Forum Entomologi Italiani

Buongiorno,
Cerco disperatamente qualcuno che abbia già catturato Atanygnathus varicornis (Wollaston, 1867). Ho appena scoperto una stazione importante in Francia da dove finora non è nota. Vorrei confrontare l'edeago!
Grazie mólto.

Atanygnathus varicornis (WOLLASTON, 1867),known from North Africa and southern Italy.
I do not know of any finds from France.

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Research Fields
Taxonomy, ecology, biomonitoring , faunistic of Staphylinidae

A mysterious beetle... At least, Coiffait wrote nothing about a dark band on pronotum in A. varicornis: "Insecte plus clair à pronotum en entier jaune rouge..." Could it be an imported exotic species? There are several species with similar coloration in the African and Asian fauna.


UPD. Wollaston in his description of Tanygnathus varicornis from Cabo Verde wrote: "Having no type of the latter [A. terminalis] for comparison, I am compelled to trust to the diagnosis; but, unless I am much mistaken, the Cape Verde species is narrower than the terminalis, with its (slender) antennae more pallid at their apex, and with its prothorax not only blacker anteriorly but both paler and more broadly pale behind — the posterior half (or even more) being of a clear rufo-testaceous hue." Also, Cameron in 1949 described A. ornatus from Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau) possessing the very same characters. So it would be interesting to compare the types of these species and the specimens studied by Coiffait...

Yes, thanks a lot for these answers. I had noticed that Wollaston's description is closer to Coiffait's, concerning the bicolor pronotum. Aedeagi are similar for the two authors, and they look exactly like those I observed.
Is this species common / widepread in south Italy ?
If someone could send me one (a male, for aedeagus !), I would be pleased to compare, and I have many exemplars to send back !