Utubius syriacus (Bolívar, 1893)

(Figs. 24, 141, 233–234)

Utubius syriacus zahrae Uvarov, 1936 confirmed syn.

Material examined. SYRIA: Syria, [Palmyra], Barrovi, Terre Sainte; 1♀ (Holotype) (MNCN) ; IRAQ: Qa’ara depression, Nr. H-2, 4.5.1950, 1♀ (leg. Y. Lazar) (NHMUK) ; SYRIA: 35° 10’ N, 40° 10’ E, to 35° 50’ N, 40° 35’ E, 3.6.1982, 1♂ (NHMUK); SAUDI ARABIA: Hail, 15.4.1971, 1♂ (leg. G. Popov) (NHMUK); KUWAIT: Arabia, Kuwait, 1♂ (Holotype of Utubius syriacus zahrae), 1♀ (Paratype of Utubius syriacus zahrae) (leg. Z. Y. Dickson) (NHMUK) ; E. Arabia, Kuwaid, 5.1936, 1♂; ibidem, 15.5.1939, 1♀ (det. Uvarov as Utubius syriacus zahrae) (ZIN) .

Remarks. Popov (1997: 133) synonymized the subspecies, U. syriacus zahrae Uvarov, 1939 with the nominotypical subspecies, with which I fully agree. But it was overlooked by subsequent authors. Massa & Fontana (1998: 73) recorded the nominotypical subspecies from Jordan. It is given as a valid taxon by Eades et al. 2016. Therefore I confirm here that it is a synonym of the nominotypical taxon.