Aphodius (Bodilus) insperatus Petrovitz, 1967

= Aphodius (Paramelinopterus) longipennis Rakovič, 1984, new synonymy

Type material examined. Aphodius insperatus: holotype, male at NHMW labeled: “ 13.V. 1965. 150km SW v. Quetta,”, “ 900m. Pakistan Kasy & Vartian”, “Aph. (Melinopt.) insperatus nov. Petrovitz ” . Paratypes (Figs. 1A, B, 2A, D): 2 males at MHNG with the same data as the holotype .

Aphodius longipennis: holotype (Figs. 1C, D, 2B, E), male at NMPC labeled: “Kalat-Muqur 9.VI.1967. Afghanistan ”, “ M. Daniel lgt. / by a trap on a lorry /”, “ Aphodius n. sbg. n. sp.! Dr. V. Balthasar det.”, “ HOLOTYPE Aphodius (Paramelinopterus) longipennis sp.n., sbg.n. doc. RAKOVIČ det.”, “ Holotypus ” .

Additional material examined. Iran: Khorasan, Sunni-Khane, 26-29.IV.1898, N.A. Zarudny leg. , 1 male (ZIN); East Horasan, Avaz, 26-29.IV.1898, 1 male (ZIN) ; Kerman, Bampur, 10.IV.1901, N.A. Zarudny leg. , 1 male (ZIN); Kerman, Sargad, Noukabad, 1.V.1901. N.A. Zarudny leg. , 1 male and 1 female (ZIN); Khorasan, Seistan, Lyutek, 18-24.V.1901, N.A. Zarudny leg. , 1 male and 1 female (ZIN); Mazenderan, Bender-Gez, 14.IX.1903, N.A. Zarudny leg. , 1 male and 1 female (ZIN).

Aphodius (Bodilus) inylchekensis Frolov, 2001, valid species

Type material examined. Holotype (Fig. 1E, F, 2F), male at ZIN labeled: “ Kirgizstan, 5 km S of Inylchek, 2100 m, 5./ 10. VIII.94, leg. Saldaitis ” “ HOLOTYPUS Aphodius inylchekensis A. Frolov det. 2000” . Paratypes (Figs. 1G, 2C): Kyrgyzstan: 2 males and 1 female at ZIN with the same data as the holotype .

Additional material examined. E. Kyrgyzstan: Aktal River, 80 km W of Naryn, E. Gur’eva leg., 2 females (ZIN) ; Issyk-Kul, Ak-Ulen, D. Panfilov leg., 1 male and 2 females (ZIN) ; Sary-Dzhas River basin, Tach-Koro Village, Kaindy- Ketta Mts., 1-10.VII.1999, A. Streltsov, 1 male (ZIN) ; Issyk-Kul Lake, Rybach’e, 3.VII.1936, D. Romashov, 1 male and 1 female (ZIN) ; Moldo-Too Range, Kurtka River, 1800 m a.s.l., 21.VII.1998, A. Klimenko leg., 3 females (ZIN) ; Lower Inylchek Valley, 2600-2700 m a.s.l., 22-25.VII.1989, Businský leg., 1 male and 1 female (ZIN) ; 8 km N of Bolshevik, Kyzyleshme Mts., 1627 m a.s.l., 08.VII.2017, A.V. Ivanov leg., 1 male and 1 female (ZIN) .

Aphodius insperatus was described from eastern Pakistan (Petrovitz 1967) and a few more series are known from Iran. Aphodius longipennis was described from a single specimen from southern Afghanistan and no more records of this species were reported. Aphodius inylchekensis was described from a series from Inylchek Valley, Kyrgyzstan, and now a few more localities are known, all from Kyrgyzstan. Petrovitz (1967) placed A. insperatus in the subgenus Melinopterus Mulsant, 1842 and compared it with A. hastatus Reitter, 1892 and A. gregarius Harold, 1871 . Rakovič (1984) did not compare A. longipennis with A. insperatus or other related species but established a separate subgenus Paramelinopterus for it. Frolov (2001) treated all the mentioned taxa in the subgenus Bodilus and proposed a few species-groups within this subgenus.

Comparison of the type specimens of A. insperatus and A. longipennis shows that they share the diagnostic characters of the A. gregarius species-group, specifically the strongly shortened and bent protibial spur, poorly visible in dorsal view, and a tuft of dense long setae on the apical protibial tooth ventrally (Figs. 2A, B). However, the two nominal taxa cannot be separated based on the type specimens which are similar in main diagnostic characters, namely in the shape of the protibial spur (Figs. 2A, B), aedeagus (Figs. 2D, E) and the habitus and coloration (Figs. 1A, C). Therefore a new synonymy is here proposed. On the other hand, A. inylchekensis can be easily separated from A. insperatus by the shape of the protibia being very wide proximad of basal protibial tooth (Fig. 2C), protibial spur being very long (3 times longer than in A. insperatus, reaching the middle of the second protarsomere), shorter aedeagus with wider parameres (Fig. 2F, in lateral view), more slender body with relatively smaller pronotum (Figs. 1E, G), darker and more uniform head and pronotum coloration and in some other minor characters. Accordingly, A. inylchekensis was placed in the A. sordescens Harold, 1869 species-group while A. insperatus was placed in the A. gregarius species group (Frolov 2001).

The known localities (Fig. 3) suggest that the ranges of A. inylchekensis and A. insperatus are widely separated. The former species is apparently endemic to the Tien Shan Mountain System while A. insperatus is known mostly from the Iranian Plateau.