Euboeus (Pelorinus) vicinus ( Allard, 1876 )

Nabozhenko, Maxim V., 2022, A taxonomic review of the genus Euboeus Boieldieu, 1865 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Helopini) of the Caucasus, Iran and Turkmenistan, Zootaxa 5159 (4), pp. 451-486 : 458

Euboeus (Pelorinus) vicinus ( Allard, 1876)

( Fig. 6 )

Helops vicinus Allard, 1876: 14 , 34;

Helops vicinus: Allard, 1877: 26 , 91;

Helops vicinus: Seidlitz, 1895: 706 ;

Probaticus (Pelorinus) vicinus: Reitter, 1922: 33 , nota 28.;

Probaticus (Pelorinus) medvedevi Abdurakhmanov et Nabozhenko, 2011 , syn. nov.;

Euboeus (Pelorinus) medvedevi: Nabozhenko et al., 2021b: 441

Type material. Syntypes of Helops vicinus were not found by curators in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle Paris. Holotype, ♀ ( ZIN) of Probaticus medvedevi with labels: Cyrilliс “Арм. ССР Алаверди 25.04.86 Мелях С.В.” ( Armenian SSR, Alaverdi , 25.iv.1986, leg. S.V. Melyakh), “ Probaticus (Pelorinus) medvedevi Nabozhenko et Abdurakhmanov 2011 ” .

Material. 1♂, 2♀: “Kaukasus Leder”, “Allard type”, “ Coll. Reitter ”, “ Paratypus 1877 Helops vicinus Allard ” (curator’s label) .

Notes. This very rare species was described in 1876 based on the specimen(s) from the collection of Reiche ( Allard 1876) and redescribed in 1877 using the type specimen(s) and beetles collected by Leder ( Allard 1877). Later, Schneider & Leder (1878) again published Allard’s redescription 1877 and added the species’ type locality: “Elisabetthal”. It was a settlement of German colonists, which is now called Asureti ( Georgia, 41°35′45″N, 44°40′00″E). Both description and redescription ( Allard 1876, 1877) have differences, and the latter is more consistent with specimens from Georgia and northern Armenia, as mentioned by Abdurakhmanov & Nabozhenko (2011). In addition, the Russian authors erroneously interpreted species from South Armenia and Nakhchivan as E. vicinus (described below as E. kalashiani sp. nov.) since Bogachev (1938). As a result, Abdurakhmanov & Nabozhenko described a new species Probaticus medvedevi , from northern Armenia ( Figs 6D, F ). Allard examined the specimens of Leder and confirmed that they belong to his species Helops vicinus , as he wrote in redescription ( Allard 1877). The Leder’s specimens ( Figs 6A–C, E, G–K ) are not syntypes (as marked on the labels) because the original description was based on other specimens from the Reiche collection. The females from Georgia are conspecific to the female (holotype) of E. medvedevi despite the variability. As a result, I propose the following synonymy: Helops vicinus Allard, 1876 = Probaticus (Pelorinus) medvedevi Abdurakhmanov et Nabozhenko, 2011 , syn. nov.

Distribution. Southern Georgia, northern area of Armenia.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Euboeus vicinus, habitus, labels, details of structure. A = male dorsally (Georgia, Asureti); B = female dorsally (Georgia, Asureti); C = female dorsally (Georgia, Asureti); D = female dorsally (Armenia, Alaverdi), holotype of Probaticus medvedevi; E = labels of non-type specimens from Georgia, Asureti (HNHM); F = labels of the holotype of Probaticus medvedevi; G = male inner sternite VIII, ventrally; H = spiculum gastrale; I = median lobe of aedeagus, ventrally; J = tegmen, ventrally; K = apical piece of aedeagus, dorsally.