Cephalota (Taenidia) circumdata (Dejean, 1822)

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 : 67-69

17. Cephalota (Taenidia) circumdata (Dejean, 1822)

Habitat.

On salty habitats which have very sparse vascular plant vegetation. Often found on salty crusts of lagoons and ponds behind the coastal dunes ( Lisa 2002), but can also be found in similar habitats farther inland ( Cassola 1970; Franzen 1996). Diurnal and nocturnal species. Attracted by light.

Phenology.

In Italy from June to October with activity maximum in June and July ( Lisa 2002).

Distribution range.

A Mediterranean species from Spain and Algeria to Turkey ( Cassola 1970; Lisa 2002).

Distribution in the southern Levant.

No verified population. - The occurrence in El Tor (southern Sinai) has been questioned by Horn and Roeschke (1891). Schatzmayr (1936) could not examine specimens from there or from anywhere else on the peninsula. Alfieri (1976) and Abdel-Dayem et al. (2003) and Abdel-Dayem (2004) list the species for southern Sinai, while Nussbaum (1987) and Matalin and Chikatunov (2016) do not. Horn et al. (1990) report that Alfieri’s beetle collection has been incorporated into the collection of Frey, which is now preserved in the natural history museum in Basel. However, no verifiable specimens of C. circumdata from Sinai are preserved in the Frey collection, and only few tiger beetle individuals from Alfieri’s collection are found in Basel (Sprecher-Uebersax, pers. comm.). We do not know of any verifiable record from the Sinai. As all other populations are known from areas with a typical Mediterranean climate, we believe that C. circumdata is not found in the Sinai (cf. Matalin and Chikatunov 2016).

Taxonomic notes.

Cephalota circumdata has several subspecies which are mainly characterized by the elytral pale patterns. However, Franzen (1996) reported strong pattern variability within some populations.