Taxonomic notes on the genus Pedinus Latreille, 1796 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) with a new key to species of the European part of Russia

Abstract

The taxonomic position of some species and subspecies of the genus Pedinus Latreille, 1796 is revised. Two subspecies of the species Pedinus cimmerius G.S. Medvedev, 1968, occuring on the Lower Dnieper sands and sandy sea coasts of the Caucasus, are assigned to the species Pedinus femoralis (Linnaeus, 1767): P. femoralis caucasicus G.S. Medvedev, 1968 and P. femoralis znoikoi G.S. Medvedev, 1968. Pedinus cimmerius is well distinguished from all subspecies of P. femoralis by the structure of the male mesotibiae, which are characterized by the sharp angular emargination in the proximal third of the inner side, as well as strongly curved (from the extensor position) male metatibiae in the proximal third. The psammophilic form of Pedinus femoralis femoralis forma psammophila Nabozhenko, nov. is characterized. It includes a number of isolated populations from sands of the Don River basin and differs from the forma typica of the nominative subspecies in the absence of a longitudinal median fold and the presence of a hair brush on the inner surface of the hind tibiae of the male. A new key is compiled for the Pedinus species of the European part of Russia

Keywords

• subspecies
• forms
• pedinus
• tenebrionidae
• caucasus
• crimea
• european steppes