Cholovocera afghana Johnson 1977
Creators: name: Delgado, Juan A.
name: Palma, Ricardo L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Endomychidae
Cholovocera
Cholovocera afghana

description: Cholovocera afghana Johnson, 1977
Figs 4A, 7A, 9C, 10A, 12A, 14a
Cholovocera afghana Johnson, 1977: 123.
Differential diagnosis
The female of Cholovocera afghana may be distinguished from females of other species in the genus by the combination of these characters: prosternal process, metatibiae and spermatheca. The shape of the prosternal process is not unique, but a comparison with the others would assist in an identification (Fig. 4A); the metatibiae (Fig. 14A) are closest to those of Ch. balcanica (Fig. 14D) and Ch. occulta sp. nov. (Fig. 14L) but distinguishable; and the spermatheca is diagnostic by having a long spermathecal duct, a large c-shaped spermathecal reservoir and a short, round nodulus (Fig. 7A).
However, a complete differential diagnosis of Ch. afghana will be achieved when a male is found and properly described.
Type material
Cholovocera afghana: holotype female in the J. Klapperich Collection held in ZFMK. Johnson (1977: 123) wrote that the type material was collected by J. Klapperich together with many other beetles in Afghanistan, during 1953–1954.Also, Johnson (1977: 123) mentioned that part of the material he studied would be deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum (Budapest, Hungary) and part would remain in the J. Klapperich Collection. The holotype of Ch. afghana was in the latter part, which was later acquired by the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig (Bonn, Germany) (Ulmen et al. 2010: 16), where Klapperich worked as a technician between 1935 and 1952. We assume that the paratype was deposited in Budapest but, despite our enquiries requesting it for our examination, we have not been able to do so.
Holotype
AFGHANISTAN – Nuristan • 1 ♀; “Afghanistan, Nuristan, Bashgutal ”; 1100 m a.s.l.; 14 Apr. 1953; J. Klapperich leg.; [associated with a worker ant of Pheidole indica, det. X. Espadaler]; ZFMK – COL 1000130.
Type locality
“Eastern Afghanistan, Prov. Nengrahar: Nuristan, Bashgultal”.
Description
Male
Unknown.
Female as in Fig. 10A
Body length: 1.57 mm (N = 1, female). Shape of body elliptical, with the lateral margins of the pronotum continuous with those of the elytra, i.e., without an indentation. Elytral apex acute. Terminal antennomere large, subtriangular, as in Fig. 12A. Metatibiae with straight margins diverging distally (Fig. 14A). Prosternal process slightly keeled on its entire length, with a marked median constriction and rounded distally (Fig. 4A).
Spermathecal duct very long and spermathecal reservoir c-shaped; ramus long and tapering distally; cornu round distally and nodulus short and round (Fig. 7A).
Geographic distribution
The known distribution of Cholovocera afghana is in eastern Afghanistan, comprising the type locality only (Fig. 9C).
Host ants
Johnson (1977: 124) only mentioned an “ ant host”. However, from our examination of the holotype, which is associated with a worker ant, one host species is Pheidole indica.
Taxonomic history and remarks
Johnson’s (1977: 123) original description of Cholovocera afghana is brief and without any definite character to distinguish it from the other species in the genus. Furthermore, Johnson (1977: 123) did not state the sex of either the holotype or the paratype, implying that he did not dissect them, as the external morphology of males and female of Cholovocera is very similar.
As far as we know, no other author has examined the type material or has reported other specimens of this species. Several catalogues and checklists have just listed it as valid species from Afghanistan (L̂bl & Smetana 2007: 557; Rücker 2009: 14, 2020: 34; Shockley et al. 2009b: 65). Ulmen et al. (2010: 16) catalogued all the types of Coleoptera held in ZFMK, including the holotype of Ch. afghana.
The known geographic distribution of Ch. afghana is far from both the Mediterranean Basin and the distribution of its geographically closest species, Ch. formicaria (Fig. 9C). This apparently anomalous distribution would indicate that there may be more populations of Cholovocera between the ranges of these two species, including potentially new, yet undescribed species.
description: Published as part of Delgado, Juan A. & Palma, Ricardo L., 2023, A revision of the genus Cholovocera Victor, 1838 (Coleoptera: Endomychidae), pp. 1-71 in European Journal of Taxonomy 906 on pages 48-49, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.906.2329, http://zenodo.org/record/10424508