Necrobia violacea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Japarashvili, Shota, Bulbulashvili, Natalia, Seropian, Armen, Chkhartishvili, Tinatin, Iankoshvili, Giorgi, Chitadze, Beka, Balkhamishvili, Sopio, Arsenashvili, Eka, Todua, Mariami & Memishishi, Aleksi, 2023, New and well-forgotten: DNA-assisted records of two beetle (Insecta, Coleoptera) species new for the fauna of Georgia with an update on the distribution of some other little studied taxa, Caucasiana 2, pp. 63-70 : 63

Necrobia violacea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Materials

Examined:

GEORGIA • Saghamo Lake; N41.2941°, E43.7309°; 2006 m a.s.l.; 11.10.2021; ISU, CaBOL ID: 1018769 (Fig. 5 ); leg: CaBOLD team;

Genetics: The BOLD Identification Engine indicated high similarity of the sequence yielded from the specimen with CaBOL ID 1018769 (BOLD: AAX0338) to the COI of Necrobia violacea from Germany (BIN ID: AAX0338, identity 99.85%).

Remarks:

To date, 16 species of Cleridae comprising 10 genera are known from Georgia ( Tarkhnishvili et al. 2013). Of the 14 species reported from Georgia by Zaitsev (1915) in his attempt to review the fauna of checkered beetles of the Caucasus on the basis of literature, his own collections, and the material stored in the collection of the Caucasian Museum (Currently the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia), he also reported N. violacea from Georgia. However, from this work, 4 species - N. violacea , N. rufipes (Fabricius, 1781), Korynetes caeruleus (De Geer, 1775) and Tillus elongatus (Linnaeus, 1758), have been overlooked by subsequent authors in the respective works ( Richter 1965; Krivolutskaya 1992; Löbl and Rolcik 2007), only indicating the “Caucasus” without specifying the exact location. The cosmopolitan N. violacea has a wide distribution range in the Palearctic region. It was reported from Georgia from Telavi, Tbilisi, Mtskheta, and Tana (Ateni Gorge) ( Zaitzev 1915). Although it is a predatory beetle, it shows necrobiontic behavior and often can be found on animal carcasses ( Krivolutskaya 1992). The morphology of the specimen from the bank of the Paravani River mouth at Saghamo Lake, collected from a cow skull, perfectly corresponds to the description provided in the keys by Richter (1965) and Krivolutskaya (1992). This new locality represents significant range expansion in Georgia.

Figures

Figure 5. Necrobia violacea (Linnaeus, 1758), Saghamo Lake. Scale bar = 1 mm.