Phaeaphodius tauricola Hrubant 1961
Creators: name: Dellacasa, Marco
name: Dellacasa, Giovanni
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Aphodiidae
Phaeaphodius
Phaeaphodius tauricola

description: Phaeaphodius tauricola (Hrubant, 1961)
(Figs. 63–67)
Aphodius (Phaeaphodius) tauricola Hrubant, 1961: 97; Ahrens 1997: 55; Dellacasa & Dellacasa 2006: 133.
Phaeaphodius tauricola: Ziani & Moradi Gharakhloo 2011: 61.
Type locality. Berendi/Ereğli, 2000 m, Toros, Anatolia [Turkey, Vilayet Konya].
Type repository. Staatlichen Museum für Naturkunde. Dresden (holotype examined).
Redescription. Length 4.5–5.0 mm; oblong elongate, moderately convex, shiny, glabrous. Dorsal surface piceous black; elytral suture paler, legs dark brown; antennal club black. Head with epistome feebly gibbous and almost smooth on disc, distally coarsely, irregularly, sparsely punctate; clypeus feebly sinuate at middle, round on sides, with thick border, edge glabrous; genae round, setose, feebly protruding from the eyes; frontal suture obsolete; front sparsely, evenly punctate. Pronotum transverse, convex, irregularly punctate; with large punctures four to five times larger than small punctures, punctures somewhat denser on sides; fine small punctures evenly scattered throughout, more superficial and sparser on disc; lateral margins subparallel, thickly bordered, edge sparsely setose; hind angles widely truncate; base with a thin border crenulated by a belt of medium-size, coarse punctures and interrupted toward hind angles. Scutellum triangular, flat, with few sparse and superficial punctures on basal third. Elytra moderately convex, feebly widened apically, rather deeply striate; striae almost superficially punctate, subcrenulate; interstriae flat, superficially microreticulate and finely, sparsely punctate. Metatibiae superior spur as long as first metatarsomere; first metatarsomere as long as following 3 metatarsomeres combined. Male: head and pronotum more transverse, more sparsely and less coarsely punctate; protibiae spur stouter, downward bent and feebly hooked apically; aedeagus Figs. 64–65. Female: head and pronotum narrower apically, more densely and coarsely punctate; protibiae spur slender and nearly straight.
Distribution. Armenia (Sevan, Ghegarkunik region), Iran (Saqqez, Kordostan region), Turkey.
Material examined. TURKEY: Vil. Ankara, Işık Dağı Geçidi, 1600 m, 6.VI.1992, A. Ballerio leg. (1 specimen, DCG); Vilayet Artvin, Çam Geçidi, 2600 m, 17.VI.1992, A. Ballerio leg. (3 specimens, DCG); Vilayet Erzurum, Kireçli Geçidi, 3.V.1992, E., G. & M. Dellacasa leg. (1 specimen, DCG); Vilayet Erzurum, Kireçli Geçidi, 5.V.1992, E., G. & M. Dellacasa leg. (1 specimen, DCG); Vilayet Erzurum, Ovacık, 1.VI.1991, E. & G. Dellacasa leg. (1 specimen, DCG); Vilayet Erzurum, Toprakkale, 6.V.1992, E., G. & M. Dellacasa leg. (1 specimen, DCG); Vilayet Kayseri, Erciyes Dağı, m 2200, 10.VI.1992, A. Ballerio leg. (4 specimens, DCG); Vilayet Konya, Berendi / Ereğli, 2000 m, Toros, Anatolia, M. Muche leg. (holotype male and 7 paratypes, MTD).
Bionomics. Rare coprophagous species; most specimens examined were collected in cow dung in spring.
description: Published as part of Dellacasa, Marco & Dellacasa, Giovanni, 2016, Systematic revision of the genus Phaeaphodius Reitter, 1892 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae), pp. 143-163 in Zootaxa 4162 (1) on pages 160-161, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4162.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/254692