Orthomus barbarus barbarus (Dejean, 1828)

(Figs 1-3)

Feronia barbara Dejean, 1828: 261 (type locality: “dans le midi de la France, particulièrement dans les îles qui sont à l‟entrée du port de Marseille ”)

Orthomus hespericus Motschulsky, 1849: 73 (type locality: “principalement aux environs de Carthagène”), new synonym

Orthomus barbarus var.? Motschulsky, 1849: 73

Orthomus barbarus expansus Mateu, 1957: 94 (type locality: very numerous localities in the Peninsula Iberica, see under description)

Orthomus barbarus expansus form. logronicus Mateu, 1957: 98 [unav.]

Type material of Orthomus hespericus Motschulsky, 1849 .

Motschulsky‟s description of Orthomus hespericus, coming from “principalement aux environs de Carthagène”, based on six specimens, one of which is still preserved in ZMMU (Kelejnikova 1976: 200), and which we could investigate. It deals with a pinned male in somewhat teneral condition, and with some parts of appendages missing (Fig. 1), it is designated as lectotype by present designation, labeled: “ Orthomus hespericus Hisp. m. m” “[handwritten by Motschulsky, faded white label] // [blank, red label] // “Zool. Mus. Mosc. Univ. (Moscow, RUSSIA) ex coll. V.I. Motschulsky” [printed, white label]. Additionally with labels, subsequently added: “ LECTOTYPE Orthomus hespericus Motschulsky, 1849 des. Guéorguiev & Wrase 2015” [black print on red label] and “ Orthomus barbarus barbarus (Dejean, 1828) det. Guéorguiev & Wrase 2015” [black print on white label]. After the dissection and photographing of the habitus, the specimen was glued on white card. Its genitalia were placed on the same card in Canada balsam.

Other material examined.

SPAIN: - Albacete: 1 ♂, La Roda, northern highway exit, 28.II.1999, D.W. Wrase leg. (cWR); 1 ♂, Villapalacios Rio Gualdemena, 38°35‟ N / 002°40‟ W, 20. V .2002, W. Starke leg. (cWR). - Alicante: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Benidorm, 1. V .1982 (cWR); 2 ♂, 2 ♀, Benidorm, VI 1986, J. Ferrer leg. (cWR); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, La Marina, 12.IV.1984, Barries & Cate leg. (cWR) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Torrevieja, 10.IX.1987, Sermet leg. (cWR) ; 1 ♂, 2 ♀, Laguna Salinas, 11.IV.1990, A. Ruiz-Tapiador leg. (NMNHS) ; 1 ♀, Sierra Bernia, Alón, 900 m, 28.II.1999, D.W. Wrase leg. (cWR) . - Almería: 1 ♂, Sierra Maria, 15.IV.1984, F. Bajet leg. (cWR) ; 1 ♂, Playa de Vera, 15. VI .1987, M. Tomás leg. (NMNHS); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Ragol, Rio Andarax, 450 m, 14. V .1988, L. Feller leg. (cWR). - Madrid: 3 ♂, 1 ♀, Boadilla del Monte, Valdepastores, 10 km W Madrid, 21./ 23.I.1998, D.W. Wrase leg. (cWR) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 2 km NW Batres, 20 km SW Madrid, 8.II.1998, D.W. Wrase leg. (cWR) . - Málaga: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Sierra de las Cabras, 19.XI.1983, Fernandez leg. (cWR) ; 1 ♂, Málaga, 13.IV.1990, Snižek leg. (cWR) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Sierra de las Cabras, Puerto de las Pedrizas, Villanueva de Cauche, 800 m, 27. V .1991, D.W. Wrase leg. (cWR); 2 ♀, Sierras de Tejeda, Competa, 600 m, 6.IV.1999, Chr. Bayer leg. (NMNHS) . - Murcia: 2 ♂, 2 ♀, Junilla, Sierra de El Carche, 1000 m, 21.III.1981, J.L. Lencina leg. (NMNHS, cWR) ; 1 ♂, Mazarrón, IX.1991, Ahrens leg. (NMNHS) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Caravaca de la Cruz, 27. V .1998, G. Sama leg. (cWR); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Murcia env., 103 m, 38.02° N / 1.09° W, 1. V .2009, E. & P. Hajdaj leg. (cWR). - Tarragona: 1 ♂, Pto. Tortosa, Iv 1987, F. Bajet leg. (cWR) ; 1 ♀, Montañas de Ulldecona, 5.I.1989, J. Lau leg. (cWR) . - Toledo: 1 ♂, 3 ♀, Esquivias, 17.XI.1985, M. Ortego leg. (cWR) ; 1 ♂, 3 ♀, Laguna de Tirez, N Villafranca, 24. V .1991, D.W. Wrase leg. (cWR); 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Quero, 4.VII.1996, D.W. Wrase leg. (cWR) . - Valencia: 1 ♀, Sierra de Bernia, Calpe, ca 1000 m, 38°39‟ N / 0°01‟ W, 31. V .2005, Th. Forcke leg. (cWR).

Systematic notes. The male syntype of Orthomus hespericus has been dissected and the aedeagus has been examined (Figs 2-3). The aedeagus, especially its basal half, is weakly chitinized, making it impossible to separate median lobe and parameres. The study revealed that this specimen is conspecific with the nominal subspecies of Orthomus barbarus (compare Bonadona 1979: 241, Figs 1-2), therefore we propose in this paper the following nomenclatorial act:

Orthomus barbarus barbarus (Dejean, 1828) = Orthomus hespericus Motschulsky, 1849, new synonym

In this way, we confirm the statement of Mateu (1957: 88) that the form in question belongs to the O. barbarus complex: “…el O. hespericus Mots. (= Feronia hesperica Mots.), de Andalucía sin más indicaciones, pertenecen al complejo de O. barbarus …”.

“ Feronia hesperica ” is a wrong interpretation used for the original binomen (Mateu 1957: 88; Lorenz 1998: 249; Bousquet 2003: 477; Guéorguiev et al. 2014: 38, 41), obviously no author has seen the original description, and probably it was also caused by the fact that in the older catalogues many taxa, today running under Pterostichus Bonelli, 1810 or Orthomus, were placed under the genus Feronia Latreille, 1816 and in the subgenus Orthomus (Marseul 1880: 43, 1882: 287), without indication of the original binomen.

Distribution. The nominate subspecies of O. barbarus is the most widely distributed taxon of the genus in the Iberian Peninsula (Mateu 1957: 94; Serrano 2013: 74; for lectotype designation, type locality, and other details of nomenclature and taxonomy see Bonadona 1979). It occurs mainly in the central and eastern regions of Spain, northwards reaching the middle Ebro Valley, and has a rather restricted distribution in southern France near Marseille. Mateu (1957: 98) also recorded the species under the name O. barbarus ssp. expansus from Portugal (Lagos), this was the source for the indication of Portugal in the updated checklist of the species of Orthomus (Guéorguiev et al. 2014: 40), but Portuguese findings could not be confirmed and refer without doubt to O. velocissimus akbensis Mateu, 1955 (see also Jeanne 1981: 45, with reference to Jeanne 1966: 10, and Serrano 2013: 74).