Macrosiagon ferruginea ( Fabricius, 1775 )

Batelka, Jan, 2011, Contribution to the synonymies, distributions, and bionomics of the Old World species of Macrosiagon (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 51 (2), pp. 587-626 : 599-600

Macrosiagon ferruginea ( Fabricius, 1775)

Mordella ferruginea Fabricius, 1775: 262 . Type locality: ‘ India orientali’.

Macrosiagon ferruginea: BEDEL (1895) : 185 (new combination).

Ripiphorus indicus Hope, 1831: 32 syn. nov. Type locality: Nepal.

For the complete synonymy of M. ferruginea see BATELKA (2008a).

Type material examined. Ripiphorus indicus . SYNTYPE: 1 ♀ (much damaged, part of legs and left antenna are missing, right elytron with large pin-hole) ( BMNH), ‘Type [p, round white label with red margin] // Indicus Hope [hw] // Indicus Hope / 4232. [hw] // Hardwicke / Bequest [p]’.

Additional material examined. BHUTAN: 2♀♀ ( NHMB), ‘ Wangdi Phodrang / 1300m [p] 6-9/6 [hw] // Nat.-Hist. Museum / Basel – Bhutan / Expedition 1972 [p]’. BURKINA FASO: 1 ♀ ( MRAC), ‘HAUTE VOLTA / Bobo- Dioulasso [p, for details of habitat see PAULY 1984] / 10.x.1979 [p/hw] / A. Pauly réc [p]’; 1 ♀ ( MRAC), ‘HAUTE VOLTA / Dingasso nr. Bobo [for details of habitat see PAULY 1984] / 28.9.1979 / A. Pauly réc [p]’. CAMEROON: 1 ♀ ( MRAC), ‘N. CAMEROUN: / Yagoua, 10°21N / 15°14E, 6.viii.1987 / Mitracarpus scaber [ Rubiaceae : Spermacoceae ] / A. Pauly réc [p]’. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: 1 J ( ZMHB), ‘Umgebiet / Bosum 1.-16.6. / 14 [1914] Tessmann S. [p]’; 1 ♀ ( JBCP), ‘CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. / Bangui – Binbo, 380 m / N 04°20′ E 18°32′, 19.-23. / J. Halada lg. 11. 2010 [p]’. EGYPT: 1 ♀ ( SMNS), ‘Egypt: Bitter Lake, 2km N / Fayid Mentha spicata / 1.-7.vii.1999 / leg. T. Osten [p]’. GABON: 1 ♀ ( MRAC), ‘GABON: Mandji / 30.xii.1985 / A. Pauly réc [p] // Borreria / verticil / - lata [p] [= Spermacoce verticillata L. ( Rubiaceae : Spermacoceae )]’; 1 ♀ ( MRAC), ‘GABON: Okala nr. / Libreville / 13.iii.1985 / A. Pauly réc [p] // Borrerria [sic!] / verticillata [p]’. INDIA: KASHMIR: 1 ♀ ( ZSMC), ‘NW-Karakorum / Gilgit Umg. [35°55′N, 74°17′E] / Chalt [p] / 15. VII [hw] 1959 / F. Lobbichler [p]’. KENYA: 2 ♀♀ ( JBCP), ‘Kenya, Eastern / Nguni 30.12. / N of Ngomeni / Lgt. Snížek 2007 [p]’ [on Sericocomopsis sp. , M. Snížek, pers. comm.]; 2 ♀♀ ( JBCP), ‘Kenya, Eastern / Nguni 27.4. / N of Ngomeni / Lgt. Snížek 2008 [p]’ [on Sericocomopsis sp. , M. Snížek, pers. comm.]. NAMIBIA: 9 ♀♀ ( SMNS, JBCP), ‘S. Namibia, Naukluft Park / East 1500 m, 24,15S / 16,14E, 7.-10.II.2010 / leg. W. Schawaller [p]’, [on Mentha longifolia, W. Schawaller , pers. comm.]. SENEGAL: 1 ex. ( MRAC), ‘Senegal: / Thiès / 24. vii. 1979 / A. Pauly réc [p] // FL 4 [p, on Spermacoce (= Borreria ) verticillata L. ( Rubiaceae : Spermacoceae ) (for details of habitat see PAULY 1984)]’. SUDAN: KORDOFAN: 1 ♀ ( ZSMC), ‘Dilling [12°03′N, 29°39′E] / E. Sudan [hw]’. YEMEN: 1 J ( NMPC), ‘E YEMEN, Jabal al Fatk / Hawf NE Al Ghaydah / N 16°40′ E 53°05′, 729 m / 12.-13.X.05 [2005], lgt. S. Kadlec // ex. coll. S. Kadlec / National Museum / Prague, Czech Republic [p]’.

Remarks. Ripiphorus indicus is a forgotten name. After its publication by HOPE (1831), the name was lost until BATELKA (2008b) included it in ‘ Ripiphoridae , nomina dubia’. The paper with the description (in PDF format) was discovered through the Google Book Search (Beta version). The type specimen of R. indicus is in all respects identical with Macrosiagon ferruginea and therefore it is proposed as a junior synonym of the latter.

Biology. Plant associations of the specimens mentioned in the Additional material are discussed in Discussion: Visited plants.

Distribution. Widely distributed species in the Old World. The record from Japan ( BATELKA 2008b) is most probably incorrect; it is based only on the publication of KÔNO (1936), but there is no particular record from Japan in this paper or in any subsequent papers, therefore the species thus should be removed from the known Japanese fauna. It is recorded here from Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Kashmir ( India), Namibia and Sudan for the first time.