Aphodius (Liothoxax) muscorum Adam 1994
Creators: name: Angus, Robert B.
name: Maté, Jason F.
name: Angus, Elizabeth M.
name: Král, David
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Scarabaeidae
Aphodius
Aphodius muscorum

description: Aphodius (Liothoxax) muscorum Ádám, 1994
Figs 4 b, 6 f, 9 e, 15 c, 17 n-q, 18 j, 21 e, g, i, j, 23 u, 25 b, 26 u, 31 f – l, 34 e – g
Aphodius (Liothorax) muscorum Ádám, 1994: 6.
Type material examined.
The holotype (Fig. 4 b) has five labels: 1: Hung. Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén m., Aggtelek Vörös-tó, 350 m. 2: Typhetum angustifoliae-latifoliae. 3: iszapból (= from mud) 1989. v. 19., leg Ádám L. 4: Paratypus Liothorax muscorum Ádám, 1994 (A red label, incorrect because Adam mentioned only a single holotype with these data). 5: HOLOTYPE A. (Liothorax) muscorum Adam. R. B. Angus det. 2017. It is a female, so only somatic characters are available for assessment (MNSB).
Additional material examined.
HU: Kisújszállás, 47.212 ° N, 20.700 ° E, iv. 2012, R. B. Angus, 2 ♀♀ (NHMUK). Hortobagy National Park, Kis-Kecskés area, 47.67721 ° N, 21.06067 ° E. Washed from mud at edge of a lake, and swarming in mud at edge of lake, 47.67772 ° N, 21.07451 ° E. 24. iv. 2015, 16 ♂♂, 18 ♀♀. R. B. Angus (NHMUK, JFM). Aggteleki NP, Josvafö, Szelce-völgy 1 ♀, 1 unsexed (MNSB). Aggteleki NP, Josvafö, Menes-völgy. 1 unsexed (MNSB). Bukk NP 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, 3 unsexed (MNSB). Hortobágyi N. P., 3. vi. 1980, leg. U. Göllner, 2 unsexed (ABC).
Differential diagnosis.
Closely resembling A. niger but clearly distinguished as a separate species by the short, almost dot-like, Y chromosome (Fig. 31 f – h). Elytral interstices often with fine but distinct reticulation, giving the surface a leaden-grey silky sheen. Metaventrite of females variously depressed medially, depressed area often partly reticulate (Fig. 21 e, g – j).
Redescription.
General appearance (Fig. 4 b). Length: 4.2–5.2 mm (♂), 4.3–5.2 mm (♀). Width: 1.85–2.35 mm (♂), 1.9–2.3 mm (♀). Black, head, pronotum and scutellum glossy (pronotum sometimes less so), elytra with interstices distinctly reticulate, giving a silky lead-grey sheen. Head: glossy black, rather finely punctate, the punctures separated by 2–3 × their diameter. Some slightly larger punctures are present. Frontoclypeal suture very fine, with a glossy impunctate area either side of it. Median 2 / 3 almost straight, its mid-point and lateral ends slightly raised. Suture angled forward outside the lateral elevations, reaching the margin of the head at the front of the genae. Genae (preocular lobes) protrude laterally at an angle of ca 45 ˚ in front of eyes, then curve inwards to meet the frontoclypeal suture ca 1.5 × eye-diameter in front of eyes. Clypeal margin obtusely angled outward from this point, then curved inwards to the median excision. Median area of clypeus bulging upwards. Genae laterally with a narrow raised margin, this continued across the clypeus, becoming weaker medially. The punctation of the frons is sometimes stronger, with a clear distinction between larger punctures and fine dot-like ones. Antennae and maxillary palpi black to blackish brown. Epipharynx (Fig. 9 e) similar to that of A. niger (Fig. 9 a – c). Head and pronotum (Fig. 6 f). Pronotum: hemi-cylindrical, glossy black and with double punctation. The intensity of the punctation is variable, with the larger punctures in some specimens confined to the lateral and posterior 1 / 4 s of its surface, while in others it extends over the whole surface and in some cases both the large and small punctures are heavily impressed, giving a roughened appearance to the surface. There is often an ill-defined narrow median band more or less free of punctures, extending from behind the middle of the disc almost to the hind margin. Lateral margins with a distinct raised bead, this either black or dark brown and extending round the hind corners often giving a continuous narrow raised border over the entire basal margin. It is necessary to tilt the specimen to trace the full course of this border, which is sometimes absent either side of the median 1 / 3, or from the middle 1 / 3 of the margin (Fig. 15 c). Lateral margins visible from above over the anterior 1 / 2, behind this varying from being completely visible to totally obscured by the bulging pronotal surface. Scutellum: elongate, sides parallel in basal 1 / 2, then angled inwards to bluntly rounded apex. Surface glossy black, with sparse fine punctures. Elytra: black but with lead-grey silky sheen resulting from fine but distinct reticulation on the interstices. The strength of the reticulation varies from very weak in the holotype (Fig. 17 n) to rather stronger in some Hortobágyi material (Fig. 17 o) and stronger still in the two females from Kisújszállás (Fig. 17 p, q). This reticulation may be obscured if the specimen is at all greasy. Interstices flat, ca 6 × wider than the striae, with very fine punctures, these ca the same size as the meshes of the reticulation. Striae narrow, vertical-sided, their bottoms glossy. Strial punctures in single rows, small, separated by ca 3 × their diameter, and excising the strial margins.
Metaventrite: median diamond-shaped plate in male finely and sparsely punctate, concave, depressed to median longitudinal groove (Fig. 21 g); in female variable, sometimes median longitudinal groove flattened, but with the median area depressed anteriorly and sometimes with some reticulate sculpture (Fig. 21 i, j).
Legs dark brown, often blackish, basal segment of mesotarsi normally longer than longer mesotibial spur (Fig. 18 j) but sometimes equal in length or slightly shorter.
Aedeagus: Fig. 23 u. Endophallus with heavy recurved teeth. Length ca 1.06 mm, paramere length ca 0.54 mm, basal piece length ca 0.69 mm. Length of tooth-field ca 0.57 mm, of longest teeth on endophallus 47–58 μm.
Remarks.
As already mentioned, Ádám described A. muscorum as a new species, intending it to be the valid name for the species then known as Aphodius (Liothorax) niger (Panzer, 1797). However, chromosomal research by RBA has shown that Hungarian material is in fact different from true A. niger, so Ádám’s Liothorax muscorum must be regarded as a valid species. Ádám gives a description which, from its reference to variation in the strength of the elytral sculpture, is based on a fairly wide selection of Hungarian material. However, he lists only one type specimen, the holotype from the lake Vörös-tó in the Aggteleki national park in NE Hungary, adding that he took the unsexed specimen from mud in a drying out Typha bed. Vörös-tó is now a fairly deep lake with limited development of Phragmites round its edge. It was dredged out when the nearby entrance to the Baradla Barlang (cave) was developed (Sandor Rozsa, Chief Warden of the National Park, pers. comm. to RBA, April 2012). The nearby Aggteleki-tó has extensive development of mud and Typha, but though RBA has taken A. (Nialus) varians in both lakes he failed to find the Liothorax. It is therefore necessary to rely on the holotype and a limited amount of material from the neighbourhood, in the MNSB, for comparison with extensive material from the Hortobágyi National Park, from which chromosomes and DNA are available.
Aphodius muscorum stat. nov. is at present reliably identified only from Hungary. It appears to be a steppe species which may have a wider distribution eastwards but this needs to be verified with A. niger s. l. material from adjacent areas further east (Fig. 29 a). RBA took the species abundantly in lakeside mud in the Hortobágy National Park in April 2015 (Fig. 27 b), and 2 specimens in the mud of a drying out ditch near Kisújszállás in April 2012.
Aphodius " cf A. niger ": species resembling A. niger and A. muscorum, but of uncertain identity
Material examined. RU: Volgograd, 48.739 ° N, 44.529 ° E. 1 ♂ (NMP). Tyumen. 57.215 ° N, 65.574 ° E. 1 ♂. (NMP). Tuyanso, Chernomorsk oblast’. 44.310 ° N, 30.517 ° E. 1915. 1 ♂ (ZIN)
KZ: 10 KM SE of Akmolinsk (Astana) 51.085 ° N, 71.720 ° E. Under detritus by the water. 5. v. 1957. E. L. Gurjeva. 1 ♀ (ZIN). Akmola obl. Kokshipan. By R. Tirs, Marsh on floodplain with Ranunculus and Fritillaria. 13. v. 1957. E. L. Gurjeva. 1 ♂ (ZIN). Akmola oblast’, dolina Basaga-ozik., 49.840 ° N, 65.991 ° E. In a Solonchak (saltmarsh). L. Arnoldi, 27, v. 1957. (ZIN); Uralsk 51.214 ° N, 51.271 ° E. 1 ♂ (NMP).
CZ: Hradec Králové, Na Plachtě. 50.186 ° N, 15.859 ° E. 1 ♂, 1 unsexed (NHMUK). České Budějovice, Hosín aerodrome. 2 unsexed (NHMUK). Břeclav Pohansko 48.73 ° N, 18.918 ° E. Martinů Ivo leg. 20. iv. 2008. 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀, 4 unsexed (NHMUK).
SK: Bol. 48.494 ° N, 21.949 ° E. 2 unsexed (NHMUK).
AU: Feldkirch Moosbrugger Vbg. 47.258 ° N, 9.581 ° E. 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (JHMC). Purgstall a. E. Austria inf. 48.063 ° N, 15.132 ° E & 48.064 ° N, 15.133 ° E. 2, unsexed. Leg. Ressi (JFMC). Umgebung Wien Mauerbach, 48.246 ° N, 16.165 ° E & 48.264 ° N, 16.354 ° E. 2, unsexed (JFMC). Wien Umgebung, 4 8.209 ° N, 16.392 ° E. 1, unsexed (JFMC). Neusiedler See. 47.712 ° N, 16.16. 804 ° E 1, unsexed (JFMC). Ullig Hart bei Graz, 47.082 ° N, 15.440 ° E. 1, unsexed (JFMC).
GE: Masselund, Emsland, 8. 5. 1969, Kerstens 1 unsexed; Hasslünne, Emsland, 8.5. 59, Kerstens, 1 unsexed (ABC); Garz Dr Minarz, “ 594 niger ”, 1 unsexed; c. Epplsh Steind. d., 1 ♂, 6 unsexed (NMW).
PL: Hinter Pommern Kołobrzeg (Zieleniewo), 1 unsexed (MNCN).
RU: Yaroslavl oblast’, Berditsino, 57.454 ° N, 40.1108 ° E. leg. Yakovlev. 1 ♂ (NMW).
Remarks. Material from France, Italy, Bosnia, and Turkey is listed by Maté and Angus (2005). It is not listed here but is mapped (Fig. 29).
Material from coastal or near-costal localities from Poland, Germany, and France is likely to be A. niger. The Yaroslavl specimen is taken as A. niger because locality seems to be ecologically similar to the English and Swedish ones. This might also be true of the Tyumen male.
The specimens from Břeclav Pohansko and Bol are likely to be A. muscorum because these lowland localities are on the edge of the Hungarian plain, and the same is true of all the eastern Austrian material.
The outstanding problem with Central European material is the identity of the “ A. niger ” from the German Mittelgeberge and the northern and central parts of Czechia, as well as the French Massif Central. The map given by Rößner (2012) shows German records, mainly pre- 1950, concentrated either in coastal regions or somewhat further inland (the Mittelgeberge) with few records connecting the two areas. Rößner et al. (2016) give updated records, with some west German localities in the Mittlegeberge post 1950. Costessèque (2005) records it from all the Départements of the Massif Central, but RBA failed to find it in the southern Auvergne (Cantal, Haute-Loire) in April 2017. While all the material may be A. niger, there remains the possibility that a further, as yet unknown species may be present. We have, unfortunately, not been able to obtain living material from this inland area.
The material from Astana and the Akmola oblast and Uralsk may include a new species characterised by a reticulate metaventrite in the males, but a male from a saline depression (Solonchak) by the river Basaga-ozik lacks any trace of reticulation. The Volgograd male also lacks any trace of reticulation on the central portion of the metaventrite. The males from the Chernomorsk oblast’ and Volgograd also lack any reticulation on the metaventrites and their identities are unclear.
description: Published as part of Angus, Robert B., Maté, Jason F., Angus, Elizabeth M. & Král, David, 2024, Towards a revision of the Palaearctic species of Aphodius Hellwig, 1798, subgenus Liothorax Motschulsky, 1860 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Aphodiinae), pp. 205-299 in ZooKeys 1207 on pages 205-299, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1207.117225