On the status of some of the Cantharis Linnaeus, 1758 species described in the first half of the 19 th century by Ménétriés, Gebler and Fischer von Waldheim (Coleoptera: Cantharidae)
Author
Kazantsev, S. V.
text
Russian Entomological Journal
2022
2022-03-31
31
1
42
46
http://dx.doi.org/10.15298/rusentj.31.1.08
journal article
294454
10.15298/rusentj.31.1.08
3a582e1c-63fd-4ff6-b440-4edeff8849f8
0132-8069
10978483
Cantharis
(
Cyrtomoptila
)
pygmaea
Ménétriés, 1832
Fig. 4
.
Cantharis pygmaea
Ménétriés, 1832: 162
.
=
Cantharis inforticornis
Pic, 1913: 187
.
=
Rhagonycha beckeri
Pic, 1902: 56
,
syn.n.
=
Telephorus edentulus
Baudi di
Selve, 1872: 106
,
syn.n.
REMARKS. The
type
of
Cantharis pygmaea
Ménétriés, 1832
has not been found either. Its description reads as follows:
‘
Fusca
, thorace submarginato, flavescenti; elytris fuscis; antennarum basi, pedibus anoque flavo-lividis; tibiis posticis infuscatis.
Long. 2 li. 1/3. Larg. 1 li. Elle est très voisine de la
C. fulvicollis
, mais elle est deux fois plus petite, et autrement colorée. A Lenkoran’ [
Ménétriés, 1832
].
This description, although brief, allows rather confident attribution of the taxon, which is in fact related and similar to
C. lateralis
, distinguishable by the absence of light margin on the elytra (
Fig. 4
).
Cantharis pygmaea
is distributed in the steppe and semi-desert areas of southern
Russia
(
Dagestan
,
Volgograd Oblast
), also from
Azerbaijan
(‘Lenkoran’) [
Ménétriés, 1832
],
Turkmenistan
,
Uzbekistan
and
Iran
to
Mongolia
[
Kazantsev, Brancucci, 2007
;
Kazantsev, 2011
]. The species
C. edentula
(Baudi, 1872)
and
C. beckeri
(
Pic, 1902
)
described, respectively, from southern
Russia
(‘Ross. mer.’) and
Volgograd Oblast
(‘Sarepta’) [Baudi a
Selve, 1872
;
Pic, 1902
], are very similar to
C. lateralis
as well, also differing by the uniformly black elytra. Both of them were notably introduced without being compared to
C. pygmaea
.
Syntypes
of
Rhagonycha beckeri
Pic, 1902
from the Museum of Natural History in Paris and the Zoological Institute in
Saint-Petersburg
were studied, and the taxon was transferred first from
Rhagonycha
to
Cantharis
and then to the subgenus
Cyrtomoptila
[
Dahlgren, 1972
;
Kazantsev, 2010
]. The type of
C. edentula
has not been found yet. Nevertheless, as there seem to occur just one such cantharine in the Pre- and Transcaspian steppe and semi-desert areas, and as the three above-mentioned species apparently belong to a single taxon,
Telephorus edentulus
Baudi, 1872
,
syn.n.
and
Rhagonycha beckeri
Pic, 1902
,
syn.n.
are proposed as junior synonyms of
Cantharis pygmaea
Ménétriés, 1832
.