Pogonistes testaceus testaceus (Dejean, 1828)

Figs 1C, 3C, 4C

Pogonus testaceus testaceus Dejean, 1828: 20 .

Diagnoses

Tegument testaceous. Pronotum sub-cordiform, scarcely narrowed in its posterior region (smooth sinuosity); anterior angles protruding. Elytra parallel and convex, sub-cylindrical, with the posterior half slightly depigmented.

Material examined

SPAIN • 1 ♂; Vuillefroy leg.; Pérez Arcas coll., MNCN • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀; Alicante, Albufera de Elche; Apr. 1934; C. Bolívar leg.; MNCN • 3 ♂♂, 1 ♀; Alicante, Santa Pola; 29 Apr. 1985; T.G. Sempere leg.; VMO • 2 ♀♀; 17 Jan. 1983; VMO • 3 ♂♂; Valencia, Los Valles; Morote leg.; MNCN .

Description

Habitus (Fig. 1C). Length: 5.5–6.0 mm. Tegument with some regions more pigmented than others. Head brown, slightly darker than the rest of the body. Pronotum with the base as, or almost as, wide as the anterior margin of the elytra and with well-visible punctuation. Elytral striae with almost superficial punctutation, considerably more tenuous than in other species of the tribe. Legs slightly lighter than the rest of the body. Median lobe of the aedeagus (Fig. 3C) wider than in P. gracilis and with the apex less developed.

Chorology

Species distributed along the West Mediterranean: the subspecies P. testaceus testaceus is present in North Africa (records from Argelia), the Iberian Peninsula and along the French coast (Español 1964; Bousquet 2017); the subspecies P. testaceus graecus (Apfelbeck, 1904) is known from Bulgaria and Greece (Bousquet 2017).

Ibero-Balearic distribution (Fig. 4C): in the Iberian Peninsula, the species is present along the Mediterranean coast ranging from Tarragona to Alicante (Spain). On the Balearic Islands, it is present in Menorca and Ibiza.

Biology

It was suggested that this species prefers the most high-saline environments (Sauleda 1985), which could explain why its distribution in the Iberian Peninsula is restricted to the Mediterranean coast, where it can be a common element (Español 1964). Imagoes present all year, with a peak of activity in spring (Sauleda 1985).

Bibliographic Ibero-Balearic records

Aistleitner & Lencina 2018; Compte Sart 1968; Español 1964; Jeanne 1968, 1978; Sauleda 1985; Serrano et al. 2015, 2021; Zaballos & Jeanne 1994.