Acinopus (Acinopus) sabulosus ( Fabricius, 1792 )

Kataev, Boris M. & Wrase, David W., 2015, Acinopus sabulosus and A. lepeletieri from north-west Africa are two distinct species (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Harpalini), Zootaxa 4007 (2), pp. 290-294 : 290-292

Acinopus (Acinopus) sabulosus ( Fabricius, 1792)

( Figs 1–4 )

Scarites sabulosus Fabricius, 1792: 96 . Type locality: "Barbariae sabulosis".

Carabus obesus Schönherr, 1806: 191 . Type locality: " Alger ".

Acinopus mauritanicus Lucas, 1846: 67 . Type locality: "environs d'Hippone [Annaba]", Algeria. Acinopus sabulosus lucidus Alluaud, 1930: 3 . Type locality: Tendrara, Morocco.

Acinopus sabulosus peyerimhoffi Antoine, 1959: 417 . Type locality: "massif des Mouzaia", Algeria.

Type material: Lectotype (present designation) of Scarites sabulosus : ♂, with rectangular piece of green paper, also labelled " Marocco. Mus: S. & T. L. Scarites sabulosus F.", "626" [both handwritten], and recent printed bottom label "Syst. El. I 187.95" (Coll. Fabricius: ZMUC). Paralectotype: ♀, without any labels (Coll. Fabricius: ZMUC).

Syntype of Carabus obesus : 1 ♂, labelled "♂", " obesus Schönh. Barbaria , Alger ", "Schönh" [all three labels on blue paper, Dejean's handwriting], and "Ex Musaeo Chaudoir" [printed] (Coll. Chaudoir: MNHN). Syntype of Acinopus sabulosus lucidus : 1 ♂, "Tendrara, 309, Ch. Alluaud", " sabulosus v. lucidus Alluaud, Alluaud 1926 " (Coll. Antoine: MNHN).

Syntypes of Acinopus sabulosus peyerimhoffi : 1 ♂, "Mouzaia (Peyerimhoff.)", "penis preparé", " Holotype " [on red paper], " sabulosus s. sp. peyerimhoffi m., Antoine det." (Coll. Antoine: MNHN); 2 ♂, 1 ♀, same data as preceding, but labelled as paratypes (Coll. Antoine: MNHN).

We examined as additional material 143 specimens from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia ( MFNB, MNHN, ZIN, ZMUC, cWR).

Diagnosis. Acinopus sabulosus is recognizable from its congeners by the combination of the following characters: body large and stout, with short, convex, somewhat oval elytra; clypeus with one setigerous pore on each side; right mandible with distinct incision on outer margin at level of anterior margin of clypeus; left mandible without incision at base of outer margin; pronotal sides roundly converging posteriad ( Fig. 1 ); metepisterna wider than long, hind wings strongly reduced to small scales, elytra fused at suture in some specimens; legs black or dark brown; pro- and mesotarsi in male dilated and with biseriate vestiture ventrally; female last visible abdominal sternite with transverse wrinkles; median lobe of aedeagus ( Figs 2, 3 ) arcuate, with terminal lamella in lateral aspect slightly curved dorsad and just before tip ventrad, in dorsal aspect ( Fig. 4 ) moderately narrowed to rounded apex. Body length 9.8–18.5 mm, width 4.3–7.9 mm.

Proportions (6 males, 6 females): PW/PL = 1.58–1.80 (mean 1.70); EL/EW = 1.28–1.43 (mean 1.36); EL/PL = 2.30–2.62 (mean 2.46); EW/PW = 1.01–1.13 (mean 1.06); HWmax/PW = 0.79–0.86 (mean 0.82); HWmin/PW = 0.71– 0.80 (mean 0.76); HWmax/HWmin = 1.03–1.14 (mean 1.08).

Distribution. The species is distributed in north-west Africa ( Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya) ( Kataev et al. 2003). The record for Yemen (l.c.) based on the record for the Hedjas region ( Britton 1948) was mistakenly not designated as belonging to the present-day Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the specimens from the Hedjas region, stored in the Natural History Museum, London, which we could examine, represent a new, yet undescribed species (Wrase & Kataev in preparation).

Remarks. The species is morphologically very variable. There were two subspecies described: A. sabulosus lucidus from Morocco and A. s. peyerimhoffi from Algeria, distinguished mainly by the depth of the elytral striae, but their status is questionable and needs confirmation. In the frame of this paper, it is important to note that all examined specimens of A. sabulosus , including the type specimens of this taxon and of its synonyms as well as of the two described subspecies, have the pronotum narrowed to the base and rounded at sides. We could examine type specimens of all taxa representing synonyms of A. sabulosus except for A. mauritanicus , but according to the original description ( Lucas 1846), this taxon is also characterized by a pronotum narrowed to the base ("Le corselet, plus large anterieurement que posterieurement, avec cette derniere partie assez fortement retrecie”). In the shape of the pronotum, A. sabulosus easily differs from A. lepeletieri which was described as a distinct species and was hitherto considered as a synonym of the former species (see below).

Figures

FIGURE 1 – 11. Acinopus. 1 – 4, A. sabulosus (lectotype); 5 – 11, A. lepeletieri (Algeria). 1, 5, pronotum; 2, 6, 9, median lobe of aedeagus, dorsal view; 3, 7, 10, same, lateral view; 4, 8, 11, terminal lamella. Scales: A = 1.0 mm (Figs 1, 5), B = 1.0 mm (Figs 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10), C = 0.5 mm (Figs 4, 8, 11).