Microhoria berrai, Telnov & Degiovanni, 2024

Telnov, Dmitry & Degiovanni, Augusto, 2024, Notes On Some Greek Microhoria Chevrolat, 1877 (Insecta: Coleoptera: Anthicidae) With New Descriptions And Synonymy, Acta Biologica Universitatis Daugavpiliensis 24 (1), pp. 81-127 : 86-90

Microhoria berrai sp. nov. ( Figs. 4‒5 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:90689928-9A07-4B55-9E65-EC0510358B9F

Type material designated. Holotype 1♂ ADC ( Fig. 4A‒B ): GR CRETA 1000 m ALTOPIANO DI OMALOS 29 LUG 04 PYRUS, CRAT. M. BERRA LEG. [printed].

Paratypes 4 specimens. 1♂ ADC: same label as holotype; 1♂ ( Fig. 4C ), 1 not sexed specimen MNHN: [small black square label with no text] // Ins. Creta Reitter. [printed, black frame] // Coll. Reitter [handwritten] // rubriceps Pic [handwritten] // type [handwritten] // TYPE [printed, label red] [the two specimens from the MNHN are the paralectotypes of M. rubriceps ( Pic, 1896) (see Telnov 2022)]; 1♂ IRSNB: Creta or. Vrysaes + 400 m. St.65 30–IV–̛31 (Orch.) [printed, upper side of the label] 362 [handwritten, underside of the label] // Reg. Mus. Hist. Nat. Belg. I. G. 9642 [printed].

Note. Pic (1986: 180) described Anthicus rubriceps from ‘ Syrie, Crète, Cyclades’. Telnov (2022: 282) discovered and redescribed a male syntype from ‘Syrie’ and designated it as the lectotype to maintain the

86 nomenclatural stability driven by the fact that ‘Syrie’ was listed first among the type localities for this taxon. Two other syntypes (one male, one not sexed) from ‘Ins. Creta’, became paralectotypes. Telnov (2022) suggested that the paralectotypes of M. rubriceps from Crete are mislabelled or belong to a different species. We here demonstrate that the two paralectotypes from Crete (see Differential diagnosis below) are not conspecific with the lectotype M. rubriceps and make them paratypes of M. berrai sp. nov. The type material of M. rubriceps from ‘Cyclades’ has not been found by any previous or present study, and it remains unknown to which species it belongs. The variety ‘ rubronotatus ’ ( Pic 1896: 180) from Dodecanese Islands is treated as a separate species by Telnov (2022).

Correction. The figure of a paralectotype of M. rubriceps in Telnov (2022 fig. 47C) refers to a male and not a female specimen as is mistyped in the paper.

Etymology. Patronymic. Named for Marco Berra (Cremona, Italy), one of the collectors of the type series.

Notes on Some Greek Microhoria Chevrolat, 1877 ( Insecta: Coleoptera : Anthicidae ) with New Descriptions and Synonymy

Description. Holotype male, total body length 2.55 mm. Head 0.6 mm long, across compound eyes 0.5 mm wide, pronotum 0.45 mm long, maximum width 0.45 mm, elytra 1.5 mm long, maximum combined width 0.9 mm. Paratype from Vrysaes 2.2 mm long. Head and pronotum pale rufous, head slightly darker, elytra black-brown. Mouthparts, antenna, and legs yellow to pale rufous, antennomeres 9‒11 somewhat darkened. Venter black-brown, mesosternum pale rufous. Head slightly longer than wide, head base and posterior temporal angle rounded. Compound eye large, strongly protruding from lateral outline of head, much longer than short, rounded tempus. Head dorsum moderately glossy, moderately densely and deeply punctate. Intervening spaces smooth, about as wide as to 3× as wide as punctures. Dorsal cranial setae yellowish, moderately long and dense, not fully appressed. Antenna hardly enlarged in apical third, extending slightly beyond humeral area of elytra. Antennomere three slightly longer

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Dmitry Telnov, Augusto Degiovanni than antennomere two. Antennomeres 5‒10 shorten gradually. Penultimate antennomere slightly longer than wide. Terminal antennomere elongate, apically rounded, twice as long as penultimate antennomere, shorter than combined length of antennomeres 9–10. Terminal maxillary palpomere securiform. Pronotum as long as wide, narrower than head across eyes, broadly rounded to medially subtruncate at anterior margin, broadly rounded at anterolateral angles. Pronotal disc moderately glossy, flattened in dorsal aspect. Lateral margins of pronotum converge in posterior half. Latero-basal pronotal fovea broad and deep. Pronotal punctures about as large and coarse as those on head dorsum. Intervening spaces slightly wider than punctures, smooth. Dorsal pronotal setation similar to that on head. Scutellar shield small, apically broadly rounded, minutely punctate. Elytra about 1.6× as long as wide, laterally subparallel to very broadly rounded, rounded at apex, dorsally flattened. Humerus distinct, broadly rounded. Apex of elytron modified, with short, acutely angulate denticle-like process at gland channel opening ( Fig. 5A ). Elytral surface moderately glossy, punctures slightly larger and less regular than those on forebody, variable shaped. Intervening spaces variable, generally twice to 3× as wide as punctures. Elytral setae pale yellowish, moderately long and dense, subdecumbent, directed posteriorly. Metathoracic wings fully developed (functional). Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Basal metatarsomere about as long as combined length of remaining metatarsomeres. Tergite VII truncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII broad, rather deeply emarginate medially at posterior margin, with a long seta each side of emargination ( Fig. 5C ). Tergite VIII rounded at posterior margin and with numerous short setae ( Fig. 5D ). Morphological sternite IX Yshaped, lateral arms long ( Fig. 5D ). Aedeagus ( Fig. 5B ) short-cylindrical, tegmen apex short, slightly curved; endophallic armature of a

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single long hook-like spine.

Sexual dimorphism. Female was not available for study.

Intraspecific variability. The ♂ paratype from Vrysaes is entirely black-brown except for pale yellowish brown antennomeres 1–5 and brown legs.

Differential diagnosis. Microhoria berrai sp. nov. belongs to the M. terminata species group as defined by Kejval & Chandler (2020). In the general appearance and colouration, it strongly resembles several similarly coloured congeners from the eastern Mediterranean (for instance, M. emaciata ( Pic, 1896) , M. rubriceps ( Pic, 1896) , M. rubronotata ( Pic, 1896) , and some specimens of M. terminata (W.L.E. Schmidt, 1842)) but is peculiar in the shape of the aedeagus, the more broadly rounded elytral apex (the elytra narrower apically in M. emaciata and M. rubriceps ), the presence of the acute apical denticle-like process on the elytral apex (the gland channel opening not denticulate in M. emaciata ), the less distinctly bicoloured antenna (the antenna pale yellow with four terminal antennomeres contrastingly darker in M. emaciata and three – in M. rubronotata ), and the medially emarginate posterior margin of the male morphological sternite VII (not emarginate in M. emaciata , M. rubriceps , M. rubronotata , M. terminata ); the similarly but shallower emarginate morphological sternite VII present in M. basithorax (see redescription above), but this species is almost entirely dark coloured (except in some specimens, see above) and the aedeagus is different.

Ecology. Occurs at 1000 m. Some paratypes sampled from Pyrus sp.

Distribution. Greece: Crete.

Chorotype. E-Mediterranean (3.03 EME).

Notes on Some Greek Microhoria Chevrolat, 1877 ( Insecta: Coleoptera : Anthicidae ) with New Descriptions and Synonymy

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Dmitry Telnov, Augusto Degiovanni

Figures

Figure 4. Microhoria berrai sp. nov. A – Holotype ♂ M. berrai sp. nov., habitus, dorsal view; B – ditto, forebody, dorsal view; C – Paralectotype ♂ M. rubriceps (Pic, 1896), habitus, dorsal view; [not to scale]. Images: A. Degiovanni & D. Telnov.

Figure 5. Microhoria berrai sp. nov., ♂ paratype from Altopiano Di Omalos, Crete. A – Apex of elytra; B – Aedeagus, lateral view; C – Morphological sternite VII, ventral view; D – Tergite VIII & morphological sternite IX, dorsal view [not to scale]. Images: A. Degiovanni & D. Telnov.