Platyderus (Eremoderus) davatchii Morvan, 1970

Gueorguiev, Borislav, Wrase, David W., Assmann, Thorsten, Muilwijk, Jan & Machard, Patrice, 2022, Taxonomic revision of the African and Southwest Asian species of Platyderus Stephens, subg. Eremoderus Jeanne (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Sphodrini), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 69 (1), pp. 71-122 : 71

8. Platyderus (Eremoderus) davatchii Morvan, 1970

Fig. 17

Platyderus davatchii Morvan, 1970: 194 (type locality: “l’Elburz, environs d’Alamut; alt. 2 700 m... près d’un torrent, versan nord").

Notes on type locality.

The type locality in the Iranian province of Qazvin, in Qazvin County, in the vicinities of Alamut Castle, 2700 m, may conditionally confine to the high area of the Central Alborz Range situated northward of the upper current of Shāh Rūd River, eastward of the Ovan Lake and westward of the upper currents of Seh Hazar River. It may concern the area situated north-northeast of ruins of the Alamut Castle.

References.

Platyderus davatchii : Morvan 1970: Morvan 1974: 149; Lorenz 1998: 375; Hovorka and Sciaky 2003: 522; Lorenz 2005: 395; Azadbakhsh and Nozari 2015: 84; Hovorka 2017: 757.

Type material.

Holotype ♀ preserved in private collection Pierre Morvan (Carentoir, France). Not examined.

Other material examined.

None.

Habitat.

The holotype was collected under a large stone near a stream, on a north slope at ca. 2700 m altitude.

Distribution.

Only known from type location in North Iran: Central Alborz Range (Fig. 17 ).

Notes.

Based on the habitus drawing and features noted in the original description ( Morvan 1970: 194, fig. 6), P. davatchii is without doubt an Eremoderus -species. For the time being, it is the westernmost and the least known representative of the " Platyderus davatchii " species group. Study of the holotype or topotypical male specimens of P. davatchii is a key issue that can help to decide whether its closest neighbor, P. ledouxi , is a separate species or its synonym. The distance between the population from Alamut Region (Qazvin County), referred to the former species, and the population south of Kelārdascht [= Hasankif; = Rudbarak] (Chalus County: Kelārdascht District), referred to the latter species is about 40-50 km in straight line.

The record about P. davatchii from "10 km S Hasan Keif" ( Lohaj and Mlejnek 2007) actually concerns P. ledouxi .

Figures

Figure 17. Distribution of species from subgenus Platyderus Eremoderus in Iran and Afghanistan: Platyderus felixi sp. nov. (red circle), P. iranicus sp. nov. (blue circles), P. lassallei sp. nov. (yellow circles), P. davatchii (green triangle), P. ledouxi (red triangle), P. taghizadehi (blue triangle), P. klapperichi sp. nov. (black triangle), and P. afghanistanicus sp. nov. (red question mark).