Criorhina ranunculi (Panzer, 1804)

Fig. 2

Examined material. IRAN, North Khorasan province: 1 ♂, Dasht, 37°18′N 56°00′E, 990 m, 16.v.1993, leg. A. Pazuki / M. Badii.

Remarks. The species C. ranunculi can be separated from other Criorhina species by the following combination of characters: katepimeron pilose; scutum and basal half of abdomen covered with blackish pile; hind femur strongly enlarged and swollen; hind tibia distinctly swollen; abdominal tergites lacking transverse fasciae of pollinosity; male genitalia as in Vujić & Milankov (1999: figure 1). The genus Criorhina was first recorded from Iran by Van Steenis & Gharali (2015) as C. portschinskyi (Stackelberg, 1955) . In the present study, both Iranian species of Criorhina were found: C. portschinskyi, in May, in the north of Elburz Mountains, at low altitudes, near the Caucasus (western Iran), and C. ranunculi, in Turkmenistan (eastern Iran). In the Palaearctic region, C. ranunculi is widely distributed in Europe eastwards to European parts of Russia (Vujić & Milankov 1999; Speight 2016).