Mylabris (Mylabris) alpicola Pan & Bologna n. sp.

Figs. 1 A, 4A–G

Type locality. “ Iran, Elburs mts.”. Elburs represents a northern Iranian mountain range parallel to the southern side of the Caspian Sea.

Type specimens. Holotype male (MAB), “ Iran, Elburs-g., 3500 m, 23– 26.6.74, Müting (?) lgt.” (white, handwritten); Paratype male (CC), “ Iran, Avaj, 2300–2600 mnm, 11.06.2005, lgt. V. Bureš, N35 33 50 – E49 0 7 34” (white, printed and handwritten); 7 male and 5 female paratypes (HMIM), “Tehran prov., Fasham, Ahar, 2200 m, 18.06.2004, S. Serri lgt.“ (white, handwritten). All types have additional labels “ Holotypus (and Paratypus, respectively), Mylabris (Myl.) alpicola n. sp. Z. Pan & M. Bologna det. 2013 (red, rectangular, printed and handwritten).

Description. Male: body uniformly black, but elytra (Fig. 4 B) yellow with three sub-round spots, two very small on basal third, and one bigger, positioned in the middle of posterior third; the holotype only with a vanished track of narrow black apical fascia, this is clearly visible in the paratype. Setation uniformly black, but ventral side of foretibiae and foretarsi with golden setae, forming a small pad under the pro- and mesotarsomeres; setae long and suberect both dorsally and ventrally; setae denser on head and pronotum, sparser on elytra. Body length: 9.5–11 mm.

Head slightly longer than wide at temple level, wider at eyes than at temple; punctures wide, irregular, and relatively shallow, surface among punctures wrinkled; head capsule sub-oval, temple subparallel and scarced curved posteriorly, longitudinally shorter than eye; frons flat, with one vanished dark red spot on center, and posteriorly to the red spot, with a vanished longitudinal carina; clypeus transverse, slightly convex, and with anterior and lateral margins slightly rounded, fore third depressed and smooth, fronto-clypeal suture clearly visible; labrum only slightly shorter and narrower than clypeus, anterior margin emarginate, longitudinally depressed in the middle; mandibles robust, almost straight at the basal half, turned suddenly at the point beside labrum, in lateral view longer than clypeus and labrum together; maxillary palpomere II with long setae on posterior side, last maxillary palpomere apically thickened and truncate at apex; antennae (Fig. 4 A) extending almost to basal margin of pronotum, uniformly black or antennomeres III–VII slightly refescent in the holotype; antennomere I more than twice as long II, which is subglobular, antennomere III elongate and ca. 1.6 times as long as IV, IV and V similar in length and width, VI similar in length to IV and V but slightly widened apically, VII–X progressively more elongate and apically widened, X subcylindrical, XI elongate and narrowed in the apical half, evidently less than twice as long as wide.

Pronotum almost as long as wide, narrowed on fore third, convex, sides of basal two thirds almost parallel, at middle slightly wider than at base; a subtransverse depression at base, and anteriorly more or less subdepressed; basal margin straight; punctures similar to on head, and almost confluent on anterior third. Elytral pattern as in Fig. 4 B; setae similar in length to on head and pronotum, but sparser, erect on anterior third, suberect and sligtly shorter on the remaining surface. Mesosternum longitudinally elevated in the middle, with a clearly modified anterior section (“scutum”), which has a slightly depressed oval area with dense and slightly long setae (Fig. 4 C); mesepisterna depressed along the anterior margin, which consequently appears to be raised. Legs black, pro- and mesotibial spurs both pointed and similar in shape, the inner metatibial spur stick-like and the external one pointed (mesotibiae sligthly modified in the holotype, see remarks); femoral setae mixed short and long, robust and more elongate on tibiae and tarsi; foretibiae ventrally with mixed golden and black short and dense setae, setation on external side a little longer than that on inner side; pro- and mesotarsomeres with ventral golden setae forming tarsal pads, those of mesotarsomeres smaller.

Posterior margin of male sternite VIII deeply emarginated in the middle. Male genitalia as in Figs. 4 D–G: in lateral view (Fig. 4 E) the basal part of gonoforceps slender, apical lobe relatively short, slightly less than half of total length of gonoforceps; gonoforceps (Fig. 4 D) fused ventrally in basal third; aedeagus (Fig. 4 F) with two dorsal hooks which with the same inclination, distal hook almost at apex, but the proximal one positioned far from apex, slightly bigger and curved. The apodeme of the spiculum gastrale slender, as in Fig. 4 G. Female. Unknown.

Etymology. The name of the new species refers to its ecological specialization to alpine habitats in the Iranian mountains.

Taxonomic remarks. Only three other species (M. barezensis, M. concolor, and M. tauricola) have the body short, but M. alpicola easily differentiated from them and the other species of the subgenus by the unique elytral black pattern (Fig. 4 B).

The holotype has the antennae slightly refescent, the pronotum more depressed at center, and the middle tibiae slightly folded preapically. We consider this last modification to be possibly due to the manipulation of the not completely hard specimen.

Distribution. W and N Iran.