Forum Entomologi Italiani

Hello

this summer in southern Georgia (in July), in the small Caucasus, not far from the border with Turkey, my prospections allowed me to discover a new population of Procerus.
This new subspecies (one of the 2 new subspecies of Procerus scabrosus that I just described in the september's Acorep release) is adapted to live in the mountain (1600m alt.) as well as to eat some prey different from those researched by the subspecies colchicus, which occupies biotopes of lower elevations.
As a result, this new population has a small size, a much more globose figure, and no longer shows any trace of cychrisation (unlike the ssp.colchicus which is clearly cychrisant).

Comparative pictures : (and for those who would like to see the specimens in reality, I will be exhibiting at the Juvisy's entomologic fair nearby Paris this weekend).

FANTASTIC

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Fai attenzione a chi calpesti per salire, potresti incontrarlo mentre scendi. Marcela Jalife

Hello,
really beautiful, congratulation!
I see that you've compared this new form with C. s. colchicus that it is pretty different for sure. Did you compared it with P. s. vardziaensis described by Deuve in 2017 from South Georgia not far from the Turkish border? By the picture it looks very similar.
Best wishes,
Ivan

Procerus caucasicus vardziaensis Deuve, 2017

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Research Fields
Taxonomy, ecology, biomonitoring , faunistic of Staphylinidae

Hello,

for your information, I did a second publication, to compare the subspecies vardziaensis (holotype) and demiddelaerae.
The phenotypes are compared, but also the way of life, the biotops, the food…
I won't mention all the details, but vardziaensis is living in the valley, right side of the river, and demiddelaerae is living on the north face of a big moutain (left side of the same river), behing a huge cliff of 1600m alt.

vardziaensis is living in a biotop 350-400m lower than the one occupied by demiddelaerae, but their size are similar.

For more information, my 2nd publication will be available next week.

nice ,evident difference

You have studied this taxon ?..............shavsheticus Zaitzev, 1930


scabrosus colchicus Motschulsky, 1844
shavsheticus Zaitzev, 1930

Zaitzev P. 1930: Die Untergattung Procerus Dej. in den Kaukasusländern. Magazin for Study of Transcaucasia
(Tiflis) (A) 1: 1–13.

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Research Fields
Taxonomy, ecology, biomonitoring , faunistic of Staphylinidae

Dear colleague,

Thank you for your answer, and your advice.
I Don't know this old description, and nowhere, even inside the book of Mr Cavazzuti, I can find this name

Do you have a pdf of this description ?
Or at least a picture of the specimen used for the description.

Anyway, you have to know that this new population (ssp.demiddelaerae) is located close from Turkish border, and not far from armenian border also.

Best regards.

I'm looking for an original description shavsheticus (I wrote my colleague to Russia maybe will help)
in the Palearctic catalog as a synonym
scabrosus colchicus Motschulsky, 1844
shavsheticus Zaitzev, 1930

in this publication as subspecies
O. L. Kryzhanovskij, I. A. Belousov, I. I. Kabak,B. M. Kataev, K. V. Makarov, V. G. Shilenkov
Checklist of the Ground-Beetles of Russia and Adjacent Lands


caucasicus (Carabus) ADAMS 1817
ssp. caucasicus (Carabus caucasicus, ssp.) ADAMS 1817
= tuberculosus (Carabus caucasicus, syn.) GÉHIN 1885
? armenius (Carabus caucasicus, syn.) ZAITZEV 1930
ssp. colchicus (Carabus caucasicus, ssp.) MOTSCHULSKY 1844
ssp. shavsheticus (Carabus caucasicus, ssp.) ZAITZEV 1928

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Research Fields
Taxonomy, ecology, biomonitoring , faunistic of Staphylinidae

Thank you for these informations, and the pdf.

I'm curious to read the original description, but… this taxa (shavsheticus) has probably nothing to do with my descriptions.

The both new subspecies I recently described are living inside places hard to access, and I'm 100% sure nobody collected beetles there in 1928.