Ochodaeus ( Ochodaeus ) gigas Marseul, 1878

Ochodaeus ( Ochodaeus) gigas Marseul, 1878 View in CoL

( Fig. 3, 4, 6)

Ochodaeusgigas Marseul,1878:58. – Arrow 1912: 21. –Baraud, 1985:87. – Scholtz & Evans, 1987: 410. – Chikatunov & Pavlíček, 1997:41. – Dupuis, 2005: 761. – López-Colón et al., 2006:95 (catalogue). – Nikolajev & Bezděk, 2016: 85 (catalogue). – Huchet et al., 2022: 913.

Ochodaeus harterti Reitter in Heyden, 1913: 105 (synonymized by Baraud, 1985: 88).

Type material examined

Holotype, ♂, ( MNHN), pinned specimen, labels: (a) Circular, blue, handwritten (in Marseul’s hand): “ Ochodaeus / n. gigas m. / Ouargla / 1[8?]54”;(b) Rectangular,pale blue, printedlabel: “MUSEUM PARIS / coll./ DE MARSEUL”; (c) Rectangular, red, printed: “TYPE”; (d) Rectangular, white, handwritten and printed: “ Holotype / Ochodaeus gigas / Mars. / J. B. Huchet det. 2025”.

Other specimens examined ( 28 ex.)

ISRAEL

Upper Galilee

- Har Meron, 15.III.2002, V. Kravchenko ( 2 ex. / SMNH) ;

idem but 20.IV.2002 ( 1 ♀ / SMNH) ;

Central Coastal Plain

- Tel Aviv, 12.XI.2002, V. Kravchenko, V.Chikatunov ( 2 ♂ / SMNH) ;

idem but 12.IV.2003 ( 2 ♂, 1 ♀ / SMNH) ;

- TelAviv, 3.II.1978, A. Freidberg ( 1 ex. / SMNH) ;

Southern Coastal Plain

- Nizzanim, 2.IV.2001, V. Chikatunov ( 1 ♂, 1 ♀ / CJBH; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 1 ex. / SMNH) ;

idem but 15.I.2002 ( 1 ex. / SMNH) ;

- Nizzanim, 23.I.2003, light trap, V. Kravchenko, V. Chikatunov ( 1 ex. / SMNH) ;

North Negev

- Retamim, 28.XI.2002, light, V. Kravchenko, V. Chikatunov ( 1 ♂ / SMNH); idem but 5.VI.2003, light trap ( 1 ex. / SMNH) ;

- Israel, Retamim , 12.VI.2002, light trap, V. Kravchenko ( 1 ex. / SMNH) ;

- N. Negev, Retamim, Fenix, 5.V.2002, V. Kravchenko / Ochodaeus cornifrons det. V.Chikatunov ( 1 ♀ CJBH; 3 ex. / SMNH) ;

Central Negev

- ' Ezuz, 15.III.2003, lighttrap, V. Kravchenko, V. Chikatunov ( 1 ♀ / CJBH; 1 ex. SMNH) ;

-' En Zin, 18.III.2001, light trap, V. Kravchenko, I. Yarom ( 1 ♂ / SMNH) ;

- Israel, ' En Zin , 27.II.2001, V. Chikatunov ( 1 ex. / SMNH) ;

Arava Valley

- Israel, Shezaf Nat. Res., 17.III.2001, light trap, V. Kravchenko, I. Yarom ( 1 ♀ / SMNH) .

Distribution. – Ochodaeus gigas is mainly found in desert regions of North Africa and the Middle East, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia (new country record). Given its current distribution, the species is likely to be present in adjacent countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Brief redescription

Relatively variable in size. Length 4.5–9.0 mm. Body light reddish-brown to yellowish-brown; anterior clypeal margin, pronotal margins, elytral suture, and outer margins narrowly darkened.

Head. – Distinctly transverse, width across eyes at least three times greater than median length. Punctation dense, coarse, granulose; surface setose. Clypeus very short, anterior margin flattened, not emarginate, with small central horn laterally compressed and connected to margin by a ridge. Clypeofrontal suture obscured by base of horn. Labrum deeply emarginate, setose. Eyes large, globose, laterally produced.

Pronotum. – Coarsely, irregularly punctate; punctation dense and rugose on disc, granulose antero-laterally, surface with short, erect setae.

Elytra . – With large humeral calli; striae fine, distinct; interstriae densely and deeply punctate, each puncture anteriorly bordered by a strong granule; surface with short, erect setae. Scutellum with parallel sides at base.

Legs. – Protibiae tridentate, basal tooth smaller. Profemora with small curved tooth at apex of infero-anterior margin; males with additional blunt tooth at mid-infero-anterior edge. Meso- and metafemora with similar tooth at apex of infero-posterior margin. Metatibia slender with median row of spines.

Abdomen. – Sternites sclerotized with distinct dorsolateral margin; stridulatory peg present.

Genitalia. –Aedeagus with elongate, dorsoventrally curved phallobase, acuminate at apex; parameres short, symmetrical, slightly diverging apically. Endophallus with four serrated endophallites, unequal in size, grouped near base.

Sexual dimorphism . – Weakly developed.Pollex usuallyshapedas a small,round-sectioned spur,apically pointed and curved outward in its apical third in males; in females, it takes the form of a small, flat, triangular tooth. Major males typically exhibit a profemur bearing a broad, blunt, yet discreet tooth at mid-length; this tooth may be barely visible or even absent in minor males.

Comparative diagnosis. – In this species, the most distinctive character is the large clypeal horn, from the base of which arises a longitudinal carina extending to the anterior margin of the clypeus, giving a triangular profile in lateral view ( Fig. 3, 4). The eyes, large, subspherical and globose, occupy nearly the entire width of the head. In contrast, the eyes are distinctly smaller in O. berytensis , with their diameter equal to or less than the length of the genae, and reniform in lateral view in O. ( Diplochodaeus) alleonis ).