Drilus rufipes

Kundrata, Robin, Kobieluszova, Lucie & Bocak, Ladislav, 2014, A review of Drilini (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Agrypninae) of the Northern Levant, with description of a new species from Syria and a key to Levantine species, Zootaxa 3755 (5), pp. 457-469 : 466-467

Drilus rufipes (Baudi di Selve, 1871)

( Figs 6 , 12, 18 , 24 )

Malacogaster rufipes Baudi di Selve, 1871: 62. Drilus rufipes: Zürcher 1911: 243 .

Drilus reitteri Bourgeois, 1908: 241 ; Zürcher 1911: 243.

Material examined. 1 male, Syria, / Haifa // Syrie // Holotypus 1885 / Cydistus ♂ / Reitteri / Bourgeois // Coll. Reitter ( HNHM).

Diagnosis. Drilus rufipes is easily recognizable by its minute body size (3.0 mm), pronotum dark brown to black ( Fig. 6 ), and slightly serrate antennae ( Fig. 12 ).

Redescription. Male. Body small, elongate, 3.5 times longer than width at humeri, moderately convex dorsally ( Fig. 6 ). All parts of body dark brown to black, legs (except tarsi) and apical two abdominal ventrites yellowish to light brown; entire body covered with light brown to brown pubescence.

Head slightly hypognathous, including eyes as wide as anterior margin of pronotum. Surface of cranium basally coarsely wrinkled; moderately deeply punctured, with wide, shallow, glabrous depression between antennal sockets; semierect pubescence sparse basally and laterally, almost absent dorsally. Eyes medium-sized, hemispherically prominent, their frontal distance 2.3 times eye diameter. Mandibles moderately long, considerably curved, incisor margin with tooth in middle part, shiny. Maxillary palpi with apical palpomere narrow, with slightly compressed, obliquely cut apex; labial palpi tiny, apical palpomere pointed. Antennae 11-segmented, slightly serrate, robust, reaching third of elytral length, scapus long, robust, pedicel short, small, third antennomere 2.8 times longer than antennomere 2, antennomeres 3–10 slightly serrate, apical antennomere simple, longest ( Fig. 12 ).

Pronotum flat, widest in middle, 1.5 times wider posteriorly than length at midline. Anterior margin almost straight, lateral margins convex, posterior margin sinuate. Anterior angles obtuse, posterior angles inconspicuous, obtuse ( Fig. 18 ); surface of disc coarsely wrinkled, with sparse, semierect, long setae. Scutellum flat, triangleshaped, with apex rounded. Prosternum transverse, prosternal process short, slightly elevated medially. Mesoventrite narrow, v-shaped, with depression in middle part of frontal margin, hind margin rounded. Metaventrite large, trapezoidal, sparsely punctured. Elytra subparallel-sided, widest at humeri, 2.5 times longer than width at humeri, tapered apically, wrinkled, covered with semierect pubescence. Abdomen short, slender, ventrites covered with sparse, moderately deep punctures and sparse, long hairs. Legs slender, slightly compressed, with sparse, long, semierect setae, coxae long, robust, trochanters slender, obliquely attached to femora, tarsomeres 1–3 subequal in length, tarsomere 4 shortest, apical tarsomere long, claws simple, slender, slightly curved.

Male genitalia with phallus longer than paramerae, robust, considerably curved, parallel-sided in dorsoventral view; paramerae short, sparsely setose; phallobase robust, longer than paramerae ( Fig. 24 ).

Measurements. BL 3.0 mm, EL 2.2 mm, WH 0.9 mm, PL 0.6 mm, PW 0.8 mm, Edist 0.5 mm, Ediam 0.2 mm.

Distribution. Cyprus, Israel.

Remarks. Drilus rufipes belongs to the fauna of Cyprus and northern Israel, however, we include it here because its occurrence in the Northern Levant is highly probable. The border between the Northern and Southern Levant (i.e., between Syria and Israel) is artificial and there is no barrier for animal migration ( Genz 2012). Baudi di Selve (1871) described Malacogaster rufipes from Cyprus and Bourgeois (1908) described Drilus reitteri from mainland Levant (type locality: " Syrie "). Zürcher (1911) transferred M. rufipes to Drilus and synonymized Drilus reitteri under Drilus rufipes .

The type series of Drilus reitteri Bourgeois, 1908 should contain two syntypes; one syntype should be deposited in the collection of Bourgeois in MHNP (no syntype found) and the second syntype in the Reitter's collection in HNHM ( Bourgeois 1908). We found a specimen of Drilus in the Reitter's collection in HNHM which bears the type label " Holotypus, Cydistus reitteri Bourgeois, 1885 , ♂". The label was apparently written by a curator after the collection of Edmund Reitter was deposited in the museum. Cydistus Bourgeois, 1885 is a genus of uncertain position in Elateriformia ( Lawrence et al. 2010) with Cydistus reitteri Bourgeois, 1885 as the type species. The type specimen bearing the subsequently attached label Cydistus reitteri Bourgeois, 1885 is a Drilus and we consider it as a syntype of Drilus reitteri Bourgeois, 1908 .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. General appearance. 1 — Drilus adustus; 2 — D. akbesianus; 3 — D. bicolor; 4 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 5 — D. rectus; 6 — D. rufipes. Scale 2.0 mm.

FIGURES 7 – 18. Antenna. 7 — Drilus adustus; 8 — D. akbesianus; 9 — D. bicolor; 10 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 11 — D. rectus; 12 — D. rufipes. Pronotum. 13 — Drilus adustus; 14 — D. akbesianus; 15 — D. bicolor; 16 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 17 — D. rectus; 18 — D. rufipes. Scale 1.0 mm (Figs 7 – 12), 0.5 mm (Figs 13 – 18).

FIGURES 19 – 24. Male genitalia. 19 — Drilus adustus; 20 — D. akbesianus; 21 — D. bicolor; 22 — D. nemethi sp. nov.; 23 — D. rectus; 24 — D. rufipes. Scale 0.25 mm.