Forum Entomologi Italiani

date: 04.04.2010
place: Romania: Bacau county, Moldavia
size: ~ 3.5 mm

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alexandrupintilioaie(AT)gmail.com

Yes, it is very probably Aphodius (Esymus) merdarius.

From Romania was recorded also A. (Esymus) suturinigra (IENIŞTEA 1982), but I don't believe, that it's correct record.
Here You have the key to both species (in Italian):

- primo articolo dei metatarsi lungo come i due seguenti insieme ...... merdarius (3.5-5 mm)
- primo articolo dei metatarsi più corto che i due seguenti insieme .... suturinigra (3.5-4.5 mm)

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Daniel

Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. (ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ, 1,9)

Today I checked this specimen, but I don't know what species it is, because the first article of metatarsus has about the same lenght as the following two articles, so I can't be sure if this is A. merdarius or suturinigra.
The interesting thing is that I have another Esymus species (same date and place) who has the first article of metatarsus clearly longer then the following two

_________________
alexandrupintilioaie(AT)gmail.com

In that case, you have to get a reliably identified specimen of A. suturinigra for comparison. But I believe that all the specimens from Romania are A. merdarius.

_________________
Daniel

Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. (ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ, 1,9)

Alexaandru:
Esymus suturinigra (A. Schmidt, 1916), eccetto l'aberrazione completamente nera, ha le elitre di un giallo molto chiaro, quasi bianco, laddove le elitre di E. merdarius sono giallo carico. In più, il merdarius ha una banda gialla più o meno estesa per tutto il lato del pronoto - pronoto con un piccolissima macchia gialla solo in corrispondenza degli angoli anteriori nel suturinigra - ed il clipeo non o impercettibilmente sinuato al centro - nettamente scavato nel suturinigra. Inoltre la punteggiatura del pronoto è doppia e molto serrata (punti distanti da 1 a 2 volte il loro diametro) nel merdarius, semplice e spaziata (punti distanti da 2 a 6 volte il loro diametro) nel suturinigra. Per concludere, i maschi del merdarius si distinguono per avere lo sperone apicale delle protibie semplice, normalmente conformato, mentre i maschi del suturinigra hanno lo sperone apicale delle protibie rivolto verso il basso ed uncinato all'apice.
Il tuo ha più la faccia di un Esymus merdarius che di un Esymus suturinigra, ammesso che quest'ultimo sia veramente un Esymus e non un Phalacronothus.

From what Creedence writes, results that it is certainly A. (E.) merdarius. I don't have A. suturinigra in my collection, that's why I appeared only from the key in Baraud (1992).
It is not Phalacronothus.

_________________
Daniel

Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. (ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ, 1,9)

Many thanks Creedence and aphodius, I checked more carefully my specimens today, and now I am sure is A. (E.) merdarius

_________________
alexandrupintilioaie(AT)gmail.com

Alexandru, what is the abundance of A. merdarius in RO? This species in CZ and SK became extinct, but in H is locally common.

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Daniel

Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. (ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ, 1,9)

Hi Daniel,

I started to collect insects (especially beetles) about 2 years ago and I don't have any idea about the abundance of this species in Romania. Personally, I collected from my town only 3 or 4 specimens (in 2010) , and I found them in sheeps and goats excrements. This year I will try to find more specimens.
Maybe Cosmin or AdYRuicanescu will can give you some informations

Best regards,
Alexandru

_________________
alexandrupintilioaie(AT)gmail.com

aphodius, why do you think suturinigra could not belong to Phalacronothus?

Creedence, I have never read not even heard that suturinigra should belong to Phalacronothus. E.g. in Dellacasa & Dellacasa (2006 - Catalogue of Paleartic Coleoptera) it is Esymus. Maybe some new papers was published by Dellacasas or other authors but I don't know anything about it.

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Daniel

Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. (ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ, 1,9)

Alexandru, thank You for Your explanation and good luck!

_________________
Daniel

Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. (ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ, 1,9)

Regarding presence/absence/and other data ... don't know if there are any for Romania, at least for beetle. For some groups there are some red-list but in my opinion this are very artificial... but in the end what list is not artificial.

I have a lot of undetermined material in my collection, I hope that until the end of winter to take a look on everything I have. Only now I have started to organize everything here. But will try to keep the forum updated with my "discoveries" in my collection.

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Cosmin-Ovidiu Manci
**********************
cosmln's place - my blog
just insects
Dragonflies of Romania

Yes, I know the catalogue, but I meant "in your opinion"

OK, but I'm interested especially in faunistics of Scarabaeoidea nor taxonomy, so that I pick and choose from various published classifications without my involvement in solving of taxonomy and nomenclatural problems.

_________________
Daniel

Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. (ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ, 1,9)