Bella bestia! Anche se non è nel mio gruppo di primario interesse, provo un po' d'invidia.

....e io ti ringrazio e ti faccio i miei più sinceri complimenti per gli splendidi animali che ci stai facendo vedere
....a proposito, a quando i Crisidi?

Grazie, i crisidi per il momento sono in alcool ed aceto....
Ho ancora qualche curiosità nord africana da mostrare e poi oggi preparo le valigie per il "salto in Turchia" con Marco U e Maurizio B.

The type specimen of B. vaulogerii (male) from Tunisia has only one simple horn on head while B. bocchus from Spain and Portugal has two horns adjacent - see e.g. the following link:

http://faluke.blogspot.cz/2012/03/bolbe ... cchus.html

So, it is possible that B. romanorum is the synonym for B. vaulogerii or its subspecies (but let's go wait for a revision).

However, I don't see good the horn of this specimen from Matmata - is it a simple horn or splitted at apex??

Baraud as Arnone & Massa didn't see the type specimen of B. vaulogerii. My colleague from Prague David Král has the type (male) at home (lent from museum), and it has only 1 simple horn (its morphology is identical with B. romanorum, so, B. romanorum is the synonym for B. vaulogerii or its ssp.!). The description in Baraud (1992) is incorrect. Species with horn splitted from the base refer to European B. bocchus (black-coloured body), but north African species with horn splitted at the apex (rust-coloured body) is a species without name, so my colleagues want to name it as B. krikkeni sp.n. - this species is in the photo in the following link under the name B. bocchus (it is B. krikkeni sp. n. in prep. = B. vaulogerii auctorum):

http://www.biolib.cz/cz/taxonimage/id12 ... nid=243131

However, there is the following question: is B. bocchus from Spain and Portugal inentical with the type material of B. bocchus from Algeria??? B. bocchus was described from Algeria (no more specimens are known from this country) and known also from Morocco, but I have no information about the type from Algeria. So, we wil see after the revision from David Král, Oliver Hillert and Bruno Massa.

Hi Guido! Please read better what I wrote. Once again: The type specimen of B vaulogerii Abeille De Perrin, 1898 that is now at David's house (borrowed from the museum) is identical with B. romanorum Arnone & Massa, 2010 at first sight. Your specimen from Matmata is quite different: on the basis of your new detailed pictures I can say: your specimen is B. vaulogerii actorum and thus sp. n. - now without name, not B. vaulogerii Abeille De Perrin, 1898! Your specimen from Matmata could be a paratype in the description of B. krikkeni sp. n. in prep. (if You'll send it to David Král or Oliver Hillert).