Calomera fischeri (Adams, 1817)

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 : 59

6. Calomera fischeri (Adams, 1817)

Habitat.

On river banks and next to freshwater ponds with sparse vegetation on sandy, sometimes cohesive soil ( Arndt 2011; Avgin 2006; Werner 1992). In desert habitats the species can be widespread (cf. Wiesner 1996). Diurnal.

Phenology.

In Turkey, adults from the end of May to the beginning of September ( Avgin 2006).

Distribution range.

from southeastern Europe to central Asia and India, southwards to Turkey and Syria ( Acciavatti and Pearson 1989; Werner 1991; Wiesner 1992). Austin et al. (2008: 22) questioned the occurrence on Cyprus. However, Horn and Roeschkle (1891) list the species for Cyprus, and old records exist in SDEI: <Cyprus, Baudi> (3 specimens in the collections of Kraatz and Rottenberg, Lutz Behne, pers. com.) Therefore, the species is listed correctly by Putchkov and Matalin (2003; 2017: 219) for Cyprus.

Distribution in the southern Levant.

The distribution range of the species in the Middle East seems to be incorrectly reported. Despite the fact that numerous authors mention the species from Israel ( Avgin 2006; Putchkov and Matalin 2003), we do not know of any verified record from the country. There are no specimens in SMNHTAU, and the species is mentioned neither by Nussbaum (1987) nor by Valdenberg (1983). No verifiable records are known from Jordan (Putchkov pers. comm.). However, the species is still listed for Jordan in the latest version of the Palaearctic Catalogue of Coleoptera ( Putchkov and Matalin 2017).

In Israel and Jordan, the species’ typical habitats, such as river banks in dynamic floodplains or wet pioneer vegetation with patches of bare ground, have mostly been destroyed or are strongly influenced by human activity. Therefore, a recent occurrence of C. fischeri in the Mediterranean part of the southern Levant is unlikely. There is a small chance that the species can be found in wadis or close to water reservoirs in the desert regions (cf. Wiesner 1996).

Taxonomic notes.

The nominate subspecies occurs in the northern Levant, while the subspecies Calomera fischeri elongatosignata (W. Horn, 1922) is found on the Arabian Peninsula ( Wiesner 1992).