Кавказский энтомологический бюллетень (Aug 2023)

Remarkable additions to the fauna of darkling beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) of western Uzbekistan

  • N.Kh. Bekchanov,
  • M.V. Nabozhenko,
  • Kh.U. Bekchanov

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8199930
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 1
pp. 155 – 191

Abstract

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Results on study of darkling beetles after expeditions 2021–2023 in western Uzbekistan (Khorezm Region, the Republic of Karakalpakstan) are summarized. In total, 79 species of tenebrionid beetles were collected, from which four taxa are new for science: Diaphanidus mamuni Nabozhenko et N. Bekchanov, sp. n., Diaphanidus crassiantennatus Nabozhenko et N. Bekchanov, sp. n., Zophosis scabriuscula karakalpakensis Nabozhenko et N. Bekchanov, subsp. n., and Penthicinus amudariensis Nabozhenko et N. Bekchanov, sp. n. Two species, Diaclina testudinea (Piller et Mitterpacher, 1783) and Leichenum pictum (Fabricius, 1801) are new for the fauna of Middle Asia. Ammozoides hauseri (Reitter, 1894), Argyrophana caspia Semenov, 1910 and Blaps hiemalis Semenov et Bogatchev, 1940 are recorded for the fauna of Uzbekistan for the first time. Philhammus sp. is the first representative of the genus in the country. Two species were found in western Uzbekistan for the first time: Arthrodosis planosternum Reitter, 1915 (it was known only from Kumkurgan in southeastern Uzbekistan) and Dengitha crystallina Semenov, 1896 (the species was known from Termez). The following species are new for the fauna of the Ustyurt Plateau: Cyphogenia (Lechriomus) limbata (Fischer von Waldheim, 1820), Diesia sexdentata sexdentata Fischer von Waldheim, 1820, Alcinoeta helopioides spectabilis (Kraatz, 1882), Dengitha crystallina, Bradyus pygmaeus (Fischer von Waldheim, 1821). The genus Gnathosia Fischer von Waldheim, 1821 is transferred from the tribe Tentyriini to Edrotini on the base of the structure of female genital ducts, head and habitus of both sexes. Data on the distribution of many species, incorrectly indicated in the latest edition of the Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera and other sources, are clarified and supplemented. Brief information on the bionomics of collected beetles is given.

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