Misolampus lusitanicus Breme , 1842

Rosas-Ramos, Natalia, Mas-Peinado, Paloma, Gil-Tapetado, Diego, Recuero, Ernesto, Ruiz, Jose L. & Garcia-Paris, Mario, 2020, Catalogue, distribution, taxonomic notes, and conservation of the Western Palearctic endemic hunchback beetles (Tenebrionidae, Misolampus), ZooKeys 963, pp. 81-129 : 81

Misolampus lusitanicus Breme, 1842

Misolampus lusitanicus Brême, 1842: 82. Terra typica: “Portugal”.

Studied material.

Portugal - Porto: Fervença - Eido, 585 m, 41°14'28.98"N, 7°57'00.34"W, 24-IV-2012: 23 exx. Spain - Castilla y León: León: Lago de la Baña, 1418 m, 42°15'23.2"N, 6°44'58.6"W, 22-VIII-2016: 1 ex. - Galicia: Ourense: Fumaces, 804 m, 41°56'50.2"N, 7°21'05.7"W, 20-XI-2012: 3 exx.; Sierra de Oneija [Queixa] (A. Kricheldorff leg.): 1 ex.

Diagnosis.

Total length 7.5-8.0 mm, one of the smaller species within the genus ( Reitter 1917; Español 1949; pers. obs.). Antennae relatively short, not reaching the base of prothorax ( Español 1949). Pronotum with relatively deep, dense, well-defined punctation covering all its surface. Elytra covered by dense punctation somewhat confused with shallow granulation, or partially erased at the disc (Fig. 5A-D ). Female genitalia figured by Palmer (1998). We have not observed any relevant morphological variability among the populations studied.

Geographic distribution.

Endemism of northern Portugal and northwestern Spain ( Löbl et al. 2008) (Fig. 6 ). Published records are very scarce but distributed in the district of Braga (Portugal) and provinces of León, Ourense, Pontevedra, and Zamora (Spain) ( Brême 1842; von Heyden 1870; Paulino de Oliveira 1894; Reitter 1917; De la Fuente 1934-1935; Español 1949, 1955, 1956; Español and Comas 1981; Novoa et al. 2014).

The material we studied includes recent representation from the provinces of León and Ourense in Spain, and from the Porto district in Portugal. To date, the species is only known from ten localities (Fig. 6A ). The potential distribution map locates high suitable areas for this species mainly in the northwestern region of the Iberian Peninsula (Fig. 6B ).

Notes on natural history.

Misolampus lusitanicus is a medium altitude species (altitudinal range 572-1680 m a.s.l.; 59% of records above 1000 m), typical of mountainous reliefs of northwestern Iberian Peninsula (Macizo Galaico-Leonés mountain range: Serra San Mamede-Queixa, Serra do Eixe, Serra do Gêres, Serra Segundeira y do Porto, Serra dos Ancares, Serras Occidentais and Montes de León). Geological substrates in its geographic range are mainly granite, gneiss and, to a lesser extent, quartzite, which form acid soils ( Vera 2004; Oliveira and Quesada 2019a, b). It occupies meso- and supra-Temperate thermoclimatic belts, and more locally meso- and supra-Mediterranean, mostly in the Atlantic European biogeographic province, in high rainfall regions, with ombrotypes humid and hyperhumid ( Rivas-Martínez 1987; Rivas-Martínez et al. 2002; Rivas-Martínez 2007). The species inhabits humid forest habitats, mainly of deciduous oak trees ( Quercus robur L., Q. pyrenaica ), hazel ( Corylus avellana L.), birch ( Betula pubescens ssp. celtiberica Rothm. & Vasc.), chestnut trees ( Castanea sativa ), and yews ( Taxus baccata L.), but also heathlands and rocky open areas covered by broom shrubs ( Cytisus oromediterraneus Rivas Mart. & al. and C. scoparius ) (see Izco 1987; Rivas-Martínez 1987; Costa Tenorio et al. 2005) (Fig. 5E, F ).

Adults are usually found at the base of trees, under bark, under stones or in leaf litter of forests ( Español 1956; Español and Comas 1981), but also under stones in mountain shrub-lands (pers. obs.). It has also been found in densely reforested areas with P. pinaster , and also in chestnut groves ( C. sativa ). It has not been recorded in sympatry with any other species of Misolampus , but it has been found in company of Coelometopus clypeatus (Germar, 1813) ( Tenebrionidae , Cnodalonini ) ( Español and Comas 1981). According to the limited available data, adults seem to be present all year round.

Figures

Figure 5.. Live specimens and habitat of Misolampus lusitanicus A-D live specimens of Misolampus lusitanicus from Spain (A, B Fumaces, Ourense C Laguna de La Bana, Leon) and Portugal (D Fervenca-Eido, Porto) E, F two examples of typical habitat of M. lusitanicus from E Sierra de Queixa (Ourense) and F Mountains of Sanabria (Zamora). Photographs by MGP.

Figure 6. A Geographic distribution of Misolampus lusitanicus. Map depicting the distribution range of the Iberian endemic Misolampus lusitanicus (red spot). Purple dots correspond to the species records, including both recent and old, as well as previously published data B potential geographic distribution of Misolampus lusitanicus: Red indicates areas of high suitability, and blue, areas of low suitability. Species distribution model was generated using MaxEnt v 3.4.1 (Elith et al., 2006) and the set of WorldClim v 2.0 (Fick and Hijmans 2017) environmental variables.