Microhoria piciceps ( Desbrochers des Loges, 1875 )

Telnov, Dmitry, 2022, Revisional notes on the genus Microhoria Chevrolat, 1877 (Insecta: Coleoptera: Anthicidae) from the Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey, with new descriptions, an annotated catalogue, and a key, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 22 (2), pp. 195-312 : 272-274

Microhoria piciceps ( Desbrochers des Loges, 1875) ( Fig. 41 )

= Anthicus melanocephalus Marseul, 1879 Anthicus piciceps Desbrochers des Loges, 1875: 187 (description).

Anthicus melanocephalus Marseul, 1879: 216 (description).

Anthicus piciceps – Marseul 1879: 216 (new synonymy with question mark); Krekich­Strassoldo 1929: 158, 164 (key, supplementary description, illustration);

Anthicus (Immicrohoria) notatus var. piciceps – Pic 1911a: 67 (checklist).

Anthicus (Immicrohoria) notatus a. piciceps – Winkler 1927: 848 (checklist).

Microhoria piciceps – Chandler et al. 2008: 442 (new combination, new synonymy, checklist, record – Russian West Siberia); Kejval & Chandler 2020: 117 (assigned to the M. fasciata species group); Telnov 2020a: 612 (checklist).

Anthicus melanocephalus Marseul [not Anthicus melanocephalus Bonelli, 1812: 173 ] – Marseul 1879: 191 (key); Heyden et al. 1883: 141 (checklist; A. piciceps listed as a synonym); Heyden 1891: 267–268 (checklist; A. piciceps listed as a synonym); Pic 1894: 54 (checklist; A. piciceps listed as a synonym); Reitter 1906: 444 (checklist; A. piciceps listed as a synonym); Jakobson 1913: pl. 81 (illustration); De la Fuente 1933: 17 (erroneous record – Spain; A. piciceps listed as a synonym).

Anthicus (Bifossicollis) melanocephalus – Sahlberg 1913b: 193 (record – Turkey).

Anthicus (Eonius) melanocephalus – Zhuravlev 1914: 31 (record – European Kazakhstan).

Anthicus (Immicrohoria) notatus var. melanocephalus – Pic 1911a: 67 (checklist).

Anthicus (Immicrohoria) notatus a. melanocephalus – Winkler 1927: 848 (checklist); Pic 1934: 30 (key; it is not immediately clear do the records from Balkans & Syria refer to “a. melanocephalus ” or to Anthicus notatus Pic, 1901 , now Microhoria pallidula (Pic, 1892)) .

Type material. Not studied.

New material. 1 specimen MSPU: [ Kazakhstan, European part] Казахстан Актюбинск 29.05.77. В.Золотихин leg .; 1 specimen DTC: [ Russia, European part] Астраханская обл., бл. N скл. г. Бол. Богдо , 5.–6.05.1995 , К.А. Гребенников; 4 specimens ISC: [ Ukraine, Crimean Peninsula ] 11 км З Керчи, степь, под камнями, 9.06.1996 , И.А. Солодовников; 21 specimens APC: [ Russia, European part] Кантемировск. р-н. С. Писаревка 4.06.97 2 кошение ; 1 specimen RFC: W Kazakhstan, Aktjubinsk reg., Baiganin distr., Zharly station , 21.V.2000 R.Filimonov leg. ; 1 specimen RFC: W Kazakhstan, Aktjubinsk reg., Khobda distr., Alpaisai , Karakhobda riv., 24.–26.V.2000 R. Filimonov leg. ; 1 specimen ADC: N Kazakistan Uralsk reg. Ural riv. Petrovo v. 25.V.2000 leg. Osipov ; 5 specimens RFC: W Kazakhstan, Uralsk reg., 16 km E Dolinny vill., Solanka riv., 30.V.2000 R. Filimonov leg. ; 17 males ADC: NW, Kazakistan, Uralsk reg. Beket vill. 30.V.2000 ; 1 male ADC: N Kazakistan Uralsk reg., Ural riv. Petrovo v. 25.V.2000, leg. Osipov ; 1 male ADC: W. Kazakhstan, 250 km. NE Atyrau, Sagyz vill., 6.06.2000, Pak leg. ; 1 female MSPU: [ Russia, European part] Волгоградская обл., Палассовский р-н, прав. бер. р. Бол. Самарода ниже п. Эльтон 18.V.2006 leg. А.Маталин. // Nr. 3.

Supplementary description. Belongs to the M. fasciata species group. Male from Kerch env., Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine. Total body length 2.6 mm. Head black­brown, pronotum and elytra yellow to ochre, slightly darkened around scutellar shield and on apices. Antennomeres 1–6 yellow, remaining antennomeres yellowish­brown to brown. Palps yellowish­brown, terminal maxillary palpomere darker than preceding ones. Legs yellowish, femora distinctly darker than tibiae. Head barely longer than wide, head base broadly rounded to subtruncate, tempora subparallel, posterior temporal angles rounded. Compound eye moderate, slightly longer than tempus, moderately protruding from lateral outline of head. Head dorsum moderately glossy, punctures moderate, rather deep. Intervening spaces smooth, generally as wide as to 3× as wide as punctures. Dorsal cranial setae yellowish, moderately dense, appressed. Antenna moderately thickened in apical half. Terminal antennomere bluntly pointed, about 1.7–1.8× as long as penultimate antennomere, as long as combined length of antennomeres 9–10. Pronotum barely longer than wide, distinctly narrower than head across eyes, moderately glossy, broadly rounded at anterior margin. Lateral margins moderately constricted in posterior half. Latero­basal pronotal fovea rather broad, densely setose. Pronotal disc flattened in dorsal aspect. Pronotal punctures similar to those on head but denser, intervening spaces about as wide as punctures, glossy. Pronotal setae similar to those on head. Elytra about 1.7–1.8× as long as wide, laterally subparallel, dorsally flattened. Humerus broadly rounded, not protruding. Elytral disc moderately glossy, punctures somewhat larger and coarser than those on pronotum. Intervening spaces generally as wide as to (mainly on apical third) twice as wide as punctures, smooth. Elytral setae yellowish, appressed to subdecumbent.Legs without modifications, tibial terminal spurs paired. Tergite VII subtruncate at posterior margin. Morphological sternite VII broadly rounded at posterior margin.Aedeagus as in Fig. 41B .

Sexual dimorphism. Female elytron apex without modifications.

Ecology. Reported collected from under debris in a garden (Zhuravlev 1914).

Distribution. “ Macedonia ” (either region in Greece or North Macedonia), Israel, Kazakhstan (European part), Lebanon, Russia (South of the European part), Turkey, Ukraine (Crimean Peninsula). Chandler et al. (2008) and Telnov (2020a) omitted the records from Kazakhstan and Lebanon. It remains unclear does the record from Syria by Pic (1934; see note above) also refers to this species.

Chorotype.?Turano­European (1.10 TUE), restricted to the eastern part of it.

Figures

Fig. 41. Microhoria piciceps (Desbrochers des Loges, 1875) male from Petrovo, Kazakhstan.A – Habitus, dorsal view; B – Aedeagus, lateral view [not to scale; all images courtesy Augusto Degiovanni, Bubano, Italy].