Chitona W. Schmidt, 1844

Švihla, Vladimír, 2006, Revision of Chitona species (Coleoptera: Oedemeridae) from the eastern Mediterranean, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 46, pp. 107-121 : 108-109

Chitona W. Schmidt, 1844

Chitona W. Schmidt, 1884 in O. SCHMIDT (1844): 134.

Type species. Stenostoma variegatum Germar, 1824 = Chitona connexa (Fabricius, 1798) , monobasic. Dolichopyga Seidlitz, 1899: 832 , syn. nov.

Type species. Probosca acuminata Reitter, 1890 = Chitona cretica Fairmaire, 1863 in JACQUELIN DU VAL (1863) designated by SEMENOV (1900).

Comments. The genus Dolichopyga was formerly distinguished from Chitona because of the long pygidium, reniform eyes and emarginate last visible sternite. In my revision of the oedemerid genera ( ŠVIHLA 1986), I found these characters insufficient to justify the existence of two separate genera, so that I classified Dolichopyga as a subgenus of Chitona . Over time as more species of both Chitona and Dolichopyga were examined and revisions of other genera of the family were completed, it became evident that the shape of the eyes can be intermediate, e. g. in C. innotaticollis Pic,1913 , and C. ganglbaueri Reitter, 1889 , in which the eyes are only very slightly emarginate. It also seems that the shape of the eyes depends on the more or less rostrate head in the species formerly classified in the subgenus Chitona s. str. Thus only the shape of the last abdominal segment remained as a distinguishing character. In comparison with other genera, e. g. Nacerdes Dejean, 1834 , Alloxantha Seidlitz, 1899 , and Oedemera Olivier, 1789 , the above mentioned characters do not justify the existence of two distinct genera. Nevertheless, they can be used to define species groups.

Based on available material, the Western Mediterranean species seem to belong to only one group, which is a sister group of all Eastern Mediterranean species. This group is characterized by a narrowly emarginate apex of the last sternite and tendency to create rostrate head. Unfortunately, I could not examine all the known species occurring in the western part of the Mediterranean. The material of North African species is very limited and some types are lost or not available. That is why the whole genus is not revised in this paper. The groups of Eastern Mediterranean species are defined below.

Bionomics. At least some but possibly all species occurring in eastern Mediterranean prefer saline biotopes, where their larvae develop in stems and roots of flowers.