Ammoecius muchei ( PETROVITZ, 1962 ) DellacaSa & DellacaSa, 2002

DellacaSa, M. & DellacaSa, G., 2002, Systematic Redefinition Of Taxa Belonging To The Genera Ahermodontus Báguena, 1930 And Ammoecius Mulsant, 1842, With Description Of The New Genus Vladimirellus (Coleoptera: Aphodiidae), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 48 (4), pp. 269-316 : 307-308

Ammoecius muchei ( PETROVITZ, 1962) , comb. n.

( Figs 41–44 , 49 )

Aphodius (Ammoecius) muchei PETROVITZ, 1962: 110 ; BARAUD 1971: 67; DELLACASA M. 1988: 165.

Type locality: “Ilgas da ð, Umgebung der Passstrasse, Anatolien” [ Turkey] .

Type depository: Muséum d’Histoire naturelle, Geneva .

Description – Length 6.0– 6.5 mm. Oblong, strongly convex, shiny, glabrous ( Fig. 49 ). Black; clypeal margin brown-reddish; legs dark brownish with tarsi paler; antennal club yellowish. Head with cupuliform epistoma microreticulate, finely and rather sparsely punctured on disc; punctation laterally coarser with a few large punctures mixed and irregularly granulate in front of short and sharply raised anterior transverse carina; clypeus angulately sinuate at middle, denticulate at sides, thickly bordered, border distinctly upturned; genae obtusely rounded, elongately ciliate, protruding morethaneyes;frontalsuturefinelyimpressed;fronsfinelyandsparselypunctured;epipharynx: Fig. 41 ; apex of corypha: Fig. 42 . Pronotum transverse, strongly convex, doubly punctured; large punctures somewhat sparser on disc, much denser on sides and toward base, mixed punctures extremely fine and subregularly scattered; sides subparallel, thickly bordered; hind angles obtusely rounded; base bisinuate, thickly bordered. Scutellum triangularly elongate, slightly sunken, feebly convex, sparsely and very finely punctured. Elytra strongly convex, feebly broadened posteriorly; epipleural carina distinctly raised but not denticulate at shoulder; striae deep, almost fine, on disc superficially punctured and subcrenulate, laterally coarsely punctured and distinctly crenulate; interstices flat on disc, feebly convex on preapical declivity, almost imperceptibly punctured. Hind tibiae with superior apical spur somewhat longer than first tarsal segment; latter slightly longer than following three combined. Male: pronotum relatively more transverse, less convex and with large punctures more sparse on disc; fore tibiae with apical spur plump, cylindrical, faintly inwardly hooked at apex; inferior apical spur of middle tibiae with short and obliquely truncate at apex; metasternal plate feebly excavate; aedeagus: Figs 43–44 . Female: pronotum relatively less transverse, more convex and with large punctures denser on disc; fore tibiae apical spur outwardly curved and apically acuminate; metasternal plate flat.

Distribution: More or less widespread in central Turkey; Greece?.

Remarks – We studied a male specimen from Greece (Alexandropolis), preserved in PIEROTTI’ s collection at the Genoa Museum, but the collecting record needs to be confirmed.

Figures

Figs 37–48. Epipharynx (37, 41, 45), apex of corypha (lateral view) (38, 42, 46) and aedeagus (dorsal and lateral view) (39–40, 43–44, 47–48) of: 37–40 = Ammoecius naviauxi (BARAUD, 1971), 41–44 = A. muchei (PETROVITZ, 1962), 45–48 = A. brevis ERICHSON, 1848

Figs 49–52. Habitus of: 49 = Ammoecius muchei (PETROVITZ, 1962) (male, length 6.0 mm, Turkey: Vil. Kastamonu, Kastamonu env.), 50 = A. satanas (CARPANETO, 1976) (male, length 7.0 mm, Turkey: Vil. Antalya, 40 km S of Akseki, 3 km S Fersin), 51 = A. felscheanus REITTER, 1904 (male, length 3.5 mm, Algeria: Oran prov., Oued-Imbert), 52 = A. dentatus SCHMIDT, 1908 (male, length