Forum Entomologi Italiani

Unique specimen, night, at light.
Length 3.8 mm.
Is it Drapetes flavipes Baudi di Selve or D. talyshensis Dolin & Agajev, 1985 ??
It was impossible to find the original description* of D. talyshensis, so I do not know the differences between these 2 species.
Your help will be very welcome !!!

In any case, this is a new species for Europe.

* Dolin V. G. & Agajev B. I. 1985: Novyy vid zhuka-shchelkuna roda Drapetes (Coleoptera, Elateridae) iz Talysha.
[A new species of the click beetle genus Drapetes (Coleoptera, Elateridae) from Talysh].
Zoologicheskiy Zhurnal 65: 1746-1747.


George

in the website www.elateridae is figured a Paratype female of D. talyschensis. Myself (Platia, 2017) recorded this species from Iran. I don't know the differences with flavipes Baudi from Cyprus and flavipes subparallelus Pic from Turkey. The species seems to be very similar. I have in collection only a female of D. talyschensis and compared with your pictures, my specimen show the sides of pronotum more narrowing from base to apex!

Thank you very much Giuseppe !!!
I know this photo.
http://www.elateridae.com/zobrbruk.php?id=4346
The punctuation on pronotum seems also as different between the photo and the specimen from Samos.
So, more probably D. flavipes.
But not absolutely sure.

The original description of D. talyschensis (in Russian) and its translation (in English) have just arrived.
The text made a completely strange trip in few hours (Russia - Czech Republic - Cyprus - Greece).
And now the result lands here (Italy).


Based on the proportions of pronotum and elytrae, as well as the density of punctuation, this is a Drapetes flavipes Baudi di Selve, 1870, known so far from Cyprus and southern Turkey.
I will not try to define the subspecies.

A problem that has been pending for 24 years, has been solved.
Thank you very much, everyone involved !!!

George