Calomera littoralis (Fabricius, 1787), ssp. winkleri (Mandl, 1934)

Assmann, Thorsten, Boutaud, Esteve, Buse, Joern, Gebert, Joerg, Drees, Claudia, Friedman, Ariel-Leib-Leonid, Khoury, Fares, Marcus, Tamar, Orbach, Eylon, Ittai Renan,, Schmidt, Constantin & Zumstein, Pascale, 2018, The tiger beetles (Coleoptera, Cicindelidae) of the southern Levant and adjacent territories: from cybertaxonomy to conservation biology, ZooKeys 734, pp. 43-103 : 63

11. Calomera littoralis (Fabricius, 1787), ssp. winkleri (Mandl, 1934)

Habitat.

A coastal species which colonizes both sea shores with sandy or with cohesive soils as well as salty marshlands found behind the dunes, especially those covered with salt crusts during the summer and where the vegetation is dominated by Anthrocnemum species and by Tamarix tetragyna . Also found in river mouths and in freshwater habitats ( Austin et al. 2008; Nussbaum 1987; Valdenberg 1983; own observations). Diurnal.

Phenology.

Middle of February until November ( Matalin and Chikatunov 2016; Nussbaum 1987).

Distribution range.

From Greece to Iran and Central Asia; southwards to Israel ( Mandl 1981b).

Distribution in the southern Levant.

Along the Mediterranean coast from the mouth of Nahal Betzet (=Nakhal Bezet) to the Gaza strip ( Matalin and Chikatunov 2016; Nussbaum 1987). It probably also occurs on the northern coast of Sinai Peninsula, but Abdel-Dayem et al. (2003) did not list the subspecies or the nominate form from Egypt. Calomera littoralis winkleri is listed by Puchkow and Matalin (2017) and Nasir and Katbeh-Bader (2017) for Jordan, but not by Matalin and Chikatunov (2016). Nasir and Katbeh-Bader (2017) indicate the species from Ma’in Falls, a typical habitat for C. aulicoides , from where they mention also C. littoralis . We do not know of any verifiable record for Jordan.

Taxonomic notes.

The subspecies Calomera littoralis winkleri can be differentiated from the other subspecies of Calomera littoralis using the form of the copulatory piece of the median lobe of the aedeagus ( Korell 1988; Mandl 1934; 1981b). Some populations from the eastern part of the distribution range have copulatory pieces which show an intermediate shape between those of Calomera nemoralis (Olivier, 1790) and Calomera winkleri . These populations are most probably transitional, and likely are hybrid populations. Nonetheless, they are described as a separate subspecies, mandli Mandl, 1934 ( Korell 1988; Mandl 1981b).

See also C. aulica for further diagnostic characters.

Conservation.

Not threatened. Although the species lives along seashores which tend to be intensively influenced by touristic activities, the species has not declined as strongly as other littoral tiger beetles (for Greece: Gebert 2013, for Israel: own observation).