Asiomira ophtalmica ( Seidlitz, 1896 )

Nabozhenko, Maxim V. & Bukejs, Andris, 2021, The first fossilized comb-clawed beetle of the genus Asiomira Dubrovina, 1973 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae) from Baltic Amber and notes on the distribution of extant species of the genus, Zootaxa 5082 (2), pp. 177-184 : 182

Asiomira ophtalmica ( Seidlitz, 1896)

Novák (2020) recorded this species from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Tajikistan. Originally, the species was described from the Tedzhen-Murghab oasis ( Turkmenistan) and the Alai Ridge ( Kyrgyzstan) ( Seidlitz 1896). Dubrovina (1973, 1982) assumed that specimens of the type series from the Alai Ridge belong to a different species because such a wide gap in the range is very doubtful. The species is distributed in deserts of Central Asia, in floodplains of Tedzhen, Murghab and Amu Darya rivers. Its presence was confirmed in Turkmenistan and Iran (Razavi Khorasan Province: Sarahs) ( Dubrovina 1973, 1982). We haven’t analysed specimens from Uzbekistan nor are aware who listed A. ophtalmica from this country, but a record of this species on the Uzbek part of the floodplain of Amu Darya is likely. Specimens from Zagros mountains ( Iran: Lorestan, Dorud), which were figured and described by Novák (2016) as A. ophtalmica seems to represent an undescribed species which is well distinguished from A. ophtalmica by the structure of the aedeagus (comparing figure 3 here, figure 23 in Dubrovina (1973) and figures 11, 12 in Novák (2016)) and elytra (strial punctures are weakly expressed and interstriae slightly convex in A. ophtalmica unlike specimens from Dorud, Iran). In addition, Novák’s hypothesis on the uniformity of the Irannian specimens and A. ophtalmica implicates a doubtful distributional gap in the range of A. ophtalmica . We leave Dr Vladimír Novák the opportunity to describe a new species from Dorud.

To sum it up, the distribution range of A. ophtalmica includes Turkmenistan, Iran (only the eastern border areas with Turkmenistan), Kyrgyzstan (until the lectotype will be designated, preferably from Turkmenistan) and Uzbekistan under question. We haven`t included Alai Ridge in the distribution of A. ophtalmica ( Fig. 1 ), because this mountain system is large, while the exact collecting locality is unknown.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution of the extant species of Asiomira.