Dendarus armeniacus Baudi di Selve 1876

Dendarus armeniacus Baudi di Selve, 1876

(Figs 1, 2A–C, 9A, 10A, 11A, 12A, 13A)

Dendarus armeniacus Baudi di Selve, 1876 a: 321; Baudi di Selve, 1876 b: 266; Baudi di Selve, 1877: 140; Seidlitz, 1893: 397; Reitter, 1904: 84; Kühnelt, 1957: 77 (?); Grimm, 2015: 311 (part).

Dendarus simplex: G. Medvedev, 1968: 97, 98, 107, fig. 105.

Type material. Lectotype, ♂ designated here and paralectotypes (1♂, 2♀♀) (MSNG): “ Armenia Russa Viag. Doria 1862 [Russian Armenia, Voyage Doria, 1862], “ SYNTYPUS Dendarus (Pandarinus) armeniacus Baudi di Selve, 1876 ”, “ Museo Civico di Genova ”. Bottom label for this series: “ Dendarus (Pandarinus) armeniacus Baudi ♂ ♀ ”. The following label was pinned to the lectotype: “ Lectotypus Dendarus armeniacus Baudi di Selve, 1876 des. Nabozhenko & Poggi 2022”.

Material. Iran. 1♀ (MSNG): “ Sari Mazanderan, [leg.] Kerim 26.i.1875 ”; 1♂ (HNHM): “ Caspi. - M. Gebiet, Hamarat, Leder (Reitter)”; 1♂, 2♀♀ (HNHM): “Hamarat”; 1♂ (HNHM): “Persien”; 1♂ (HNHM): Elburs, N Tehran, Lashak, 1800 m, dry slope, 31.v.1978 (leg. Martens & Pieper); 1♂ (PCML): Elburs Mts, Masandaran, Kojur, on the road S of Alamdeh, 1540 m, dry, 31.v.1978 (leg. Martens & Pieper); 1♂, 1♀ (HNHM): Mazandaran Prov., Abharm (Damavend), 2100–2400 m, 15.v.1970 (leg. Wittmer, v. Bothmer); 13♂♂, 10♀♀ (ZIN): Amarat [environs of Damavend], 7.v.1994 (leg. Glazunov); 1♂ (ZIN): Khamasur, 6.vi.1894 (leg. Glazunov); 2♀♀ (ZIN): Shakh-Kukh [now: Gorgan Prov.: Shahkuh-e Sofla], 4000–10000 feet, S of Astrabad [now Gorgan] (leg. Christoph); 2♀♀ (ZIN): Persia bor., Shakhkukh; 1♂ (SCZHA): Mazandaran prov., Posht Koh, 18.vii.2008 (leg. H. Barimani).

Diagnosis. Male. Body completely shiny, slender, legs not robust. Head and pronotum with fine and sparse uniform puncturation of round punctures (puncture diameter 2–3 times shorter than interpuncture distance). Head ventrally with strongly impressed longitudinal furrow beyond prementum. Pronotum convex. Lateral margins of pronotum not emarginated or slightly emarginated near posterior angles; anterior angles not protruding; base slightly bisinuate, posterior angles obtuse or straight, not projected. Prosternal process wide, widely rounded at apex. Elytra widest at middle. Strial punctures round, fine, moderately spaced (29–40 punctures in one row), not impressed, slightly larger than interstrial ones. Interstriae flat. Protibiae with deep notch on inner side and large acute tooth; protibia much wider at level of this tooth than at apex. Mesotibiae bent inwards. Mesotarsi (sole) usually with one full hair brush on tarsomere 2, sometimes additionally with non-full small brush on tarsomere 3, rarely tarsi without brushes.

Female. Body more robust, elytra often much wider than pronotum.

Notes. The description of Dendarus (Pandarinus) armeniacus as “n. sp.” was published by Baudi di Selve three times in two contiguous years, firstly in 1876a in the Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova (paper published in the month of September, see Poggi (2010), then in 1876b in the Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift (paper published in the month of October, see volume index) and finally in 1877 in the Bullettino della Società Entomologica Italiana. The reason for these partial overlaps is linked to the fact that at that time, Baudi was engaged in the revision of several European collections of Tenebrionids and often repeated his data in contemporary papers published in various periodicals. Also for indication of the type locality Baudi gave various reports; in the first description (1876 a) he wrote “ Persia sett.”(= settentrionale, northern Iran), even if named the new species “ armeniacus ” (= from Armenia), with Doria as collector; in the second description (1876 b) he wrote “Armen.[ia] ross.[ica]” (= Russian Armenia), with De Filippi and Doria as collectors; in the third description (1877) he did not indicate either the locality or the collector(s).

Dendarus armeniacus was collected during a diplomatic mission that in 1862 the newly established Kingdom of Italy sent to the Shah of Persia (now Iran). Three Italian zoologists were among the participants: Prof. Filippo De Filippi, Prof. Michele Lessona (both from Turin) and, from Genoa, the young Giacomo Doria (aged 22), the future founder of the Civic Museum of Natural History which, after his death, was dedicated to him. Based on what De Filippi (1865) reported in his travel diary, the “Missione Italiana in Persia” (Italian Mission to Persia) left Genoa harbour on April 21, 1862 and, after some changes of boats, landed in Poti, Georgia on May, 12, reaching Tiflis on May, 17. The Mission entered in Armenia on June, 6; two days later was in Erevan and on June, 16 crossed the Aras River, the border between Armenia and Persia, arriving lastly to Teheran only on August, 3. This means that the beetles labelled by Doria as collected by him in “ Armenia russa” (Russian Armenia) were collected in the period between 7 and 16 June. Considering that this species has not been collected in Armenia for almost 200 years (Nabozhenko et al. 2021), we have reason to believe that the species was collected on the Iranian side of the Aras valley or in a nearby locality in Iran.

We don’t know which species was listed by Kühnelt (1957) under the name Dendarus armeniacus with distribution in the Caucasus and NO Iran; the record was based on literature only. Medvedev (1968) erroneously interpreted D. armeniacus as D. simplex Seidlitz, 1893 based on the large series of beetles from Elburs (Iran), deposited in ZIN. Grimm (2015) listed series of specimens of D. armeniacus from Elburz Mts and one specimen from Fars Province; the latter probably belongs to D. matthewsi or other undescribed species. In any case, the record of D. armeniacus for Fars Province is doubtful. The series of D. armeniacus in HNHM includes two species, D. armeniacus and D. vagabundus.

Distribution. N Iran. Erroneous records for Armenia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Turkey (Medvedev 1968, Iwan et al. 2020).