Hycleus pirata Bologna & Turco 2007
Creators: name: Serri, Sayeh
name: Bologna, Marco A.
name: Riccieri, Alessandra
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Meloidae
Hycleus
Hycleus pirata

description: Hycleus pirata Bologna & Turco, 2007   
Figs 8, 20, 77–83  
 Hycleus pirata Bologna & Turco, 2007: 16.   
 Type material. Holotype ♂ and 2 ♀ paratypes:” United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi Emirate, EA4, Al Bateen dunes, 4 Km W Al Ain on the road to Abu Dhabi, 195 m a.s.l. / 24, 20491° N 55, 61263° E, 15.III.2005, leg. M. Bologna & F. Turco (MABC)”; 4 ♂ 4 ♀ paratypes (MABC), 1 ♂ paratype (HMIM): “United Arab Emirate, Abu Dhabi Emirate, EA10, Al Aïn, 3–4 Km E/ Al Selimat on road Al Aïn-Abu Dhabi, 24, 19263° N 55, 58861° E, 220 m, 12–14.III.2005, leg. M. Bologna & F. Turco ”.   
Type locality: “ United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi Emirate, EA4, Al Bateen dunes, 4 Km W Al Ain on the road to Abu Dhabi ” (Bologna & Turco 2007).  
 Additional material examined. 1 ♀ Oman, Wadi Air, 7. V.1957, leg. Popov & Wood (MABC).   
 Records from literature. Oman. Oman (Koçak & Kemal 2015). UAE. UAE (Gillet & Gillet, 2005 as bipunctata; Koçak & Kemal 2015; Ghahari & Campos-Soldini 2019); Abu Dhabi Emirate, EA4, Al Bateen dunes, 4 Km W Al Aïn on the road to Abu Dhabi, 24, 20491° N 55, 61263° E (Bologna & Turco 2007, type locality); Abu Dhabi Emirate, EA10, Al Aïn, 3–4 Km E Al Selimat on road Al Aïn-Abu Dhabi, 24, 19263° N 55, 58861° E (Bologna & Turco 2007); Jebel Hatif (Gillet & Howarth 2004 as bipunctata); Al Aïn area (Gillet & Gillet 1996 as bipunctata); Wadi Bih; Wadi Shawkah (Batelka & Geistardt 2009 as bipunctatus).   
 Description. Body length 12–16.5 mm. Body black, elytra yellowish bright brown, sometimes red, with black pattern. Head subquadrate; male antennomere III (Fig. 77) less than half longer than IV, V–VIII transverse and widened, IX–X narrower than VIII, male XI narrower and longer than X; in female (Fig. 78) shorter than X. Pronotum (Fig. 20) longer than wide, with anterior depression; mesosternum as in Fig. 82. Each elytron with two black spots on anterior third, one sinuate middle fascia, and one black oblique fascia on apical part (Fig. 83). Male last ventrite regularly concave and depressed, posterior margin with a wide and deep middle emargination; aedeagus (Fig. 81) with endophallic hook narrow, distal aedeagal hook curved, far from proximal one and close to apex, proximal hook slightly curved; gonoforceps (Figs 79–80) narrow and elongate both in ventral and lateral view (see Bologna & Turco 2007 for a detailed description).   
 Taxonomic remarks. This species resembles H. apicipennis but it can be distinguished by the elongate shape of antennomere IV, which is subequal in length to V, the shape of last male antennomere, which is strikingly curved, and by the male genitalia. The shape of last antennomere is also very similar to that of H. hayki and of H. sexmaculatus, but H. pirata differs because of the pronotum and aedeagus shape.   
 Distribution. This species seems to have restricted distribution in the United Arab Emirates and Oman (Bologna & Turco 2007). The record of this species from south Iran (Serri 2015) refers to the new species H. hayki.
description: Published as part of Serri, Sayeh, Bologna, Marco A. & Riccieri, Alessandra, 2020, Revision of the Hycleus sexmaculatus species group (Coleoptera: Meloidae Mylabrini), pp. 1-42 in Zootaxa 4790 (1) on pages 23-24, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4790.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3887775