Philomessor (Attumbrinus) cloueti ( Portevin, 1907 )

Vávra, Jiří Ch., 2015, Review of the subgenus Attumbrinus (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Cholevinae: Philomessor), with description of Philomessor lackneri sp. nov. from Morocco, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 55 (1), pp. 85-103 : 100-102

Philomessor (Attumbrinus) cloueti ( Portevin, 1907)

( Figs 5, 7 , 12 , 13 , 30 , 37, 38 , 48 , 53, 54 , 59 )

Catopomorphus (Attaephilus) Cloueti Portevin, 1907: 67 . Catopomorphus (Attaephilus) Cloueti: HATCH (1928) : 187 (catalogue). Philomessor (Attumbrinus) Cloueti: JEANNEL (1936) : 309 (monograph). Philomessor (Attumbrinus) cloueti: PERREAU (2000) : 109 (catalogue); PERREAU (2004): 147 (catalogue).

Type locality. ‘du Medjez-Amar: Mahouna 1400 m’ [ Algeria, Atlas Mts., Guelma Province, Mahouna near Medjez-Amar, 1400 m a.s.l.].

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE ( Fig. 30 ): J ( MNHN), ‘[label with adult specimen of worker of Camponotus (Myrmentoma) cf. spissinodis Forel, 1909] // Mahouna 1400 [m] [handwritten] / L. CLOUET DES PESRUCHES / à MEDJEZ-AMAR / Algérie [all printed] / 9/5.[18]98 [underside of the label, handwritten] // cloueti [handwritten] / [illegible text, handwritten] // TYPE [red label, printed] // MUSEUM PARIS / COLL. GÉNÉRALE [printed] // Messor / barbarus L [handwritten] // cloueti [handwritten]’.

Additional material examined. ALGERIA: ‘O. Kairous, Mouzaia [= Kairous wadi, Mouzaïa Mts.], v.1932, Peyerimhoff [leg.]’, 1 J ( MNHN).

Notes. Philomessor (Attumbrinus) cloueti ( Portevin, 1907) is known only in males; female remains undescribed. It was described by PORTEVIN (1907) after one male from the Mahouna Mountains in northern Algeria. JEANNEL (1936) published a further record from ‘O. Kairous, Mouzaia’ and subjoined that according to Peyerimhoff more specimens were collected in this locality. It is possible that there may have been some females among them, nevertheless JEAN- NEL (1936) mentioned no morphological female characters in the taxonomic part of his paper.

RŮŽIČKA (1996) published his key to the species of the subgenus Attumbrinus , in which he erroneously gives P. (A.) cloueti as missing the pubescence on mesotibiae. He studied the morphological characters only on the holotype (J. Růžička, Praha, pers. comm.), where the setae are glued together because of dirt and hence indistinct. In the specimen from Mouzaïa the pubescence on the inner margin of mesotibiae is clearly visible ( Fig. 48 ).

JEANNEL (1936: Figs 685–688) supplemented the original description by PORTEVIN (1907) with drawings of the habitus, antenna, metatibia with tarsus and dorsal view of aedeagus. In the present paper further morphological characters are presented, like the lateral view of aedeagus ( Fig. 5 ), the shape of the sternum VIII ( Fig. 7 ), and the shape of genital segment ( Fig. 12 ). Figures of the habitus of the type specimen ( Fig. 30 ), antenna ( Fig. 13 ), shape of pronotum ( Fig. 54 ), punctation and pubescence of elytra ( Figs 37, 38 ), as well as the shape and pubescence of meso- and metatibiae ( Figs 48 , 53 ) are given, too.

Biology. According to JEANNEL (1936) P. (A.) cloueti is a myrmecophilous species associated with Messor barbarus (Linnaeus, 1767) ( Hymenoptera : Formicidae ). The same taxon name is written also on the label beneath the holotype, but on another label ( Fig. 30 ) a worker of Camponotus (Myrmentoma) cf. spissinodis Forel, 1909 is mounted. Because this ant species is attached to the holotype of P. (A.) cloueti , we can presume that the holotype was collected by Clouet des Pesruches just in the nest of this ant, with which it is really associated. The holotype was collected at the altitude 1400 m a.s.l. (see data on the type label).

Distribution. Algeria: Mahouna near Medjez-Amar, Kairous in Mouzaïa Mts. ( Fig. 59 ).

Figures

Figs 1–8. 1, 3 – aedeagus in dorsal view; 2, 4, 5 – aedeagus in lateral view; 6–8 – sternum VIII in ventral view, males. 1, 2, 6 – Philomessor (Attumbrinus) lackneri sp. nov. (HT); 3, 4, 8 – P. (A.) bolivari Jeannel, 1936 (3, 8 – LT; 4 – Tizi-n-Tretten near Ifrane, Morocco); 5, 7 – P. (A.) cloueti (Portevin, 1907) (5 – HT; 7 – Kairous, Algeria).

Figs 9–12. Genital segments in ventral view, males. 9, 10 – Philomessor (Attumbrinus) lackneri sp. nov. (9 – PT, Tizi-n-Tretten near Ifrane, Morocco; 10 – HT); 11 – P. (A.) bolivari Jeannel, 1936 (HT); 12 – P. (A.) cloueti (Portevin, 1907) (Kairous, Algeria).

Figs 13–20. 13, 14 – antenna, males; 15 – antenna, female; 16 – stylus in dorsal view, female; 17, 19 – terga IX and X in dorsal view, females; 18, 20 – sternum VIII in ventral view, females, sv – spiculum ventrale. 13 – Philomessor (Attumbrinus) cloueti (Portevin, 1907) (HT); 14–17, 20 – P. (A.) lackneri sp. nov. (14 – PT, Tizi-n-Tretten near Ifrane, Morocco; 15, 16, 20 – AT; 17 – PT, Oukaïmeden, Morocco); 18, 19 – P. (A.) bolivari Jeannel, 1936 (Oukaïmeden, Morocco).

Figs 30–32. General habitus of types with original labels, males. 30 – Philomessor (Attumbrinus) cloueti (Portevin, 1907), holotype; 31 – P. (A.) bolivari Jeannel, 1936, lectotype; 32 – P. (A.) henroti Růžička, 1996, holotype. An asterisk ‘*’ denotes upper and under side of the same label.

Figs 33–40. 33, 35, 37, 39 – punctation of elytron in dorsal view, males; 34, 36, 38 – pubescence of elytron in lateral view, males; 40 – posterior margin of pronotum in posterolateral view, male. 33, 34 – Philomessor (Attumbrinus) lackneri sp. nov. (PT, Oukaïmeden, Morocco); 35, 36 – P. (A.) bolivari Jeannel, 1936 (Oukaïmeden, Morocco); 37, 38 – P. (A.) cloueti (Portevin, 1907) (Kairous, Algeria); 39, 40 – P. (A.) henroti Růžička, 1996 (HT).

Figs 41–48. 41 – protarsus, male; 42 – protibia in dorsolateral view, male; 43, 47 – protarsus, females; 44, 46, 48 – mesotibia in lateral view, males; 45 – detail of basal protarsomeres, female. 41–45 – Philomessor (Attumbrinus) lackneri sp. nov. (41, 42, 44 – PT, Oukaïmeden, Morocco; 43, 45 – AT); 46, 47 – P. (A.) bolivari Jeannel, 1936 (Oukaïmeden, Morocco); 48 – P. (A.) cloueti (Portevin, 1907) (Kairous, Algeria).

Figs 49–54. 49, 51, 53 – metatibia in lateral view, males; 50 – antenna, male; 52 – antenna, female; 54 – pronotum, male.49 – Philomessor (Attumbrinus) lackneri sp. nov. (PT, Oukaïmeden,Morocco); 50–52 – P. (A.) bolivari Jeannel, 1936 (Oukaïmeden, Morocco); 53–54 – P. (A.) cloueti (Portevin, 1907) (Kairous, Algeria).

Fig. 59. Distribution of Philomessor (Attumbrinus) Jeannel, 1936 in the northwest of Africa.