Dima assingi Schimmel & Platia 2008
Creators: name: Mertlik, Josef
name: Németh, Tamás
name: Kundrata, Robin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Elateridae
Dima
Dima assingi

description: Dima assingi Schimmel & Platia, 2008
Figs 6–9, 120, 175–177, 246.
Dima assingi Schimmel & Platia, 2008: 572.
Dima peloponnensis Schimmel & Platia, 2008: 586, syn. n.
Type depositories. Holotype of D. assingi, ♂ (PCRS); paratype of D. assingi, ♀ (PCRS); holotype of D. peloponnensis, ♂ (PCRS); 2 paratypes of D. peloponnensis, ♀♀ (PCRS, PCGP).
Type locality. Greece: Peloponnese, Aroania Mts., 1450 m, 10 km E of Kalavrita (for both D. assingi and D. peloponnensis).
Redetermined material. GREECE: Morea, Trikala, Kilini Mts., 1.–9. VI.1996, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Padovani & Malmusi leg. (as D. hladilorum in Schimmel & Platia 2008) (PCGP); Peloponnese, Kilini Mts., Trikala, 1100 m, 29.V.–7. VI.1998, 1 ♀, L. Saltini leg. (as D. isabellae Dajoz, 1973 in Schimmel & Platia 2 008) (PCRS); Peloponnese, Korinthos: Stilia, 700 m (= Kilini Mts.), 30.V.–6. VI.1998, 1 ♂, leg. L. Saltini leg. (as D. raineri Wurst, 1997 in Schimmel & Platia 2008) (PCRS).
New material. GREECE: North Peloponnese [Nordpeloponnes], Xylokastro, Zemeno env., Driodasos Mongostou (ca. 37°59'47.42"N, 22°35'43.23"E), 28.V.–7. VI.1997, 1 ♀, Manfred Egger leg. (PCME).
Diagnosis. Dima assingi is a large, moderately convex species (13.5–16.3 mm long), with pronotum with coarse punctation, long straight semi-erect to erect pubescence on the sides (Fig. 120), and elytra with decumbent to semi-erect pubescence basally. Dima assingi is very like D. neumanni Platia, 2013 (Fig. 67–74) and D. schnitteri Platia, 2013 (Fig. 105–108), which also occur in the northern Peloponnese. They are characteristic by the long straight semi-erect to erect setae on the pronotal sides and semi-erect pubescence on elytra. Together they form a complex of morphologically variable species with unclear specific limits. Dima assingi differs from two above mentioned species in elytra with shorter decumbent to semi-erect pubescence in basal third or half, and in semierect setae in the first half of pronotal sides (D. neumanni and D. schnitteri have longer semi-erect to erect setae in basal third or half of elytra and erect setae in the anterior half of pronotal lateral margin; Figs 120, 146, 157). In contrast to the typical D. neumanni and D. schnitteri, all known specimens of D. assingi have relatively long pronotum, however, some specimens of D. neumanni (mainly from Aroania Mts.) have similarly shaped pronota.
Intraspecific variability. There is a variability in the coloration of body and pubescence (the specimens from Aroania Mts. have paler pubescence), pronotal pubescence orientation, and in the shape of apical lobe of paramera (Figs 6–9, 175–177).
Distribution. Greece (Peloponnese: Aroania Mts., Kilini Mts.; Fig. 246).
Remarks. The type specimens of D. assingi and D. peloponnensis were collected at the same time and on the same locality in Aroania Mts. (Schimmel & Platia 2008). They differ only in the body coloration (D. peloponnensis is slightly darker; Figs 6–7), surface of pronotum (wrinkled, with different orientation of setae in D. peloponnensis), and the shape of an apical lobe of paramera (shorter in D. peloponnensis; Fig. 177). All these characters are variable in Dima species. The specimens of D. assingi from the Kilini Mts. are similarly colored as D. peloponnensis and some of them vary slightly in the orientation of setae in the pronotum. The wrinkled pronotum is probably a molting defect known also in other species (see e.g. D. fialai sp. nov. or D. fthiotidensis Schimmel & Platia, 2008). Therefore, we herein synonymize Dima peloponnensis Schimmel & Platia, 2008 under Dima assingi Schimmel & Platia, 2008.
There are two species of Dima reported from the Aroania Mts., i.e. D. assingi and D. neumanni (Fig. 246). Both probably differ in their habitat preference. Specimens of D. assingi from the Kilini Mts (Zemeno, Stilia, Trikala) were found near seasonal streams in agricultural lands, whilst Dima neumanni was collected in the dark wet gorges in the fir forests of the Aroania and Erimanthos Mts. It must be also noted, that the occurrence of D. assingi in Aroania Mts. was not confirmed by the recent field research by JM and colleagues—only D. neumanni were found in the vicinity of the type locality of D. assingi. We cannot exclude a possibility that the type specimens of D. assingi were mislabelled.
description: Published as part of Mertlik, Josef, Németh, Tamás & Kundrata, Robin, 2017, Revision of the flightless click-beetle genus Dima Charpentier, 1825 (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Dimini) in the Balkan Peninsula, pp. 1-63 in Zootaxa 4220 (1) on page 7, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4220.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4670787