Ablattaria arenaria (Kraatz, 1876)

Qubaiova, Jarin, Ruzicka, Jan & Sipkova, Hana, 2015, Taxonomic revision of genus Ablattaria Reitter (Coleoptera, Silphidae) using geometric morphometrics, ZooKeys 477, pp. 79-142 : 84

Taxon classification Animalia Coleoptera Silphidae

Ablattaria arenaria (Kraatz, 1876) Figs 1, 12, 16, 23, 24

Phosphuga arenaria Kraatz 1876: 368 (type locality: "Creta, Anatolien" [= Crete, Anatolia]).

Ablattaria arenaria var. punctigera Reitter 1884: 75 (type locality: “Haifa” [ca. 32°49'N 34°59'E]) (as junior synonym of Ablattaria arenaria by Schawaller 1979: 6).

Ablattaria arenaria var. Alleoni Portevin 1926: 24 (type locality not stated) (as junior synonym of Ablattaria arenaria by Schawaller 1979: 6).

Type material examined.

Lectotype male of Phosphuga arenaria (here designated) (SDEI, general collection) (Fig. 23), pinned, labelled: "866 [hw, black frame] // coll. Kraatz [p] // Typus [p, red label] // arenaria / Kraatz Küst. XXX / Asia minor [hw, Kraatz’s handwriting, light yellow label with black frame] // coll. SDEI / ( Müncheberg) / general coll. [p, light green label] // Lectotype / Phosphuga arenaria / Kraatz, 1876 / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / des. 2014 [p, red label] // Ablattaria / arenaria (Kraatz, 1876) / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / det. 2014 [p]".

Lectotype male of Ablattaria arenaria var. alleoni (here designated) (MNHN, coll. Pic), pinned, labelled: "Adana [hw] // var. Alleoni / m. [hw, Portevin’s handwriting] // Type [p, red label with black frame] // Muséum Paris / Coll. M. Pic [p] // Lectotype / Ablattaria arenaria / var. alleoni Portevin, 1926 / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / des. 2014 [p, red label] // Ablattaria / arenaria (Kraatz, 1876) / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / det. 2014 [p]".

Lectotype male of Ablattaria arenaria var. punctigera (here designated) (HNHM) (Fig. 24), pinned, labelled: "Syrien / Haifa / Reitter [p, black frame] // coll. Reitter [p] // Holotypus [p, red letters] 1884 / Ablattaria arenaria / v. punctigera / Reitter [hw, thick red frame; subsequent label added probably by Z. Kaszab or V. Székessy (O. Merkl, pers. comm.)] // Lectotype / Ablattaria arenaria / var. punctigera / Reitter, 1884 / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / des. 2014 [p, red label] // Ablattaria / arenaria (Kraatz, 1876) / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička det. 2014 [p]". Paralectotypes: 1 male, 2 females (HNHM), pinned, with identical labels as lectotype except for "Paratypus [p, red letters] 1884 / Ablattaria arenaria / v. punctigera / Reitter [hw, thick red frame] // Paralectotype / Ablattaria arenaria / var. punctigera / Reitter, 1884 / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / des. 2014 [p, red label]"; 1 male (SMTD), pinned, with identical labels as previous paralectotypes except for "Staatl. Museum für / Tierkunde Dresden [p]"; 1 male (SDEI, coll. Heyden), pinned, labelled: "Haifa Syriae [p] // Simon. [p] // Syntypus [p, red label] // arenaria / v. puncti- / gera m. [hw, Reitter’s handwriting] // coll. SDEI / ( Müncheberg) / coll. HEYDEN [p, modern light green label] // Paralectotype / Ablattaria arenaria / var. punctigera / Reitter, 1884 / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / des. 2014 [p, red label] // Ablattaria / arenaria (Kraatz, 1876) / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / det. 2014 [p]"; 1 female (MNHN, general collection), pinned, labelled: "Syrien / Haifa / Reitter [p] // arenaria / Kratz [hw] // arenaria / v. punctigera [hw, Reitter’s handwriting; yellow label] // 249 // MUSEUM PARIS / Coll. A. GROUVELLE 1917 [p] // Paralectotype / Ablattaria arenaria / var. punctigera / Reitter, 1884 / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / des. 2014 [p, red label] // Ablattaria / arenaria (Kraatz, 1876) / J. Qubaiová & J. Růžička / det. 2014 [p]".

Additional material examined.

391 specimens, see Appendix 1.

Diagnostic description.

Total body length 11-15 mm, body matt. Pronotum semi-elliptical, with only very superficial, very fine punctures medially on disc (which looks impunctate under lower magnification), much larger punctures more peripherally (Fig. 12). Elytra with fine punctures that are finer in size and less close together than in Ablattaria cribrata and Ablattaria laevigata , with few intermixed larger punctures dispersed mostly toward the inner elytral margin (Fig. 16).

Remarks.

Subtle differences in punctation of the scutellar shield and elytra, which differentiate the two varieties described by Reitter (1884) and Portevin (1926), fall within the intraspecific variability of Ablattaria arenaria . We confirm their status as junior subjective synonyms, as already proposed by Schawaller (1979).

Biology.

Seasonal activity of adults with a peak in March–May (Table 1).

Distribution.

Greece (only Crete and Rhodes), Cyprus, Turkey, to the south of Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the south-west of Iran (Fig. 32).