Exosternini, Bickhardt, 1914

Penati, Fabio & Vienna, Pierpaolo, 2006, An updated catalogue of the Histeridae (Insecta: Coleoptera) of the Arabian Peninsula, with biogeographical remarks, Zootaxa 1157 (1), pp. 1-74 : 55

Tribe Exosternini

02. Pachycraerus sp. ( Fig. 4 )

Material. Oman: Jebel Samhan [= Jabal Samhan, 17°09’49”N 54°51’09”E], 1100– 1200 m, 23–25.IX.2003, 9 ex. (6 ex. CHTL, 3 ex. CHPV) .

Notes. Species of medium size, with two frontal striae, piceous matte pronotum, dark brown–reddish elytra with bluish shininess, marginal pronotal stria widely interrupted behind head, marginal mesosternal stria shortly interrupted behind the median projection, external subhumeral stria apical and reaching the midpoint of the elytron, internal subhumeral stria lacking. In the last world catalogue of Histeridae ( Mazur 1997) 65 species of Pachycraerus are listed, but the nine specimens from Oman do not match any of these. In the keys to Afrotropical Pachycraerus given by Desbordes (1922) the present species comes out near P. ritsemai Marseul and P. princeps Lewis , differing from the first by the head not deeply excavate, external subhumeral stria incomplete, 4 th elytral stria longer, larger overall size, and from the second by the absence of internal subhumeral stria, longer sutural stria and smaller dimensions. Moreover, it differs from both in the colour of the body, even though this character is not precisely reported in the original descriptions of the two species. Thus, we decided to report these specimens as an undetermined species, because we believe that it would be preferable to revise the genus, rather than generate another isolated species description.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Distribution of the Histeridae in the Arabian Peninsula. Tribalus (s. str.) rougemonti, Tribalus (s. str.) sp., Pachycraerus desidiosus, Pachycraerus sp..