Clitobius oblongiusculus ( Fairmaire, 1875 )

Purchart, Luboš & Kamiński, Marcin Jan, 2017, A taxonomic review of the genus Clitobius with description of a new species from Oman (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae) 57, pp. 139-163 : 148

Clitobius oblongiusculus ( Fairmaire, 1875)

(Figs 3H, 4)

Halonomus oblongiusculus Fairmaire, 1875: 495 (original description). FAIRMAIRE (1879a): 196 (redescription).

Clitobius oblongiusculus oblongiusculus: FAIRMAIRE (1885) : ccvi (checklist); CHAMPION (1895): 111 (catalogue); REITTER (1904): 179 (key to species); GEBIEN (1910): 340 (catalogue); SAHLBERG (1913): 177 (new record); HOLDHAUS (1919): 44 (new record); BLAIR (1925): 434 (new record); GRIDELLI (1930): 303 (new record), GRIDELLI (1933): 247 (new record); GRIDELLI (1953): 64 (catalogue); REICHARDT (1936): 202 (redescription, distribution, ecology); ESPAÑOL (1943): 143 (new record); ESPAÑOL (1967):43 (new record); ALFIERI (1976):197 (new record); KASZAB (1982): 172 (new record, with picture of habitus); JOHNSON (1989): 131 (new record); GRIMM (1991): 30 (new record); CARL (1991): 278 (new record); LILLIG & PAVLÍČEK (2003): 48 (new records); SOLDATI (2009): 61 (new record, with photo of habitus); ABDURAKHMANOV & NABOZHENKO (2011): 106 (with drawing of habitus); GRIMM (2015): 312 (new record).

Clitobius oblungiusculus [sic!]: ANDRES (1913): 121 (new record).

Halonomus lineicollis Fairmaire, 1879b: 4 (original description). FAIRMAIRE (1879a): 197 (redescription); GEBIEN (1910): 340 (synonymy with C. oblongiusculus ).

Clitobius lineicollis: FAIRMAIRE (1885) : ccvi (checklist); CHAMPION (1895): 111 (catalogue).

Clitobius oblongiusculus lineicollis: REITTER (1904) : 179 (key to species); ALFIERI (1976): 197 (new record).

Halonomus schneideri Allard, 1882 :lxxxvi (original description). ALLARD (1883): 31 (key to species); ALLARD (1891): 235 (new record); FAIRMAIRE (1885): ccvi (synonymy with. C. lineicollis ).

Clitobius schneideri: CHAMPION (1895) : 111 (catalogue).

Clitobius oblongiusculus schneideri: ARDOIN 1972: 11 (new record); ALFIERI (1976): 197 (new record).

Clitobius ovatus borkouensis Pierre, 1961: 1043 (original description). ESPAÑOL 1967: 43 (new record); syn. nov.

Material examined. (3 spec.; MIIZ), labelled: Sahara algérien // crue / 26-3-48 / P.Pierre; (1 spec.; ZSMG) , labelled: Cairo / [unreadable, handwritten], Sammlung / Haag- / Rutenberg.

Taxonomic remark. Investigation of a topotype (Cairo, Egypt) of C. oblongiusculus schneideri did not reveal any characters to support taxonomic distinctiveness of this entity in relation to the typical form. Furthermore, the hitherto accepted subspecific division of Clitobius oblongiusculus is not supported by available distributional records. Therefore, the synonymy between Halonomus schneideri and H. oblongiusculus is confirmed.

According to the description provided by PIERRE (1961), Clitobius ovatus borkouensis differs from the nominotypical form only in having sharp anterior pronotal angles. Since the taxonomic concept of Clitobius ovatus presented here is, inter alia, based on rounded pronotal angles, Clitobius ovatus borkouensis seems to fall out. Taking into consideration the other information provided by PIERRE (1961), the concept of this subspecies is consistent with the one presented here for C. oblongiusculus . In conclusion, the following synonymy is proposed: C. oblongiusculus = Clitobius ovatus borkouensis , syn. nov.

Distribution. Algeria, Azerbaijan, Chad, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, and Western Sahara ( Fig. 4 ).

ALLARD (1891) described C. oblongiusculus from Cambodia, an area that is extremely isolated from the known distributional area of the genus Clitobius , and thus we consider this record highly improbable and believe that the type material was mislabelled. This assumption has also been supported by the conducted ecological niche modelling ( Fig. 4B ).

Figures

Fig. 4. Analysed localities and potential distribution of Clitobius ovatus (Erichson, 1843) (A) and C. oblongiusculus (Fairmaire, 1875) (B). Average AUC and habitat suitability threshold values for each analysis are presented.