Colposcelis (Turcmenicola) jachontovi ( Bogatchev, 1952 )

Bekchanov, Norbek Kh., Nabozhenko, Maxim V. & Bekchanova, Mokhira Kh., 2023, Review of the subgenus Turcmenicola Bogatchev, 1952, the genus Colposcelis Dejean, 1834 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Tentyriini), Zootaxa 5375 (4), pp. 550-564 : 552

Colposcelis (Turcmenicola) jachontovi ( Bogatchev, 1952)

( Figs 1 , 2 )

Bogatchev 1952: 44 ( Turcmenicola ); Jachontov & Davletshina 1956: 32 ( Turcmenicola ); Skopin 1961a: 25, 26 ( Colposcelis ( Scelocolpis )); Skopin 1968: 103 (part); Medvedev 1970: 405 ( Colposcelis ( Turcmenicola )); Pirnazarov 1973: 14 ( Colposcelis ); Mitroshina 1988: 1587, 1588 ( Colposcelis ) (unknown species, comments below); Medvedev & Nepesova 1985: 66 ( Colposcelis ); Bekchanov et al. 2023: 175 ( Colposcelis ( Turcmenicola )).

= Colposcelis (Turcmenicola) kerzhneri Medvedev, 1970: 406 , syn. n.

Type material. Colposcelis jachontovi : Holotype, ♀ ( ZIN): goldish circle, “ Turkmenia prov. Tashauz KunjaUrgenchsh distr. V. A. Davletshina [on the reverse side]”, “ Turkmenicola n. gen. jachontovi sp. n. m Holotypus A.Bogačev det.” (handwritten by A.V. Bogatchev), “Holotypus” (printed, red, by curators).

Colposcelis kerzhneri : Holotype, ♂ and 69 paratypes (sex undetermined) ( ZIN): “ Bukhar. obl. Ayakagytma 20 IV 965 G. Medvedev ” [Bukhara Region, Ayakagytma] (Cyrillic printed label with handwritten date). The holotype and one paratype have also handwritten label of A.V. Bogatchev “ Turcmenicola jachontovi m. A.Bogatchev det.”. 7 paratypes (sex undetermined) ( ZIN): “Aznek, 70 km Yu Tamdybulaka 7 IV 966 G. Medvedev ” (Cyrillic printed label with handwritten date).

Notes. A.V. Bogatchev pinned his label “ Turcmenicola jachontovi ” with correct determination of C. kerzhneri . He did not synonymize this name in literature, probably giving this prerogative to G.S. Medvedev. Prof. Gleb Medvedev indirectly admitted that Prof. Aleksey Bogatchev was right, because in the key to Turkmenian Tenebrionidae ( Medvedev & Nepesova 1985) he added to the range of the species (which was known until 1985 from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan) Kyzylkum desert in Uzbekistan (the population described by Medvedev as C. kerzhneri ). However, the formalities were not followed and C. kerzhneri is still considered valid. After studying the type material, we confirm the following synonymy: Colposcelis jachontovi ( Bogatchev, 1952) = Colposcelis kerzhneri Medvedev, 1970 , syn. n.

We were not able to determine which species have been listed by Mitroshina (1988) from southern Ustyurt ( Turkmenistan) under the name Colposcelis jachontovi . Materials of this author is absent in ZIN and were probably lost. Skopin (1964) mentioned C. jachontovi from Mangyshlak (Western Kazakhstan). This record belongs probably to C. ustyurtensis sp. n., which is known from Ustyurt plateau in Western Kazakhstan. In a later publication, Skopin (1968) presented the range of C. jachonotvi which included NW Kyzylkum and NE Aral Sea region up to western part of Karatau (meant a ridge in Karakalpakstan along the Amudarya River). As shown below, a new species C. khudoybergani sp. n. occurs in Karatau and its environs.

Bekchanov et al. (2023) determined the newly discovered species C. khudoybergani sp. n. as C. jachontovi .

Distribution and bionomics. Kazakhstan:NW Kyzylkum and the NE Aral Sea region( Skopin 1968), Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan: the Amudarya valley ( Bogatchev 1952; Skopin 1968). Records from Mangyshlak ( Skopin 1964) and southern Ustyurt ( Mitroshina 1988) need confirmation. Medvedev (1970) collected many specimens on stony slopes of the outcrop without vegetation, under stones and on takyr-like solonchaks at night. The species inhabits biotopes with tight takyr-like gravelly soils with Anabasis ( Skopin 1968) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Colposcelis jachontovi, habitus, details of structure and labels.A = Holotype, ♂, habitus dorsally; B = Holotype of C. kerzhneri, ♂, dorsally; C = paratype of C. kerzhneri, ♀, dorsally; D = labels of the holotype of C. jachontovi; E = labels of the holotype of C. kerzhneri; F = thorax and abdominal ventrite 1, female, ventrally.

FIGURE 2. Colposcelis jachontovi, details of structure. A = head dorsally; B = apical antennomeres, female; C = tegmen of aedeagus; D = median lobe of aedeagus; E = male inner sternite and tergite VIII; F = spiculum gastrale.