FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK Volume 72 2011 pp. 59 63 A new species of Neoplocaederus Sama, 1991 from Syria (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae) A. KOTÁN 1 & G. SAMA 2 1 H-1142 Budapest, Komáromi út 5/a, Hungary. E-mail: helladia@gmail.com 2 via Raffaello 84, 47521 Cesena (FC), Italy. E-mail: francosama@gmail.com Neoplocaederus laszlokotani sp. n. is described from Bloudan, Zabadani (Syria). It is closely related to N. luristanicus (HOLZSCHUH, 1977). With 13 figures. New species, Neoplocaederus, Cerambycinae, Cerambycidae, Syria. INTRODUCTION The genus Neoplocaederus SAMA, 1991consists ofabout40species distributed in Africa and Asia (AURIVILLIUS 1912, FERREIRA & DA VEIGA FERREIRA 1959). Twelve species are known to occur in the Palaearctic region (SAMA &LÖBL 2010): Neoplocaederus caroli (LEPRIEUR, 1876) from North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Lybia and Algeria), N. luristanicus (HOLZSCHUH, 1977) from Iran, N. denticornis (FABRICIUS, 1801) and N. spinicornis (FABRICIUS, 1781) from Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, N. elongatulus (HOLZSCHUH, 1993) from Saudi Arabia, N. scapularis (FISCHER VON WALDHEIM, 1821) from Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran, N. danilevskyi LAZAREV, 2009 from Uzbekistan. The remaining species are distributed in China and in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. There was a gap in the range of the genus between Lybia and Iran, except the southernmost part of the Arabian Peninsula, which has strong zoogeographical affinities with the Afrotropical region. Consequently, the genus was unknown from Syria (REJZEK et al. 2003) until Hungarian coleopterists collected Neoplocaederus specimens in Dimashq county in 2006
60 A. Kotán & G. Sama and 2010. These specimens are similar to N. luristanicus, but several distinguishing characters justify the description of a new species. (Figs 1 2, 7, 11) sp. n. Type material Holotype male: Syria, muh. Dimashq, Zabadani, Bloudan, 1600 m, 12.VI.2006, leg. A. KOTÁN, A. MÁRKUS, N. RAHMÉ & K. SZÉKELY (Hungarian Natural History Museum). Paratypes, with the same data as the holotype: 2 males (coll. K. SZÉKELY, Budapest, Hungary); 2 males and 1 fragmentary female (coll. A. MÁRKUS, Gyula, Hungary); 1 male (coll. G. SAMA); 1 male (coll. A. KOTÁN); 1 male: Syria, muh. Dimashq, Zabadani, Bloudan, 1600 m, 26.V.2010, leg. A. KOTÁN, E. MIZSEI, T. NÉMETH & N. RAHMÉ (coll. A. KOTÁN); 1 male: SW Syria, Bludan env., 21 22.V.1998, leg. & coll. V. ÈELIKOVSKÝ. Description Length: 34 38 mm. Body blackish brown. Male (Fig. 7). Head entirely black, covered with erect, dense and yellowish hairs. Punctation of head and pronotum uniformly dense and deep. Antennae extending with 1.5 antennomeres beyond elytral apices in male, blackish brown with dense punctation, covered with yellowish hairs, antennomere 3 not spinose nor dentate, antennomeres 4 to 11 with a short spine directed backward on external apex; antennomere 1 about as long as 3, antennomere 2 very short, about as long as wide, antennomere 4 the shortest, both antennomeres 5 and 6 slightly shorter than 3. Pronotum black, covered with long erect yellowish hairs, with a short median spine on each side (Fig. 1). Elytra unicoloured blackish brown or castaneous, with recumbent grey pubescence, very finely and shallowly punctate, truncate apically, apices angulate, not spinose (Fig. 2). Ventral side of body densely clothed with recumbent grey pubescence; metasternum with long obliquely erect white hairs (Fig. 11). Legs unicoloured blackish brown clothed with short recumbent pubescence. Variability Only one female is known in very bad condition, it was found dead under a stone, therefore very incomplete. Its antennae are much shorter than body, slightly extending to about 3/4 of elytra, with antennomere 3 shortly dentate, antennomeres 3, 5 and 6 similar in length. Remarks Because of its metasternum with long erect hairs, Neoplocaederus laszlokotani sp. n. is closely related to N. luristanicus (HOLZSCHUH, 1977) from central Iran, the only western Palaearctic Neoplocaederus sharing this character (Fig. 12). N. luristanicus has similar elytral apex (Fig. 4), but differs from the new species by the smaller size (27 31 mm), the light brown coloration of body (Fig. 8), the pronotum dentate, not spinose at sides (Fig. 3), antennae with antennomere 1 more slender. N. caroli (Fig. 9) has the pronotum spinose at sides (Fig. 5), but differs from the new species by the metasternum densely clothed with long recumbent pubescence, without erect hairs, antennomere 3 spinose, elytral surface finely and densely clothed with longer grey or yellowish pubescence and
A new species of Neoplocaederus Sama from Syria (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) 61 finely, densely punctate, apex bispinose, with lateral angles acute or spinose, the sutural angle produced in a longer tooth (Fig. 6). N. scapularis differs by antennomeres 3 and 4 dentate, the following ones spinose on the outer apex (the spines directed outward), antennomere 3 distinctly longer than 5 and 6 each; elytra piceous black, the surface glabrous, sparsely punctate and very densely microsculptured, the sutural apex spinose, the lateral apex dentate; pronotum angulate at side, not spinose, and differently sculptured (Fig. 10). Biology The adults are crepuscular; all known specimens were collected by light traps. The host plant is most probably the zallooh root, Ferula hermonis BOISS. (Apiaceae). The larvae probably feed on the roots underground for two or more years. Etymology The new species is dedicated to the late LÁSZLÓ KOTÁN, father of the senior author. 1 3 5 2 4 6 Pronotum (1, 3, 5) and elytral apex (2, 4, 6): 1 2 = Neoplocaederus laszlokotani sp. n., 3 4 = N. luristanicus (HOLZSCHUH, 1984), 5 6 = N. caroli (LEPRIEUR, 1876) Neoplocaederus luristanicus (HOLZSCHUH, 1977) (Figs 3 4, 8, 12 13) Remarks This apparently rare species was described on the basis of two males from Khorramabad (Lorestan province, Iran), collected by light traps on 10 June 1975 (the holotype) and on 28 June 1975 (the paratype) (HOLZSCHUH 1977). One of us (GS) was able to study the male paratype (deposited in Muséum National d Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France), which bears the collecting label Khorramabad, 28.06.1975 (Fig. 13). One further male specimen is currently known with the following label data: Iran, Prov. Fars, 5 km S of Dehbid, 2040 m, 2.V.2000, leg. A. SZABÓ & P. HENTSCHEL (coll. K. SZÉKELY, Budapest, Hungary) (Fig. 8).
62 A. Kotán & G. Sama 7 9 8 10 Males of Neoplocaederus (all in coll. K. SZÉKELY): 7 = N. laszlokotani sp. n., paratype, 8 = N. luristanicus (HOLZSCHUH, 1977), 9 = N. caroli (LEPRIEUR, 1876), 10 = N. scapularis (FISCHER VON WALDHEIM, 1821), male 11 13 12 Lateral view of metasternum of male paratypes: 11 = Neoplocaederus laszlokotani sp. n., 12 = Neoplocaederus luristanicus (HOLZSCHUH, 1977).. N. luristanicus, paratype male, with original labels
A new species of Neoplocaederus Sama from Syria (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) 63 Acknowledgements We wish to thank our friends and colleagues TAMÁS NÉMETH (Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary) and NIKOLA RAHMÉ (Budapest, Hungary) for producing photos for this paper, THIERRY DEUVE and GÉRARD TAVAKILIAN (Muséum National d Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France) for the loan of paratype of Neoplocaederus luristanicus, KÁLMÁN SZÉKELY (Budapest, Hungary) for making his Neoplocaederus specimens available for study and OTTÓ MERKL (Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest) for help in preparing the manuscript. REFERENCES AURIVILLIUS, C. 1912: Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae. Pars 39. In: SCHENKLING, S. (ed.): Coleopterorum Catalogus, vol. 22, Cerambycidae I. Junk, Berlin, 108 + 574 pp. FERREIRA, M. C.& DA VEIGA FERREIRA, G. 1959: Catalogo dos Cerambicideos da Regiao Etiopica. II. Parte Supertribos Disteniina, Asemina, Cerambycina, Auxesina & Lepturina. Memorias of the Institudo de Investigação do Cientifica de Moçambique : 77 398. HOLZSCHUH, C. 1977: Neue Bockkäfer aus Anatolien und Iran (Col., Cerambycidae). Koleopterologische Rundschau : 127 136. SAMA, G.& LÖBL, I. 2010: Cerambycidae, Western Palaearctic taxa, eastward to Afghanistan, excluding Oman and Yemen and the countries of the former Soviet Union. In: LÖBL, I.& SMETANA, A. (eds): Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera, Vol. 6. Apollo Books, Stenstrup, pp. 84 334. REJZEK, M., KADLEC, S.& SAMA, G. 2003: Contribution to the knowledge of Syrian Cerambycidae fauna. Biocosme Mésogéen (1): 7 50.