Hycleus pirata Bologna & Turco, 2007

Bologna, Marco A. & Turco, Federica, 2007, The Meloidae (Coleoptera) of the United Arab Emirates with an updated Arabian checklist, Zootaxa 1625 (1), pp. 1-33 : 16-18

Hycleus pirata Bologna & Turco n. sp.

Type specimens. Male Holotype, 1 male and 2 females Paratypes: U.A.E., Abu Dhabi Emirate, EA4, Al Bateen dunes, 4 Km W Al Aïn on the road to Abu Dhabi, 24,20491° N 55,61263° E, 195 m a.s.l., 15.iii.2005 M. Bologna & F. Turco coll., on Tribulus omanense (CB) . 5 males and 4 females Paratypes: U.A.E.: Abu Dhabi Emirate, EA10, Al Aïn, 3–4 Km E Al Selimat on road Al Aïn-Abu Dhabi, 24,19263° N 55,58861° E, 220 m a.s.l., 12–14.iii.2005 M. Bologna & F. Turco coll., on Tribulus omanense and Poaceae (CB) .

One male Paratype from Al Bateen has the left elytron partially broken, and another male Paratype from Al Selimat has the abdomen partially broken. Gillet & Howarth (2004) cited this species from the Jebel Hatif, and Gillet & Gillet (1996) from Al Aïn area, both as Mylabris bipunctata Olivier.

Other examined specimens. Oman: Wadi Air , 7.v.1957, G. Popov & R. J. Wood coll. 1 ex. ( CB) .

Diagnosis. One Hycleus belonging to the sexmaculatus group, within the Mesogorbatus - type lineage, characterized by male last antennomere modified and mesosternum without modifications on the fore portion.

Among the species of the sexmaculatus group, it phenetically resembles H. apicipennis , H. trianguliferus , H. bipunctatus , H. schauffelei , and H. balteatus , because of the wide apical black spot on elytra, which is represented only by a narrow border in the remaining species of the group. Actually, H. pirata is well distinct from these five species because of the shape of last male antennomere, which is strikingly curved, obtuse and neither conical nor filiform, and by male genitalia. The shape of last antennomere and parameres are quite similar to that of H. sexmaculatus , which has the black elytral apex extremely reduced.

Description. Body uniformly black, except elytra testaceous with two anterior black spots, one medial sinuate black fascia and apex obliquely black ( Fig. 4 ); setation black, dense but short, sparser and obliquely recumbent on elytra, slightly denser at base. Golden dense pubescence on the ventral side of fore tibiae and tarsi of male, only on tibiae of female. Maximal body length: 16.5 mm.

Head transverse, with the maximum width at the level of eye. Punctures slightly deep, large and dense, with a longitudinal medial narrow area almost unpunctate. Eye globose, with the antero-dorsal margin slightly sinuate, just behind the antennal insertion. Temples parallel, only slightly curved posteriad and shorter than the longitudinal diameter of eye. Clypeus narrower than the interocular width, rounded on sides, anteriorly smooth and sloping; labrum about as wide as clypeus, rounded on sides, the fore margin slightly sinuate in both sexes, medially depressed. Maxillary palpomeres subcylindrical and stout, IV flattened, with long and black setae on the external side of the apex of each palpomere (except IV), particularly on III, without evident sexual dimorphism. Mandibles abruptly narrowed on the apical third. Antennae with 11 antennomeres, I–IV shiny, the following opaque; antennomere I slightly longer than II–III together; II subglobose; III–IV slender and subcylindrical, III about 1.5 times as long as IV; V–VIII similar in length, subtrapezoidal, apically enlarged on external side, increasing in width from V to VIII and then decreasing from IX to X, which are subquadrate and shorter than VIII; male antennomere XI evidently narrower and slightly longer than X ( Figs. 9–10 ), greatly curved and obtuse at apex, in female conical, shorter than X and at base as wide as X ( Fig. 11 ).

Pronotum elongate, about as wide as head, subparallel on sides to the middle and then slightly narrowing anteriad; fore portion evidently depressed, as well as on sides at posterior third, and on the base posteriad, just in front of mesonotum; puncturation similar to that on head, with two rounded impunctate areas transversally disposed and dorso-medial in position. Elytral pattern as in Fig. 4 . Mesosternum of the Mesogorbatus - type ( Fig. 8 ); fore margins of mesepisterna large, concave, only slightly depressed, at the same level of the sclerite. Legs slender, both tibial spurs on all legs slender, the external metatibial rounded at apex; protarsi in male with a distinct golden ventral pad, in female with robust black setae, externally well visible.

Posterior margin of the penultimate male abdominal sternite widely emarginated, that of the last visible sternite deeply emarginated and medially very depressed. Parameres ( Figs. 5–6 ) evidently elongate with slen- der and elongate apical lobes, submembranous on sides in the fore half; two slender aedeagus hooks ( Fig. 7 ), endophallic hook slender.

Relationships. Hycleus pirata belongs to the H. sexmaculatus group, previously discussed. The taxonomy of this group is still unresolved, but it coincides with Sphenabris Kuzin, 1954 , which was described as subgenus of the genus Mylabris (see Bologna 1991; Bologna & Pinto 2002, for the synonymies), having its type species Meloe balteata Pallas, 1782 from India and Sri Lanka.

As discussed by Bologna (1979), this phylogenetic unit was noted by Escherich (1899) as “ Zonabris ledereri- Gruppe” (a synonym of H. sexmaculatus ), Soumakov (1915), and then described by Kuzin (1954) as Sphenabris . Pardo Alcaide (1963) singled out among the Mesogorbatus- lineage, two Palaearctic and two Oriental groups of species, one of which corresponds to Sphenabris , and considered balteatus in one of the Oriental group together with H. orientalis (Marseul, 1872) and H. thunbergi (Billberg, 1813) .

The H. sexmaculatus group, which is distributed primarily in the Arabian-Iranian region, is greatly distinct because of the narrowed last antennomere, particularly in the male, almost filiform at apex in some species, or obtusely vs. conically curved in a few species. The apex of antennomere XI in the female in some cases distinctly differs from that of the male and for this reason the two sexes of the same species have been described separately. After the examination of specimens of H. balteatus ( India: Nilgiri Hills; Kerala) we noted that this species has the antennomere XI similar in shape to that of the H. sexmaculatus group. We considered this as a synapomorphic condition and we refer balteatus to this group, rather than to the Oriental ones, in which the last antennomere is unmodified. H. balteatus results the only Oriental species of the sexmaculatus group, which thus includes 12 species.

Updating the previous literature, we refer to this group, which needs a cladistic revision, the following species: H. apicipennis (Reiche, 1865) , H. balteatus (Pallas, 1782) , H. bipunctatus (Olivier, 1811) , H. cingulatus (Faldermann, 1837) , H. colligatus (Redtenbacher, 1850) , H. javeti (Marseul, 1870) , H. pirata n. sp., H. schauffelei (Kaszab, 1957) , H. sexmaculatus (Olivier, 1811) , H. soumakovi (Pic, 1930) (doubtful species), H. tenuepictus (Fairmaire, 1892) , H. trianguliferus (Heyden, 1883) .

H. pirata differs from the other species of the group because of the characters indicated in the diagnosis. It greatly resembles, and seems really close, to H. sexmaculatus from Anatolia and Levant, because of the shape of the last male antennomere, even if in this species it is less curved, more conical at apex and slightly longer. Also parameres very slender and scarcely sclerotized, seem to be a synapomorphy between these species. A difference between H. sexmaculatus and H. pirata concerns the shape of fore margin of labrum, more emarginated in H. pirata (as H. apicipennis and H. tenuepictus ) and the greater extension of the apical black spot of elytra. The new species could be related also to H. apicipennis from Egypt, of which we examined only females; the female last antennomere of H. apicipennis is evidently shorter than in H. pirata , the elytra are opaque with deeper and wider punctation, and the fore tarsi shorter.

Etymology. The name of this species refers, as apposition, to the old name of the United Arab Emirates, the “Pirates coast”.

Figures

FIGURES 4–11. Hycleus pirata n. sp. 4. right elytron; 5. tegmen, dorsal view; 6. tegmen lateral view; 7. aedeagus; 8. mesosternal sclerites; 9–10. male last antennomeres, dorsal and lateral views; 11. female last antennomeres, dorsal view. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.