An updated catalogue of the Histeridae (Coleoptera) of Sardinia, with faunistic, zoogeographical, ecological and conservation remarks *
Author
Penati, Fabio
text
Zootaxa
2009
2009-12-22
2318
197
280
journal article
1175-5326
Saprinus
(
Saprinus
)
prasinus prasinus
Erichson
Literature data.
“
Sardinia
” (
Bargagli 1871
;
Bertolini 1904
;
Porta 1926
;
Barajon 1966
;
Vienna 1980
;
Mazur 1984
;
Audisio
et al
. 1995
;
Mazur 1997
,
2004
;
Yélamos & Lackner 2004
).
Notes.
E-Mediterranean species reaching the Caucasus and
Iran
eastwards (
Mazur 2004
); it was first cited from Sardinia by
Bargagli (1871)
, after suggestion by Baudi, and later uncritically reported by
Bertolini (1904)
,
Porta (1926)
,
Mazur (1997
,
2004
) and
Yélamos and Lackner (2004)
. On the other hand,
Luigioni (1929)
excluded it from the Italian fauna and listed it among the species of uncertain origin or doubtful identification, whereas
Barajon (1966)
recorded it as doubtful in Sardinia, as did
Vienna (1980)
, who affirmed: “
the record ‘Sardinia’ by Bertolini gives no further information and needs confirming in my opinion
” [translated from the Italian original]. Meanwhile it was still included in the Italian checklist (
Audisio
et al
. 1995
), before being definitively excluded by
Penati and Vienna (2002
,
2005
,
2006a
), who found no Sardinian or even Italian specimens in the collections examined by them. Being absent also in
France
and
Spain
(
cf.
Mazur 2004
),
S
.
prasinus
was excluded from the new key to the recognition of
Saprinus
species
of these three countries (
Penati & Vienna 2007
).
During the preparatory work for the present catalogue, while examining the Baudi di Selve collection I found, much to my surprise,
four specimens
of
S
.
prasinus
, all correctly identified and indicated in the handwritten catalogue as coming from Sardinia! Seeing that the western limit of the distribution range of this species is
Greece
and that Baudi could easily have made a mistake when jotting down the origin of these specimens (no specimens in his collection carry a locality label and the locality, which is nearly always generic, is only given in the handwritten catalogue [see also comment under
Phelister haemorrhous
]), I consider it wise to exclude
S
.
prasinus
from the Italian histerid fauna, at least until possible new findings demonstrate its presence in
Sardinia
or elsewhere in
Italy
.