Stachygethes zarudnyi ( Kirejtshuk, 1984 )

Audisio, Paolo, Cline, Andrew R., Lasoń, Andrzej, Jelínek, Josef, Sabatelli, Simone & Serri, Sayeh, 2017, New species and records of pollen and sap beetles for Iran (Coleoptera: Kateretidae, Nitidulidae), Zootaxa 4216 (4), pp. 369-383 : 379

Stachygethes zarudnyi ( Kirejtshuk, 1984)

Examined material. IRAN: Lorestan Province, Zagros Mts, canyon joining Dorud to Sepiddašt , 33°24'N 48°58'E, 1400 m, 14.VI. 2014, leg. P. Audisio, on the white-flowering Salvia spinosa L. ( Lamiaceae ), 4 males, 5 females ( CAR, HMIM, NMPC).

This rare species was previously known from an unspecified locality in Northern Iran ( Kirejtshuk 1984) and a few localities from SE Provinces of Turkey ( Audisio 1993a, b; Audisio et al. 2000; Jelínek & Audisio 2007; Avgin et al. 2014). The new record on Salvia spinosa (a species not closely related to the previously known larval hostplant in SE Turkey, Salvia limbata C.A. Meyer : Audisio 1993a, b) demonstrates that this Stachygethes species is likely oligophagous on different white-flowering species of this genus, and lives in rather heterogeneous habitats (found in sandy areas along xeric, middle-altitude river flats in SE Turkey on Salvia limbata , and in xeric rocky meadows along abruptly sloping hill sides in Iran).