Cerocoma (Meloides) confusa, Turco & Bologna, 2011

Turco, Federica & Bologna, Marco A., 2011, Systematic revision of the genus Cerocoma Geoffroy, 1762 (Coleoptera: Meloidae: Cerocomini) 2853, Zootaxa 2853 (1), pp. 1-71 : 31-33

Cerocoma (Meloides) confusa sp. n.

Figs 2O , 3O , 4O , 6O

Cerocoma muehlfeldi, Reitter, 1913: 192 (pars) (nec Gyllenhall, 1817).

Cerocoma (Cerocoma) syriaca, Kaszab, 1951: 263 , 267; Pardo Alcaide, 1977: 60; Bologna, 1979: 187 (nec Abeille de Perrin, 1880).

Cerocoma (Meloides) syriaca, Dvořák, 1990: 10 (nec Abeille de Perrin, 1880).

Type locality. “ Turkey, vilayet Izmir, 7 km S Altinova”. This is an Aegean coastal locality of northwestern Turkey, north of Bergama, characterised by xeric pastures with scattered individuals of Eryngium sp. and Daucus carota (Apiaceae) . All specimens were collected on wild carrot.

Type specimens. Holotype ♂ ( CB) and 22 paratypes, 14 ♂♂ (13 CB, 1 BMNH) and 8 ♀♀ (7 CB, 1 BMNH), with the following labels : Holotypus ♂ (and respectively Paratypus ♂ or ♀) / Cerocoma (Meloides) confusa n. sp. / F. Turco & M. Bologna des. 2009 (red, printed and handwritten) // TK 18 - Turkey - vil. Izmir / 7 km S Altinova , m 30, 30.vi.2005 / 39.15380°N – 26.85080°E / M. & M. Bologna & F. Turco (white, printed) .

Other material examined. This species is common in museums and private collections and we examined hundreds of specimens, in addition to types. Consequently we prefer to give here only general information on its distribution (see below) and refer to the faunistic catalogue (Appendix 1) for details.

Diagnosis. A Cerocoma belonging to the subgenus Meloides as defined in the present paper, in particular to the group of C. adamovichiana , according to the shape and colour of male antennae, head capsule and fore legs (tibiae and tarsomeres), and close to C. azurea . It differs from all other species of this group by the combination of the following male characters: antennal setation yellowish, setae under antennomere VII very long, last antennomere subtransverse and apically rounded; maxillary palpomere III in dorsal view very enlarged, rounded externally, IV distinctly asymmetrically enlarged from the base to apex, securiform in shape; protarsomere III distinctly shorter than V, without claws; protibial keel in lateral view very wide and high, not curved on its anterior margin, the maximum height almost in the most anterior portion.

Description. Body metallic green, paler on elytra; antennae (except for female antennomere I, black), maxillary and labial palpi, labrum, part of mandibles, frons and male frontal calli (except the inner portion, metallic), legs (except coxae and trochanters in both sexes and the basal sides of metafemora in female, metallic) orange; frons of female with a very small and narrow orange spot, sometimes extremely weak. Body setation pale yellow, quite long, spaced and thin, not lanuginose. Body length: 9–13 mm.

Head distinctly transverse, without a depressed area over the eyes, frontal area between calli present (as in C. adamovichiana , see Fig. 5D ), frons convex in female, eyes slightly bulged, inner portion of frontal calli completely metallic and densely punctate as the remaining surface of head, the external almost smooth; temples very short, converging in male. Male antennae extremely modified as in Fig. 2O , setation yellowish; antennomere I bearing a long, narrow and bent expansion on the external side and a dorsal keel very wide, high and apically curved; III– VIII more or less transverse and variously modified; V with short setae on distal face of ventral laminar expansion; VI with a tuft of long, erect setae and a very long, narrow and curved expansion on ventral side; IX transverse, apically rounded, dorsally slightly flattened and dorsal edge very weakly bilobate. Female antennae not modified, antennal club shorter than the preceding four antennomeres together, last antennomere elongate, slightly narrower at apex, maximum width about as long as the length of VI–VIII combined. Male maxillary palpomere III in dorsal view very enlarged, swollen and rounded externally, IV securiform, distinctly widened from the base to apex, particularly on one side ( Fig. 3O ); female palpomeres slender.

Pronotum wide, sides almost parallel and progressively curved anteriorly just after the middle, in male with two deep and wide oblique dimples on the anterior third, with a short and narrow longitudinal middle furrow. Male protibiae not depressed dorso-ventrally, in female the apical external angle only slightly pointed; protibial keel ( Fig. 4O ) in lateral view very wide and high, slightly curved on its anterior margin, the maximum height almost at the most anterior portion, without any angular prominence anteriorly; protibial spur pointed. Male protarsomere II with an apical dorsal bulge; III distinctly shorter than V, without claws. Meso- and metatibiae and tarsomeres not modified in both sexes; metatibial spurs different in shape: external spatulated, internal narrow and pointed.

Last male abdominal sternite not modified, posterior margin V-emarginate. Gonostyli, in lateral view, straight with apical lobes directed forward; apical lobes, in dorsal view, swollen and parallel. Apex of aedeagus pointed; aedeagal hooks subequal in size (the subapical slightly larger). Sclerotised hooks of endophallus small and very close to each other, subequal in size (the apical slightly larger), both pointing outwards ( Fig. 6O ).

Etymology. The name of this species (from latin, confusus = confused, mistaken) refers to its erroneous identification in both literature and collections as C. syriaca Abeille de Perrin.

Taxonomic remarks. As indicated above, C. syriaca Abeille de Perrin, 1880 is a synonym of C. barthelemyi . Indeed, after Abeille de Perrin’s description (1880), another undescribed species was always erroneously identified as C. syriaca by subsequent authors, including main taxonomic studies on the genus ( Kaszab 1951; Pardo Alcaide 1977; Dvořák 1990). Consequently, this species needs a new name and a formal description. Cerocoma barthelemyi and C. confusa n. sp. are clearly distinct because of many characters: (a) protibial dorsal keel distinctly higher in C. confusa ; (b) protarsomere V subequal to III in C. barthelemyi , but distinctly longer in C. confusa ; (c) a very dense tuft of black setae below antennomere VI in C. barthelemyi , almost or completely absent in C. confusa .

Distribution. Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, S Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, Jordan, Iran. Doubtful records from Slovakia need confirmation.

Cerocoma (Meloides) graeca Ma ř an, 1944

Figs 2F , 3F , 4F , 6F

Cerocoma graeca Mařan, 1944: 99 .

Cerocoma (Cerocoma) adamovichiana, Kaszab, 1951: 263 , 267, 271 (pars).

Cerocoma (Meloides) graeca, Dvořák, 1990: 4 .

Cerocoma (Cerocoma) graeca, Bologna, 1994: 23 .

Type locality. “ Veluchi bei Karpenission. ( Griechenland)” ( Mařan 1944). This mountainous area is located in central Greece.

Type specimens. The type and 3 cotypes, here designated respectively as lectotype and paralectotypes, have been examined:

Lectotype ♂: Veluchi / Graecia (white, printed) // TYPUS (pink, printed) // Cerocoma / graeca m. / Dr. Mařan det. (white, printed and handwritten) // LECTOTYPE ♂ / Cerocoma graeca / Mařan, 1944 / Turco & Bologna des. 2009 (red, printed) ( CNM). Left metatarsomeres III –IV are missing.

1 paralectotype ♂: Kreta: / Xyloskala / Rwr. Lg. VI.26 (white, printed) // COTYPUS (pink, printed) // J. Fleischer / Mus, Praha (white, printed) // Cerocoma / graeca m. / Dr. Mařan det. (white, printed and handwritten) // PARALECTOTYPE ♂ / Cerocoma graeca / Mařan, 1944 / Turco & Bologna des. 2009 (red, printed) ( CNM).

1 paralectotype ♂: Athos / (Macedonien) / A. Schatzmayr (white, printed) // COTYPUS (pink, printed) // Cerocoma / graeca m. / Dr. Mařan det. (white, printed and handwritten) // PARALECTOTYPE ♂ / Cerocoma graeca / Mařan, 1944 / Turco & Bologna des. 2009 (red, printed) ( CNM). Protarsomeres and left maxillary palp are missing.

1 paralectotype ♂: Veles Serbia / Coll. Purkyně (white, printed and handwritten) // COTYPUS (pink, printed) / / Cerocoma / graeca mař. / Dr. Mařan det. (white, printed and handwritten) // PARALECTOTYPE ♂ / Cerocoma graeca / Mařan, 1944 / Turco & Bologna des. 2009 (red, printed) ( CNM). Genitalia and last abdominal segment on a separate card. Right antenna is missing (antennomere I still present).

Description. Male. Body metallic green with long and sparse yellowish setae; legs, antennae and mouthparts, including maxillary palpi, orange; frontal calli (except for internal and posterior margins) and area between calli orange.

Head transverse with slightly protruding eyes. Maxillary palpi modified with palpomere II wide, flattened and curved; III swollen, long and slightly rounded on the external side; IV stout (about 2x as long as wide) and flattened with on edge abruptly widened and the other slightly sinuate ( Fig. 3F ). Antennae very modified with antennomere I bearing a long, narrow and bent expansion on the external side and dorsal keel wide, high and distally curved; III–VI very modified and ventrally expanded with antennomere; V with short setae on distal face of ventral laminar expansion; VI featuring a very long, narrow and curved expansion and a tuft of long and erect setae on ventral side; VII weakly expanded ventrally and with a less dense tuft of shorter setae on ventral side; IX transverse, apically rounded, dorsally slightly flattened and dorsal edge bilobate ( Fig. 2F ).

Pronotum elongate. Protibial keel short and slightly rounded in lateral view ( Fig. 4F ). Protarsi distinctly longer than protibiae and dorso-ventrally flattened with protarsomere II featuring an obvious dorsal bulge; protarsomere III about as long as V, excluding claws.

Gonostyli, in lateral view, straight, with apical lobes directed forward; apical lobes, in dorsal view, swollen and parallel. Apex of aedeagus pointed; aedeagal hooks subequal in size (the subapical slightly larger). Sclerotised hooks of endophallus subequal in size (the apical slightly larger), both pointing backwards ( Fig. 6F ).

Female. Not modified. Refer to key for diagnostic characters.

Taxonomy. This species was confused with C. adamovichiana in most literature (e.g. Kaszab 1951; Bologna 1986), but it is distinct from that species, which can be syntopic, at least by the elongate pronotum and protarsomere III as long as V.

Distribution. S Albania, Macedonia, Greece.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Male right antenna, lateral view: A, C. schreberi; B, C. martae; C, C. ephesica; D, C. prevezaensis; E, C. festiva; F, C. graeca; G, C. malatyensis; H, C. albopilosa; I, C. longiseta; J, C. barthelemyi; K, C. vahli; L, C. scovitzi; M, C. latreillei; N, C. adamovichiana; O, C. confusa; P, C. azurea; Q, C. turcica; R, C. muehlfeldi; S, C. schaefferi; T, C. prochaskana; U, C. dahli; V,C. bernhaueri; W, C. simplicicornis; X, C. gloriosa; Y, C. rapillyi; Z, C. marginiventris; AA, C. macedonica; AB, C. kunzei; AC, C. bodemeyeri. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Male right maxillary palp, dorsal view: for lettering refer to caption to Fig. 1. Scale bars = 1 mm (1: C–E, G–J, L– R, Y, AA–AC; 2: B, F, K, S–T, X, Z; 3: A, U–W).

FIGURE 4. Male right protibia, lateral view: for lettering refer to caption to Fig. 1. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 5. Male head, dorsal view: A, C. schreberi; B, C. scovitzi; C, C. vahli; D, C. adamovichiana; E, C. kunzei; F, C. schaefferi. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 6. Male external genitalia (from left to right: tegmen, dorsal and lateral views; aedeagus, lateral view): for lettering refer to caption to Fig. 1. Scale bars = 1 mm (1: A–E, H, L–M, R; 2: F–G, I–K, N–P, S–T, X–Y, AA–AC; 3: Q, U–W, Z).