Microhoria aspelia ( Truqui, 1855 )

Telnov, Dmitry, 2022, Revisional notes on the genus Microhoria Chevrolat, 1877 (Insecta: Coleoptera: Anthicidae) from the Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey, with new descriptions, an annotated catalogue, and a key, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 22 (2), pp. 195-312 : 207-209

Microhoria aspelia ( Truqui, 1855) ( Fig. 5 ) Anthicus aspelius Truqui, 1855: 363 (description).

Anthicus aspelius – Lacordaire 1859: 597 (checklist); Gemminger & Harold 1870: 2093 (checklist); Baudi di Selve 1878: 16 (checklist); Marseul 1887: 352 (checklist); Marseul 1879: 190, 210 (key, redescription).

Anthicus (? Immicrohoria ) aspelius – Pic 1911a: 34 (checklist).

Immicrohoria ) aspelius – Winkler 1927: 848 (checklist).

Microhoria aspelia – Hemp & Dettner 2001: 235 (informal new combination, proof of canthariphily); Chandler et al. 2008: 4438 (checklist); Kejval & Chandler 2020: 131 (assigned to the M. terminata species group); Telnov 2020a: 607 (checklist).

Type material not studied.

New material. 1 female MHNN: Akrotiri, lac sale (Limassol, Chypre ) 22­ IV­2010 // G. Alziar leg. ; 2 males NME: N­CYPRUS, Çamlibel, 6kmSW, Tepebasi, W, pine forest, Macchia , 180m NN, 35°18’10”N, 33°00’11”E, 30.III.2015, leg. A. Kopetz #25; 3 males & females, NME: CYPRUS S, 69 Lemessos, 15 km W Kourion, Küste 5 m NN Fritzlar leg. 8.IV.2009.

Supplementary description. Belongs to the M. terminata species group. Male from Macchia, Cyprus. Total body length 3.5 mm. Head black, pronotum pale rufous, elytra black to black­brown with two transverse, yellowish­orange spots on each elytron, both widely interrupted on suture, posterior spot not touching lateral margin of elytron. Antennomeres 2–4(5) yellowish­orange, remaining antennomeres dark. Femora brown, trochanters, tibiae and tarsi yellowish­orange. Venter dark brown. Head about 1.1× as long as wide, basal margin broadly rounded, tempora subparallel, posterior temporal angles rounded. Compound eye rather small, moderately protruding from lateral outline of head, about as long as tempus. Head dorsum glossy, punctures minute, moderately deep. Intervening spaces smooth, generally as wide as to twice as wide as punctures. Dorsal cranial setae yellowish, moderately long and dense, appressed to subdecumbent. Antenna slightly thickened in apical half. Terminal antennomere moderately elongate, apically bluntly pointed, about 2.2× as long as penultimate antennomere, as long as combined length of antennomeres 9– 10. Pronotum barely longer than wide, barely than head across eyes, glossy, broadly rounded at anterior margin. Lateral margins strongly constricted in posterior half. Pronotal disc slightly convex in dorsal aspect. Latero­basal pronotal fovea broad and deep, with dense, curved, yellowish setae. Pronotal punctures similar to those on head, intervening spaces glossy, about twice as wide as punctures. Pronotal setae yellowish, moderately long and dense, appressed. Elytra about 1.7–1.8× as long as wide, laterally subparallel, slightly widened postmedium, dorsally slightly convex. Humerus broadly rounded, not protruding.Apex of elytron modified, with minute, narrow, tubular process at gland opening. Elytral disc moderately glossy, punctures somewhat larger than those on pronotum. Intervening spaces generally slightly wider than punctures, smooth, glossy. Elytral setae yellowish, moderately long and dense, subdecumbent, directed obliquely laterally especially those on presutural area. Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII truncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin. Tergite VIII with a hair­like, membranous lamina. Aedeagus as in Fig. 5C–D , short and broad. Tegmen with hooked apex; endophallic armature of numerous, apically acute to obtuse angulate spinules.

Sexual dimorphism. Female somewhat more robust. Female elytron apex without modifications.

Ecology. Studied specimens sampled at 5 to 180 m elevation in a coastal area, the pine forest and at shore of a saline lake.

Distribution. Cyprus. Chandler et al. (2008) also mentions Greece, which was consequently followed by Telnov (2020a). However, there are no published or unpublished records from Greece known to me for this species.

Chorotype. SW­Asiatic (1.13 SWA). Here considered Cypriot endemic (3570.01 CYPR).

Figures

Fig. 5. Microhoria aspelia (Truqui, 1855) male from Tepebasi, Cyprus.A – Habitus, dorsal view; B – Forebody, dorsal view; C – Aedeagus, lateral view; D – ditto, apical portion [not to scale].