Hycleus rubricollis (Marseul, 1875) 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 : 23

Hycleus rubricollis (Marseul, 1875) n. comb.

Coryna rubricollis Marseul, 1875

Distribution. Recorded only from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

New records. Saudi Arabia. Arabia , 1 ex. ( MNHN) ; Abyan , 50 m, 21.v.1967, K. Guichardt coll. 9 exx. ( BMNH; CB) .

Remarks. This species is scarcely known and its phylogenetic relationships were previously not clarified. According to the mesosternal structure, it belongs to the phyletic lineage characterized by “ Mesogorbatus - type ” mesosternum.

Some remarks on morphological characters are useful: the number of antennomeres actually varies from 9 to 10; the pronotum is lackey red, an uncommon condition within the genus Hycleus , with narrow black base; the mesosternum lacks the anterior differentiated area and mesepisterna are distinct by very deep furrowed border area; elytra are shiny with light yellow fasciae; legs reddish on ventral side; last three urites red or reddish; aedeagus hooks different in length, the distal one very small and extremely apical, the proximal one far from the other and evidently greater.