Ammoecius brevis ERICHSON, 1848

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 : 288

Ammoecius brevis ERICHSON, 1848

( Figs 45–48 , 81 )

Ammoecius brevis ERICHSON, 1848: 907 ; HAROLD 1871: 11.

Aphodius (Ammoecius) brevis : REITTER 1892: 184; d’ ORBIGNY 1896: 207; SCHMIDT 1913: 125; SCHMIDT 1922: 68; BALTHASAR 1964: 79; BARAUD 1971: 68; DELLACASA M. 1988: 68.

Type locality: “ Im mittleren und südlichen Deutschland”. [ Germany.]

Type depository: Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt Universität, Berlin .

Description – Length 3.5–4.5 mm. Short, oval, strongly convex, shiny, glabrous ( Fig. 81 ). Black, clypeal margin faintly brown-reddish; legs piceous with brown-reddish tarsi; antennal club testaceous. Head with cupuliform epistoma finely irregularly microreticulate, thus sericeous, and imperceptibly punctured on disc; punctation laterally somewhat more distinct, irregularly granulose in front of feebly curved anterior transverse carina; clypeus angulately sinuate at middle, obtusely angulate at sides, distinctly bordered, border feebly upturned; genae obtuse, shortly ciliate, protruding more than eyes; frontal suture finely impressed; frons distinctly, finely, and sparsely punctured; epipharynx: Fig. 45 ; apex of corypha: Fig. 46 . Pronotum transverse, somewhat narrower anteriorly, strongly convex, doubly punctured; large punctures deep, irregularly sparse, absent anteriorly on disc, denser on sides, mixed with much smaller, regularly scattered punctures; sides feebly rounded, thinly bordered, faintly inwardly sinuate before the obtusely rounded hind angles; base distinctly bisinuate, bordered. Scutellum regularly triangular, finely punctured at base. Elytra short, strongly convex, backwardly broadened and with epipleural carina subdenticulate at shoulder, deeply striate; striae with large and coarse punctures, strongly crenulate; interstices convex, almost imperceptibly punctured. Hind tibiae with superior apical spur longer than first tarsal segment; latter as long as following three combined. Male: pronotum relatively more transverse, less convex and with large punctures more sparse; middle tibiae with inferior apical spur very short and obliquely truncate apically; metasternalplatefeeblyconcave;aedeagus: Figs47–48 .Female:pronotumrelativelylesstransverse, more convex and with large punctures more densely arranged; middle tibiae with inferior apical spur more elongate and regularly acuminate apically; metasternal plate flat.

Distribution: Widely distributed in Europe (northwards up to Sweden, in south from Spain to Georgia, but absent in southern Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Greece and European Turkey). In Asia,recordedfromTurkmenistan,MongoliaandSiberia(Irkutskregion),butabsentinAsiaMinor.

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 81–84. Habitus of: 81 = Ammoecius brevis ERICHSON, 1848 (male, length 4.0 mm, Italy: Piedmont, Ghislarengo), 82 = A. frigidus BRISOUT, 1866 (male, length 5.0 mm, Portugal: Castelo Branco, Covilhã, Beida Baixa), 83 = A. lusitanicus ERICHSON, 1848 (male, length 5.0 mm, Spain: Cadiz, Sierra de Aljibe), 84 = A. rugifrons AUBÉ, 1850 (male, length 4.5 mm, Algeria: Mechroha)