USNM, which exactly match the colouration published in Lefèvre (1872). Surprisingly, these specimens are conspecific with Tituboea femoralis ( Fig. 8C ) but with the black pattern extended in comparison with the specimens from Tunisia and Libya. I decided to designate one of the males as a neotype ( Fig. 8A ) to fix the identity of Tituboea olivieri and, subsequently, to propose Tituboea femoralis as a new synonym of Tituboea olivieri .

Figures

Fig. 8. Tituboea olivieri (Lacordaire, 1848). A–B. Neotype, ♁, 9.4 mm (USNM). A. Dorsal view. B. Labels. C–D. Holotype of T. femoralis Medvedev, 1962 (HNHM). C. Dorsal view. D. Labels. E. Drawing of T. olivieri from Lefèvre (1872). F. Aedeagus in dorsal and lateral views, ♁, Tunisia, Gabes (NMPC).