Tituboea testaceiventris Pic, 1913

Bezdċk, Jan & Regalin, Renato, 2015, Identity of species-group taxa of the Western Palaearctic Clytrini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) described by Maurice Pic and Louis Kocher, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (suppl.) 55, pp. 1-114 : 61-62

Tituboea testaceiventris Pic, 1913

( Figs 63–65 , 223–225 )

Titubaea testaceiventris Pic, 1913d: 186 (original description).

Type locality. ‘ Syrie: Alep’.

Type material examined. SYNTYPE: 1♂, ‘ Alep / ( Syrie) [w, h] // desiré plusi … [w, h] // Titubaea / ... [partly illegible, w, h] // type [w, h] // testaceiventris / Pic [w, h] // TYPE [r, p]’ ( MNHN – coll. Pic).

Additional material examined. IRAQ: Abu Ghraib area, vii. 1993, 1 ♂, Smatana leg. ( FKCC).

Redescription. Body length: ♂♂ 4.4–4.5 mm (syntype 4.5 mm).

Male ( Fig. 223 ). Body orange, apices of mandibles black, antennomeres VI–VIII with darkened apices, IX–XI completely darkened, elytra orange with 4 black spots (2, 2), anterior pair of spots smaller, posterior pair larger and narrowly connected, meso- and metaventrites darkened, claws black.

Head and mandibles not enlarged ( Fig. 224 ). Mandibles small, left mandible longer, sharp. Labrum with anterior margin emarginated, lateral margins slightly convergent, anterior angles widely rounded, surface with group of 5–6 setae on each side anterolaterally, additional short setae placed on anterior margin laterally to central emargination. Head covered with dense short setae and small ħne punctures, only clypeus nearly impunctate and glabrous. Clypeus widely concave. Eyes small. Frons very wide, 2.81 times as wide as diameter of eye, interocular space shallowly impressed in middle. Antennae short, 0.27 times as long as body, antennomere I club-shaped, II and III very small, IV small, triangular, antennae serrated from antennomere V, antennomeres V–X wider than long.

Pronotum glabrous, lustrous, strongly transverse, 1.81 times as wide as long, widest in basal quarter, moderately convex, sparsely covered with ħne punctures and very sparsely with larger punctures. Anterior margin straight, lateral margins moderately rounded, convergent anteriorly, posterior margin nearly straight but moderately bisinuate in scutellar area. Anterior angles nearly rectangular with tip rounded, posterior angles widely rounded. All angles with setigerous pore bearing long pale seta. Lateral and posterior margins bordered, anterior margin bordered only in lateral parts, in middle border almost invisible. Posterior angles not elevated above elytral base. Scutellum triangular with rounded tip, glabrous, microsculptured, scutellar apex elevated above elytral level.

Elytra subcylindrical, 0.66 times as long as body, 1.43 times as long as wide in humeral part, glabrous, lustrous, densely covered with small confused punctures. Basal margin with complete thin border forming narrow elevated keel. Epipleura impunctate, glabrous, wide in anterior quarter, suddenly narrowed and disappearing in 1/4 of elytral length. Lateral margin of elytra widely concave in lateral view.

Legs. Protibiae moderately prolonged. Protarsomere I elongate triangular, twice as long as broad, protarsomere II triangular, 1.33 times as long as broad, length ratios of protarsomeres I–IV equal to 100-57-57-100 ( Fig. 64 ). Metatarsi short and slender, length ratios of metatarsomeres I–IV equal to 100-75-75-150. Claws simple.

Male genitalia. Aedeagus robust, apex subtriangular with widely rounded tip. In lateral view, apex hook-like ( Figs 63, 65 ).

Female. Unknown.

Variability. Male from Iraq has scutellum basally dark and gradually paler apically, meso-and metaventrites black, abdomen with ventrites I–III black laterally and procoxae darkened anteriorly.

Distribution. Syria ( PIC 1913d). Newly recorded from Iraq.

Comments. Tituboea ornaticollis Medvedev, 1957 from Iran may represent a synonym of T. testaceiventris according to the drawing of aedeagus in the original description (MEDVEDEV 1957). However, we avoid proposing this synonymy without examination of the holotype which was not available for the present study.

In habitus, T. testaceiventris is also similar to T. carmelica Lopatin & Chikatunov, 2001 from Israel (paratype examined, TAU, see Figs 61–62 , 226–228 ) and T. saudica Medvedev, 2012 from Saudi Arabia, but it can be distiguished by the shape of aedeagus: T. testaceiventris has apex hook-like in lateral view and separated from the rest of aedeagus by a sharp keel in dorsal view, while T. carmelica and T. saudica have apex directed up and without a keel in dorsal view. It is also evident that the structure of aedeagus of T. testaceiventris is close to other Iranian Tituboea species, particularly to T. pusilla Lopatin, 2001 and T. zarudnyi Lopatin, 2001 . Unfortunately, LOPATIN (2001) created his identiħcation key mainly based on colour characters which are extremely variable. Also, his drawings seem to be inaccurate. Thus, comprehensive comparison of the Iranian Tituboea is left for future studies.

The aedeagus of the syntype of T. testaceiventris is weakly sclerotized and particularly in lateral view unnaturally Ħattened ( Fig. 63 ). The correct drawings of aedeagus are based on the specimen from Iraq ( Fig. 65 ).

Figures

Figs 63–65. Tituboea testaceiventris Pic, 1913: 63 – aedeagus of syntype (dorsal and lateral views); 64– right male protarsus; 65 – aedeagus of male from Iraq (dorsal, lateral and ventral views). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figs 223–228. 223–225 – Tituboea testaceiventris Pic, 1913 (syntype, male, 4.5 mm). 223 – habitus; 224 – head; 225 – labels. 226–228 – T. carmelica Lopatin & Chikatunov, 2001 (paratype, male, 4.6 mm): 226 – habitus; 227 –head; 228 – labels.

Figs 57–62. 57–60 – Tituboea saadensis (Pic, 1894): 57 – aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views, from Algeria); 58 – aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views,from Mali); 59 – spermatheca; 60 – right male protarsus.61–62 – Tituboea carmelica (Lopatin & Chikatunov, 2001):61 – aedeagus (dorsal and lateral views); 62 – right male protarsus.Scale bar: 0.5 mm.