Tituboea mecheriensis Pic, 1895

Bezdċk, Jan & Regalin, Renato, 2015, Identity of species-group taxa of the Western Palaearctic Clytrini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) described by Maurice Pic and Louis Kocher, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (suppl.) 55, pp. 1-114 : 56

Tituboea mecheriensis Pic, 1895 , stat. nov.

( Figs 51–53 , 208–213 )

Titubaea octopunctata var. mecheriensis Pic, 1895: 13 (original description).

Tituboea octopunctata var. hypomelaena Bedel, 1921: 61 (original description), syn. nov.

Titubaea tredecimpunctata var. kocheri Pic, 1949b: 16 (original description), syn. nov.

Macrolenes janczyki Cobos, 1956: 169 (original description), syn. nov.

Antipa urikkana Tomov, 1983: 64 (original description), syn. nov.

Type localities. Tituboea octopunctata var. mecheriensis : ‘Mecheria’ [ Algeria]. Tituboea octopunctata var. hypomelaena : ‘Moyen Atlas: Bekrit’ [ Morocco]. Tituboea tredecimpunctata var. kocheri : ‘ Maroc:Ain-Kahla’. Macrolenes janczyki : ‘ Marruecos, Alto Atlas’. Antipa urikkana: ‘ Marokko, Urika’.

Type material examined. Tituboea octopunctata var. mecheriensis : SYNTYPES: 1 ♂, ‘Type [w, h] // v. mecheriensis / Pic n. v. [w, h] // TYPE [r, p]’ ( MNHN – coll. Pic); 1 ♂ 1 ♀, ‘Type [w, h] // TYPE [r, p]’ ( MNHN – coll. Pic).

Tituboea octopunctata var. hypomelaena : not examined. Not found in MNHN.

Tituboea tredecimpunctata var. kocheri : SYNTYPES: 1 ♂, ‘Ain Kahla / 2000 m (Kocher) [w, h] // 13 punctata / v. Kocheri / mihi [w, h]’ ( MNHN – coll. Pic); 1 ♂, ‘Aïn Kahla / 2000 – 7.48 [w, h] // 13punctata / v. Kocheri Pic [w, h] // TYPE [r, h] // [blank blue round label]’ ( PJCP).

Macrolenes janczyki : HOLOTYPE: ♂, ‘Fés Taghat / 25.V.30 [w, h] // Marokko / R. Ebner 1930 [w, p] // HOLOTIPO [r, p] // Macrolenes / janczyki / Holotipo / m. nov. sp. [h] / A. Cobos det. 1.956 [w, p]’ ( NHMW).

Antipa urikkana: HOLOTYPE: ♂, ‘ Marokko / Urika / Quedenfeldt S. [blue-gray label, p] // Coll.Fiori [w, p] //Antipa / urikkana sp. n. / V. Tomov det. 1981 [w, h] // Holotypus [r, p]’ ( ZMHB). PARATYPES: 1 ♀, ‘Marokko / Urika / Quedenfeldt S. [blue-gray label, p] // Coll. Fiori [w, p] // Antipa / urikkana sp. n. / V. Tomov det. 1981 [w, h] // Allotypus [r, p]’ ( ZMHB) ; 1 ♀, ‘ Marokko / Urika / Quedenfeldt S. [blue-gray label, p] // Coll. Fiori [w, p] // Antipa / urikkana sp. n. / V. Tomov det. 1981 [w, h] // Paratypus [r, p]’ ( ZMHB) ; 1 ♀, ‘ Marokko / Morbeya / Quedenfeldt S. [bluegray label, p] // Coll. Fiori [w, p] // Antipa / urikkana sp. n. / V. Tomov det. 1981 [w, h] // Paratypus [r, p]’ ( ZMHB).

Additional material examined. ALGERIA: Timgad , v. 1926, 1 ♂ ( NMPC) . TUNISIA: Tunis, v. 1930, 1 ♂, J. Obenberger leg. ( NMPC) ; Kairouan, 28.v.1930, 1 ♂, J. Obenberger leg. ( NMPC) .

Distribution. Algeria ( PIC 1895, present paper) and Morocco ( COBOS 1956, TOMOV, 1983). New species for Tunisia (present paper).

Comments. BEZD Ċ K (2013) synonymized Antipa urikkana with Tituboea janczyki . Now, having examined additional type material in MNHN we found three more taxa to be synonymized with the species reported as T. janczyki . Tituboea octopunctata var. mecheriensis is elevated to species rank as the oldest available name for this taxon and T. octopunctata var. hypomelaena , T. tredecimpunctata var. kocheri , Macrolenes janczyki , and Antipa urikkana are proposed as its new synonyms.

While the males of T. mecheriensis and T. octopunctata can be easily distinguished by the shape of aedeagus and protarsi ( Figs 51, 53–54, 56 ), the females are habitualy very similar. Identiħcation of both species can be supported by the colouration of the basal antennomeres. In T. octopunctata these are always pale orange, while in T. mecheriensis they are dark orange, usually antennomere I is darkened, sometimes all basal antennomeres black.

We were unable to locate the type material of T. octopunctata var. hypomelaena in MNHN but it is synonymized with T. mecheriensis based on the original description. BEDEL (1921) used only one character for the description of var. hypomelaena – completely black antennae. This character is typical just for T. mecheriensis .

Figures

Figs 51–56. 51–53 – Tituboea mecheriensis Pic, 1895: 51 – aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views); 52 –spermatheca; 53 – right male protarsus. 54–56 – Tituboea octopunctata (Fabricius, 1787): 54 – aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views); 55 – spermatheca; 56 – right male protarsus. Scale bars: 1 mm for Figs 53, 54 and 56; 0.5 mm for Figs 51, 52 and 55.

Figs 208–213. Tituboea mecheriensis Pic, 1895: 208 – male (7.1 mm); 209 – head of male; 210 – female (5.9 mm); 211 – head of female. 212–213 – Syntype of Tituboea octopunctata var. mecheriensis Pic, 1895 (male, 7.1 mm): 212 – habitus; 213 – labels.