Myriochila (Monelica) jucunda, (PERINGUEY, 1892)

Serrano, Artur R. M., 2014, Discovery of Myriochila (monelica) jucunda (Péringuey, 1892) (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae) in Mozambique, with an Annotated List of the Tiger Beetles Known from the Country, The Coleopterists Bulletin 68 (2), pp. 292-296 : 292-296

DISCOVERY OF MYRIOCHILA (MONELICA) JUCUNDA (PÉRINGUEY, 1892) ( COLEOPTERA : CARABIDAE : CICINDELINAE ) IN MOZAMBIQUE, WITH AN ANNOTATED LIST OF THE TIGER BEETLES KNOWN FROM THE COUNTRY

ARTUR R. M. SERRANO Centro de Biologia Ambiental/Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, R. Ernesto de Vasconcelos, C2 PT-1749-016 Lisboa, PORTUGAL [e-mail]

The tiger beetle fauna of Mozambique is one of the most diverse in the Afrotropical Region, with about 100 species/subspecies recorded ( Table 1) (e. g., Horn 1932; Ferreira 1963; Basilewsky 1966; Serrano 1987, 2012, 2013; Werner 2000a, b; Cassola 2002; Cassola and Werner 2003; Schüle 2004, 2010, 2011; Werner and Schüle 2006; Cassola and Bouyer 2007; Schüle and Kudrna 2007; Monfort and Wiesner 2007). This figure corresponds approximately to one species per 8,016 km 2, a number close to twice the ≈1 species per 13,782 km 2 reported by Pearson and Cassola (1992). Most tiger beetle species found in Mozambique occur throughout central and southern Africa, but some species seem to have more restricted distributions (see above references). Undoubtedly, the most species-rich genus in Mozambique is Dromica Dejean, 1826 with approximately 36 species (e. g., Cassola 2002). Currently, about 12 forms (12%) of the known Mozambique tiger beetles are endemic ( Table 1).

Mozambique is a large (801,590 km 2) southeastern African country. Some insights on its orography, major vegetation types, and threats to biodiversity can be found in White (1983), Timberlake (2000), Malmer (2007), and Serrano (2012).

Analysis of the entomological collections deposited in the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical de Zoologia (IICT) (Lisboa, Portugal) provided an opportunity to study tiger beetles from Mozambique. Among these I found one species not recorded from Mozambique, Myriochila (Monelica) jucunda (Péringuey, 1892) ( Fig. 1 ), new country record. Werner and Oesterle (2000) revised the species of the subgenus Monelica Rivalier, 1950 from eastern and southern Africa and considered M. jucunda endemic to Namibia. Later, Werner (2000b) stated that the “Specimens from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania are slightly different,” and that “In the Mikumi Park of central Tanzania, small and aberrant individuals of M. jucunda were active on open patches of a meadow in grassland”. The species was also recently reported in Angola (Serrano and Capela 2013). The three specimens of M. jucunda from Mozambique were taken in Mutuáli (Nampula Province) (S14°50′19.11″ E37°0′0.00″) during 1952, but in two different months (1♂, 17 November 1952; 1♂, 4 December 1952; and 1♀, 3 December 1952). No ecological data were added to the capture records of the specimens except that they were collected during entomological applied studies (in site I, field records 41, 47 and 48, IICT). Adults usually occur on the edges of water pools like many other species of Myriochila Horn, 1905 (Werner and Oesterle 2000; Serrano and Capela 2013). The three specimens were identified previously under the name of Cicindela (Myriochile) fastidiosa vicina Dejean, 1831 ( Alves 1963) . The male aedeagus ( Fig. 2) conforms very well with the drawing of the aedeagus of a Namibian male specimen from Grootfontein (Werner and Oesterle 2000: fig. 14). The elytral marks of the Mozambique and Namibia specimens are also very similar (compare Fig. 1 with figs. 376, 376.1, 376.2, and 376.3 in Werner 2000b). The presence of this species in Mozambique considerably expands its known distribution, extending it into the southeastern portion of Africa.

While studying specimens at IICT of Mozambique tiger beetles esamined by Alves (1963), I discovered another nomenclatural issue. Two specimens (1♂, 7 November 1955; 1♀, 24 November 1955) from S. Martinho do Bilene were identified by Alves (1963) as Myriochile dissimilis Péringuey. The species was correctly identified, but under an erroneous generic name. The species belongs to the genus Cylindera Westwood, 1831 , subgenus Cicindina Adam and Merkl, 1986 ( Wiesner 1992) . The species was not mentioned as occurring in Mozambique in the catalogue by Ferreira (1963). Continued on next page Continued on next page

So I can also confirm the presence of this species in Mozambique.

Figures

Fig. 1. Myriochila jucunda, dorsal habitus of an adult male collected in Mutuáli, Mozambique.