Anthelephila arabica ( Pic, 1899 )

Kejval, Zbyněk & Cz, Domažlice, 2012, Studies on the genus Anthelephila (Coleoptera: Anthicidae). 12. Review of the species from Yemen, including Socotra Island, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52, pp. 347-363 : 351

Anthelephila arabica ( Pic, 1899)

Remarks. Anthelephila arabica was described by PIC (1899) from Saudi Arabia (‘Arabia’) and later was never revised nor reliably recorded. The records from Saudi Arabia by UHMANN (1998) belong to misidentified specimens of A. bispilifasciata ( Pic, 1897) , and its occurrence in Yemen ( UHMANN 1998, CHANDLER et al. 2008) is dubious, and is probably based on some unpublished data from Uhmann’s identifications.

Anthelephila arabica is undoubtedly very close to A. caeruleipennis (LaFerté-Sénectère, 1849) and A. viridipennis (Krekich-Strassoldo, 1931), as suggested by the overall similarity of their male characters. Its specific rank is, in my opinion questionable, as well as that of A. viridipennis, however, this problem is beyond the scope of the present paper. Based on label data, the single type (male) of A. arabica deposited in Pic’s collection in the MNHN originates from Hejaz, which is a region situated along the Red Sea coast in Saudi Arabia. Externally it is conspicuous in having reddish coloured elytra that lack bluish or greenish metallic reflections (otherwise shared by all members of this small species-group, present in all specimens I have seen; Fig. 20 ). As for male characters, it differs from A. caeruleipennis only in the detailed morphology of the prongs of male sternite VIII, especially in their rather wide ventral process with conspicuously long apical setation. The unusual reddish colouration of the elytra is rather an aberration than a species character; cf. comments on variation (colour regression) in A. tuberculifer ( Pic, 1897) and A. chappuisi by HILLE (1953a,b), and A. bispilifasciata (below).

Figures

Figs. 17–24. Anthelephila spp., body in dorsal view. 17 – A. anceyi rathjensi (Pic, 1957), female, Wadi Zabid; 18 – A. bispilifasciata bispilifasciata (Pic, 1897), female, Turbah; 19 – same species, male, Lawdar; 20 – A. caeruleipennis (LaFerté-Sénectère, 1849), male, Lawdar; 21 – A. paolii (Krekich-Strassoldo, 1928), male, Sana’a; 22 – A. pilitarsis sp. nov., holotype; 23 – A. praefecta sp. nov., paratype, female, Jabal Bura; 24 – A. walkeri (Pic, 1895), male, Al Mukalla.