Hycleus aestuans ( Klug, 1845 )

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 : 24

Hycleus aestuans ( Klug, 1845)

Distribution. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen.

New records. Saudi Arabia: Arabia, 3 exx. (MNHN).

Remarks. This species, as well as the following, belongs to the Mesoscutatus - type phyletic lineage previously discussed, defined as a section of Hycleus by Pardo Alcaide (1954), and characterized by a large and well defined fore area of the mesosternum. The most species of the diverse genus Hycleus have this type of mesosternum, and several groups of species can be singled out within this lineage.

In particular, the group of H. duplicatus is an Afrotropical complex which includes at least 5 species distributed in the East Africa and Arabian Peninsula, well characterized by the last male antennomere apically bifid (see also Bologna 1990): H. aestuans ( Klug, 1845) (Arabian Peninsula, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia); H. andreinii (Pic, 1933) ( Eritrea; this species needs confirmation); H. argyrostictus (Fairmaire, 1882) ( Somalia) , H. duplicatus ( Klug, 1845) ( Djibouti, Arabian Peninsula); H. scapularis ( Klug, 1845) (Arabian Peninsula).

In the MNHN collections, we examined the type of Zonabris rugosissima Pic, 1909 , a species cited in Kaszab’s (1983) synopsis without settlement as to its taxonomic status. The Hungarian specialist suggested a possible synonymy with “ Decapotoma ” scabrata, a species belonging to the genus Hycleus discussed below. The type specimen has the following labels: a) “Arabia f. Mylabre”; “ aestuans var.” (handwritteen by M. Pic); “ TYPE ” (handwritteen by M. Pic); “ rugosissima Pic ” (handwritteen by M. Pic); “ type ” (red, printed); “ Gorrizia aestuans (Klug) , Pardo Alcaide det. 1967 (printed).

This new synonymy of Zonabris rugosissima Pic, 1909 = Hycleus aestuans ( Klug, 1845) , confirms the Pardo Alcaide’s identification, never published, and clarifies the uncertain Kaszab’s citation (1983).