Macrosiagon grombczewskii ( Semenov, 1891 )

Batelka, Jan, 2011, Contribution to the synonymies, distributions, and bionomics of the Old World species of Macrosiagon (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 51 (2), pp. 587-626 : 600-608

Macrosiagon grombczewskii ( Semenov, 1891)

( Figs. 28–30 )

Emenadia grombczewskii Semenov, 1891: 377 . Type locality: Turkestan mer. [ Tajikistan], Wachia.

Macrosiagon grombczewskii: BEDEL (1895) : 185 (new combination).

Type material. HOLOTYPE: 1 ♀ (depostition see below), ‘Vachija. 3075 m / 27. VII. 89 / Grombczewskij [hw] // Type [p] // Emenadia / grombczewskii m. / ♀ un. typ. ex 5.X.89 [hw]’.

Type deposition. The species is known only from its original desription based on the female holotype. YABLOKOV- KHNZORYAN (1976) mentioned in his key to the Palaearctic Macrosiagon that he failed to find this specimen. It is deposited in Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Science, St.- Petersburg from where it was borrowed by Zachary Falin (Kansas) in 1999.

Remarks. Because of unavailability of the type, M. grombczewskii was listed in ‘ Macrosiagon - nomina dubia’ in BATELKA (2008a). Thanks to detailed images of the type taken by Michael Engel (Kansas) I am now able to offer several remarks regarding the systematic placement and validity of this peculiar taxon.

Macrosiagon grombczewskii belongs to the M. bifasciata species group as it is defined in this paper. MT 2 is shortened and robust, flattened dorsally as in M. bipunctata , but the medial lobe of the pronotal disc is smooth and without an elevation. An identical combination of both characters also occurs in the African M. caffra , which belongs to the same species group. Males and more females of M. grombczewskii are needed to prove the stability of these and other putative specific characters (e.g. carina and black spots on the pronotal disc) mentioned both by SEMENOV (1891) and YABLOKOV- KHNZORYAN (1976). Until then I prefer to consider M. grombczewskii as a valid species.

Distribution. This species remains known only from its type locality in Tajikistan.

Figures

Figs 25–33. 25–27 – Macrosiagon callewaerti Pic, 1950; holotype. (25 – habitus dorsally; 26 – head frontally; 27 – metatarsomeres dorsally). 28–30 – Macrosiagon grombczewskii (Semenov, 1891), holotype (photos M. Engel 2010). 31–33 – Macrosiagon humeralis Pic, 1929. (31 – syntype; 32–33 – male from Tanzania, head frontally and metatarsomeres dorsally).