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Baltic J. Coleopterol. 12(2) 2012ISSN 1407 - 8619

INTRODUCTION

Notiophilus persicus Breit, 1914 (Coleoptera:Carabidae) is one of 60 species of the genusNotiophilus Dumeril, 1804 that are known in theworld up to date. The species is a little-knownone, it is rarely represented in collections and,since its description, the information on it isscarce.

Austrian entomologist Josef Breit described thespecies considering 2 females, which had beencollected by Hauser, and cited the following la-bel of the collection specimen “Pers.[ia], Kopet-Dagh, Descht, Juni 1902” (Breit 1914). No male ofN. persicus Breit has been described before.

What new do we know about Notiophilus persicus Breit, 1914(Coleoptera: Carabidae)?

Arvīds Barševskis

Barševskis A. 2012. What new do we know about Notiophilus persicus Breit, 1914 (Coleoptera:Carabidae)? Baltic J. Coleopterol., 12(2): 159 – 166.

N. persicus Breit is a little-known species, which, to date, has not been described in thescientific literature to the full. While carrying out the examination of the genus represented inmore than 60 museum collections, the author of the present article has asserted only 4 speci-mens of this species. The article describes the appearance of N. persicus Breit, a specialemphasis being put on the male’s morphology and the peculiarities of its genitalia, since thespecies has been considered only on the basis of females’ description before. The key for theidentification of the species similar to N. persicus Breit has been worked out. The new data onits distribution are published indicating it for the territory of Turkmenistan for the first time.

Key words: Notiophilus persicus, Coleoptera, Carabidae, fauna, distribution, taxonomy,Turkmenistan, Copet-Dagh

Arvīds Barševskis. Institute of Systematic Biology, Daugavpils University, Vienības Str. 13,Daugavpils, LV-5401, Latvia; e-mail: arvids.barsevskis@du.lv

The list of the species of the genus NotiophilusDum. (Bousquet, Barševskis 2003) in “Catalogueof Palearctic Coleoptera” indicates, that the spe-cies is distributed in Iran. To state the particularplace of its collection is problematic, since thedata presented in the labels of the specimensbelonging to this species, which were collectedat the beginning of the 20th century, are incom-plete. Both in Iran and in Turkmenistan there areseveral settlements named ‘Descht’ or ‘Dascht’.In the Farsi language this word is often used todesignate ‘a plain’. The mountain range Copet-dagh juts also into Turkmenistan. Commencingthe research, the author put forward the hypoth-esis that, possibly, the areal of the species’ dis-tribution is greater and it can jut into the territory

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of Turkmenistan. To date, N. persicus Breit hasnot been indicated for the territory of the formerUSSR. Also the voluminous work “A checklist ofGround-Beetles of Russia and Adjacent Lands(Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae)” (Kryzhanovskijet al 1995), which is to be considered the basiclist of the family of ground beetles (Coleoptera:Carabidae) for the territory of the former USSR,does not include the indication of this species.

The aim of the present research was to clarify thetaxonomic status of the species and its distribu-tion. Since the description of the species in 1914,the information about it is very scarce. It is to befound mainly in some lists or catalogues of thespecies of ground beetles, but it does not con-tain any definite data on the findings of the spe-cies. Initially, J. Breit (1914) described this taxonas N. pusillus Waterh. v. persicus nov. var. (Breit,1914), a variety of N. aestuans Dejean, 1826) (=N. pusillus Waterhouse, 1833 nec (Schreber,1759)). Unfortunately, the author does not haveany information whether there are any types ofthis species preserved.

In a later publication “Catalogus Coleopterorumregionis palearcticae” (Winkler 1924-1932) thistaxon is already indicated as a subspecies of N.aestuans Dej. (syn. N. pusillus Waterh. nec(Schreb.). In “Systematic list of extant groundbeetles of the world”, W.Lorentz (2005) has in-cluded this taxon as a valid species.

While carrying out the examination of the collec-tions of more than 60 world museums, it has beendiscovered that some of them contain specimenscollected in Iran and that they have been deter-mined as N. pusillus persicus Breit. After theverification of identification, it turned out thatthey belonged to other species, in most cases, tothe species N. interstitialis Reitter, 1889. Onlyone specimen, which is kept in the collection ofbeetles of the Zoological Institute of the Rus-sian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Rus-sia) proved to be identified correctly. It has beenidentified by the outstanding entomologistO.L.Kryzhanovskij (the beetle has the identifica-tion label attached; the label has been written byO.L.Kryzhanovskij himself: N. aestuans ssp.

persicus Breit, Kryzhanovskij det., 1990]. Thesefacts testify that the description of the speciespublished by J.Breit (1914) is insufficient for thespecies to be precisely identified; therefore it isnecessary to work out the key for theidnetification of these species.

The given article presents the description of themorphology of the species, emphasizing the par-ticularities of a N. persicus Breit, 1914 male’smorphology and structure of its genitalia; thekey for the identification of the species has beenworked out. The new data on its distribution arepublished indicating it for the territory ofTurkmenistan for the first time.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

To carry out the revision of the genusNotiophilus Dum. the author has examined morethan 60 museum collections. N. persicus Breit isa little-known species, which, out of 60 collec-tions, is represented only in two, where all in allthere are 4 specimens of this species deposited.These collections are the following:ZISP – Zoological Institute, Russian Academyof Science, Saint-Petersburg, Russia – 1 ex.;DUBC – Institute of Systematic Biology,Daugavpils University, Daugavpils Distr., Ilgas,Latvia – 3 ex.

Laboratory research and measurements havebeen done using Nikon AZ100 and NikonSMZ745T digital stereomicroscopes, NIS-Ele-ments 6D software, and the photo camera Canon60D.

The schematic map of the species’ distributionhas been worked out by Māris Nitcis(Coleopterological Research Centre, Institute ofSystematic Biology, Daugavpils University,Daugavpils Distr., Ilgas, Latvia), making use ofthe program ArcGis.

Materials examined: 4 ex. TURKMENISTAN: WTurkmenistan, Kyzyl, , 1400 m, 31.04.1979. (2)[DUBC]; W Turkmenistan, Kara – Kala, 1100 m,20.04.1989. (1) [DUBC], W Copet-dagh Mts.,

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What new do we know about Notiophilus persicus Breit, 1914 (Coleoptera: Carabidae)?

Hasardagh, 1630 m, 07.05.1989., (1, W.Rešl. leg.)[N. aestuans ssp. persicus Breit, Kryzhanovskijdet., 1990] [ZISP].

RESULTS

N. persicus Breit is a little-known endemic ofCopet-dagh mountain range, it is distributed inthe territories of Iran and Turkmenistan. Thepresent article indicates N. persicus Breit forTurkmenistan for the first time. The distributionof the species is demonstrated in Figure 1.

For the present, there is no information concern-ing the biology of this species, but the study ofthe labels of the 4 specimens at our disposal tes-tifies to the fact that the species has been ob-served in mountains, in the height of about 1300

– 1630 m above sea level, in springs – April andMay. Most probably, the biology of N. persicusBreit is similar to that of other species of thisgenus.

This article will further present the characteriza-tion of the morphology of N. persicus Breit andthe redescription of the species. A special em-phasis is put on the features that distinguish amale from a female, since only females have beendescribed before.

Redescription of N. persicus Breit

General description. The body is monochro-matic, black, its su rface has bronze lustre (Fig.2). The body length is 4.80 – 4.90 mm. The bodyis slender, with almost parallel sides. The head

Fig. 1. The distribution of N. persicus Breit in Turkmenistan

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and the pronotum are of the same width, theelytra are a little wider. The width proportion ofall the three body parts is 1.40:1.40:1.50.

Head. Eyes are large, moved sideward. The widthof the head is 1.40 - 1.45 mm. The forehead be-tween the eyes has 6 almost parallel frontal fur-rows. The male had some frontal furrows dou-bled at one or both ends; therefore, their numberseems to be greater if not inspected carefully.Predominantly, the number of frontal furrows ofthe species belonging to the genus NotiophilusDum. is specific to the species. The number offrontal furrows is variable only in some speciesof this genus. Most probably it is not the featureof sexual dimorphism in N. persicus Breit, ratherthe only male is an aberrant specimen. The an-tennae are dark, with 2- 4 lighter antennomeres.The palpomeres are dark with lighter base seg-ments.

Pronotum. The sides are S-shape convex. Thehind corners are sharp, a little moved sideways.The disc of pronotum is roughly punctate at theedges and the hind corners, it is more or lessplicate and lustrous. The centre line is squeezedand well expressed in the middle of the pronotumdisc. The basal impressions are deep. The widthof the pronotum is 1.40 – 1.45 mm.

Elytra. The sides are almost parallel, the surfaceis lustrous. The second interval of the elytra issmooth and has a dissipated, fine punctate; inthe middle, this interval is narrower then the fol-lowing three intervals taken together. The firstinterval in the basic part has fine and rather densepunctate both in males and females. Beginningwith the third interval, the elytra have finemicrosculpture and thin, dissipated dots. Theelytral microsculpture is more expressed in thetop part. They look as if mat at the top. The elytrahave two apical pores at the top. The intervals 3and 4 are of similar width. The dorsal pore issituated in the 4th interval of the elytra. At thebasis, the elytral lines of dots are not squeezedor are squeezed a little and consist of big, well-pronounced dots. They become finer and even a

little smoothed down in the top part. The widthof the elytra is 1.50 – 1.60 mm.

Lower side of the body. It is black, lustrous, itsseparate parts, including thorax, are roughly dot-ted. Legs are black. Tarsomeres of the male’s frontlegs are a little broadened. The last abdominalsegment in males has two setiferous punctures,but in females it has four setiferous punctures.

Male genitalia. Aedeagus in all three similar spe-cies is depicted in Fig. 5.

Differential diagnosis. Considering the form ofthe body, which has almost parallel sides, theform of frontal furrows, and the fine punctate ofthe second smooth interval of the elytra, whichis not characteristic of most of other species ofthe genus Notiophilus Dum., this species is simi-lar to N. aestuans Dej. (Fig. 3) and N. interstitialisReitt. (Fig. 4). The feature, which distinguishes itfrom N. aestuans Dej., is that, beginning with thethird one, the elytral intervals have marked, finemicrosculpture and a little different form of thepronotum and its hind corners. This species dif-fers from N. interstitialis Reitt. with the differentform of the body, finer punctate of the surface,especially in the lines of dots and along the sidesof the thorax shield. The elytral microsculpture,beginning with the 3rd interval, is more markedand regular unlike N. interstitialis Reitt., in whichthe microsculpture or its traces on the elytra isonly occasionally discernible.

The key for the identification of the species simi-lar to N. persicus Breit

1(4) The body has almost parallel sides. The sur-face has finer punctate. The lines of dots havefine punctate, they become utterly fine, oftensmoothed down in the top part.

2(3) The intervals between the lines of dots onthe elytra have no microsculpture, smooth, withonly fine dissipated puntate. 3.70 – 5.50mm................................................. N. aestuans Dej.

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Fig. 2. N. persicus Breit

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Fig. 3. N. aestuans Dej.

Fig. 4. N. interstitialis Reitt.

3(2) Already beginning with the 3rd one, the in-tervals between the lines of dots on the elytrahave fine microsculpture and fine dissipatedpuntate. 4.80 – 4.90 mm................ N. persicus Breit

4(1) The body has rounded sides, it is almostegg-shaped. The surface has rougher puntate.The lines of dots consist of rough dots, the dotsare finer before the top, the lines are a littlesmoothed down. 5.0 – 6.0 mm..................................................................... N. interstitialis Reitt.

The author hopes that in future the proposedkey for the identification of the species and thepictures of genitalia will allow for a more preciseidentification of this little-known species.

CONCLUSIONS

N. persicus Breit is a little-knownspecies, which to date has not beenthoroughly described in the scientificliterature. From more than 60 museumcollections, which the author hasprocessed while carrying out the ex-amination of the genus, only 4 speci-mens of this species have been foundin two collections. That allowed forthe redescription of the appearanceof N. persicus Breit, a special empha-sis being put on the male’s morphol-ogy and the peculiarities of its geni-talia, since the species has been de-

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scribed only on the basis of females’ descriptionbefore. In the result of the research it has beenstated that the species is more widespread in theCopet-Dagh mountain range and is found notonly in the territory of Iran, but also that ofTurkmenistan, for the fauna of which this spe-cies is indicated for the first time.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author expresses his gratitude to his col-leagues Dr. Alexandre Anichtchenko and Māris

Nitcis (Coleopterological Research Centre, Insti-tute of Systematic Biology, Daugavpils Univer-sity, Daugavpils Distr., Ilgas, Latvia) for valu-able advice in specifying the area of the speciesand in the development of the cartographic ma-terials.

REFERENCES

Bousquet Y., Barševskis A. 2003. Notiophilini, pp96 – 98 – In: I. Lobl & A. Smetana (edi-

What new do we know about Notiophilus persicus Breit, 1914 (Coleoptera: Carabidae)?

Fig. 5. Aedeagus: A - N. interstitialis Reitt.; B - N. aestuans Dej.; C - N. persicus Breit

C

B

A

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tors): Catalogue of Palearctic Coleoptera,Vol. 1. Stenstrup: Apollo Books, 819 pp.

Breit J. 1914. Beschreibung zwölf neuerpalearktischer Coleopteren – Formen ausder Familie Carabidae. ColeopterologischeRundschau. 10/11: 155 – 170.

Kryzhanovskij O.L., Belousov I.A., Kabak I.I.,Kataev B.M., Makarov K.V., Shilenkov V.G.A Checklist of the Ground-beetles of Rus-sia and Adjacent Lands (Insecta,Coleoptera, Carabidae). Pensoft Publish-ers, Sofia – Moscow: pp 32-33.

Lorenz W. 2005. A systematic list of extant groundbeetles of the World (Coleoptera“Geadephaga”: Trachypachidae andCarabidae incl. Paussinae, Cicindelinae,Rhysodinae), Second Edition: 1 - 530.

Received: 15.05.2012.Accepted: 15.12.2012.

Barševskis A.