Pseudobium anatolicum ASSING 2006

Pseudobium anatolicum ASSING 2006 (Map 2)

M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: Turkey: 2exs.,Manisa, Turgutlu, Çıkrıkçı, 12.V.2005, leg. Anlaş (cAnl, cAss). Iran: 1 ex., Fars province, road Shiraz-Firuzabad, 27 km S Kavar, Darenjarlar road, 29°07'N, 52°33'E, 1590 m, 5.IV.2006, leg. Frisch & Serri (MNHUB); 1 ex., Fars province, 50 km SW Shiraz, Richi, 29°30'N, 52°11'E, 1650 m, 9.IV.2006, leg. Frisch & Serri (MNHUB); 1 ex., Fars province, road Shiraz-Kazerun, 11 km E Dasht-e Arzhan, Chehel Chesmeh, 29°43'N, 52°00'E, 2060 m, 8.IV.2006, leg. Frisch & Serri (cAss).

C o m m e n t: This recently described species was previously known only from Muğla and Antalya provinces in southwestern Anatolia (ASSING 2006). It does not seem unlikely that P. anatolicum will eventually prove to be a junior synonym of P. angusticolle (HOCHHUTH 1851), whose original description is based on an unspecified number of syntypes from " Armenien. B. Chaudoir" (HOCHHUTH 1851). GUSAROV (1992) located one syntype, apparently a female, in the Hochhuth collection and designated it as the lectotype. Based on material collected in Azerbaijan in 1992 and identified by him as P. angusticolle, he published illustrations of the aedeagus (GUSAROV 1993). Based on these illustrations, there is no doubt that the material from Azerbaijan (see open circle in Map 2) is conspecific with the holotype of P. anatolicum. An identification of Pseudobium species based on external characters alone and without material of all similar species for direct comparison is difficult. Therefore, a formal synonymisation of P. anatolicum will be proposed only after the lectotype of P. angusticolle has been studied. The species is here reported from Iran for the first time (Map 2).