Orthomus penibeticus Mateu et Colas, 1954

Serrano, J., 2021, The genus Orthomus Chaudoir, 1838 in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, Russian Entomological Journal 30 (4), pp. 430-447 : 437

Orthomus penibeticus Mateu et Colas, 1954 , stat.n.

Figs 32–35.

This species has also been currently considered a subspecies of O. barbarus . However, the truncate shape of penis tip and the geographic isolation of its populations suggest that these have evolved to become a separate taxon from the surrounding O. velocissimus and O. barbarus populations, a hypothesis to be corroborated with further studies based on other characters.

Dorsum black or dark brown, appendices brown, males somewhat mat, females mat, microreticulation visible in both sexes, body length 10.0–11.7 mm. Eye convex, tempora short.

Pronotum regularly curved from anterior to posterior basis but more narrowed anteriorly, maximum width at posterior 2/ 3 (Fig. 32), posterior angle obtuse and without tooth, posterior basis not emarginate; external fovea shallow, separate from side by a flat space, internal deep and linear; punctures on posterior basis fine and with low to moderate density.

Elytra somewhat short, L/ W 2.9, slightly widened backwards, humerus with small tooth; striae unpunctured, intervals moderately convex, disk pores on stria 3, parascutellar stria well developed.

Prosternal process rounded on bottom surface and forming an acute ridge from proepisterna to bottom surface; ventral face almost devoid of punctures, metepisterna smooth and longer than wider (L/ W 1.25 –1.4). Male mesotibia dilat- ed apically, metatibia with moderate crenulation although Mateu [1957] noted that the crenulation is strong, possibly because this character varies geographically.

Median lobe of aedeagus quite particular, resembling that of O. abacoides from Maghreb, as the apical shaft forms a long triangle asymmetrically narrowed to the left and slightly truncate at tip (Fig. 33). In lateral view the median lobe is somewhat shifted upward (Fig. 34). The female genitalia are of the O. barbarus type (Fig. 35), with a very long duct, longer than the spermatheca.

In addition to the geographic separation, O. penibeticus and O. abacoides differ in a number of characters, especially in the female genitalia, what suggests that similarity in male genitalia is a homoplasy.

The ranking of O. penibeticus as a separate species from O. barbarus is based on male genitalia and the geographic isolation of O. penibeticus . Although Mateu [1957] considered that the distribution of O. barbarus was deeply extended across Andalusia just by occupying the middle of the province of Granada (form transiens ) and the eastern part of the province of Malaga (form malacensis , see map of Mateu, 1957: 113), this hypothesis is not supported on geographic grounds; instead, it is simpler to consider populations of the so-called transiens and malacensis as part of the subspecies O. velocissimus akbensis , that is found in almost the whole basin of the River Guadalquivir. This last hypothesis was put forward by Zaballos and Jeanne [1994] and followed by Serrano in successive catalogues [2003, 2013, 2020].

Accordingly, O. penibeticus would be a taxon distributed from the southern high slopes of Sierra Nevada (region of Las Alpujarras) to the Mediterranean coast, a relatively small region limited to west by the river Guadalfeo (Motril) and populations of O. velocissimus , and to the east by the plain between Adra and the hills west of Almería city [ Mateu, 1957: 101]; in this last city it is found the southernmost populations of O. barbarus . This hypothesis deserves further corroboration, although at present, the study of male genitalia suffices to separate without doubt the parapatric populations of O. barbarus , O. velocissimus and O. penibeticus .