Mycetochara ( Ernocharis ) abschasica Pic, 1925

Mycetochara ( Ernocharis) abschasica Pic, 1925

( Figs 11 View FIGURE 11 , 12 View FIGURE 12 )

? = Mycetochara ( Ernocharis) strejceki Novák, 2022

Type material. Holotype of M. abschasica , 1♀ ( MNHN) ( Fig. 12 View FIGURE 12 ), examined by photo images courtesy Antoine Mantilleri, credit for images is “MNHN/Maxime Boutin”: “ Abchasien Kavkas.” (print), “type” (handwritten by Pic), “ abschasica n. sp. ” (handwritten by Pic), “TYPE” (red, print), “ Museum Paris Coll. M. Pic ”, “ HOLOTYPE ” (red, print), “ Holotype Mycetochara abschasica Pic, 1925 ”, “MNHM EC 50607 [+ QR-code]”.

Material. 2♂♂ ( ZMSFU), Krasnodar Region, Khosta, “Yew-Boxwood grove”, window traps in Taxus - Fagus forest, exposition on Fagus , 5.v.–6.vi.2006 (A.R. Bibin); 1♀ ( ZMSFU), same locality, soil traps in Taxus forest, v.2006 (A.R. Bibin, Yu.A. Chumachenko).

Notes. The female of this species has red-brown or bicolour body (brown head and pronotum and red-brown elytra). The body shape is similar to those in M. zolotareffi , but the pronotum is narrower (pronotum 1.24–1.25 times as wide as long in M. abschasica vs 1.27–1.34 in M. zolotareffi ). Very rarely, immature females of M. zolotareffi also have bicolour body with ochre elytra and brown pronotum and head (at least we have one such female from Goryachy Klyuch, Russia in large series of unicolour beetles, one male and one female from Gudauta (Abkhazia) within series of unicolour specimens). In this case the most distinct distinguish character for females of both species is the proportion of the pronotum, and for males is the structure of the aedeagus.

Pic (1925b) described Mycetochara abschasica based on one female from Abkhasia.He compared M. abschasica with M. zolotareffi (misspelled as “ M. zolotarewi ”) and mentioned as diagnostic characters different body colouration and more elongate elytra. The holotype female of M. abschasica is conspecific to the female from Yew-Boxwood grove, and two males from the same locality correspond to M. strejceki . Males from Khosta externally slightly differ from those, imaged in Novák (2022) by the shape of the pronotum: widest at base ( Novák 2022, fig. 28) or lateral margins parallel at basal half ( Novák 2022, fig. 29). We examined one male from Khosta with subparallel lateral margins of the pronotum, and the second one ( Fig. 11E View FIGURE 11 ) has margins converging from the widest portion to the base (but also straight). The shape of the pronotum in males of Mycetochara spp. can be very variable between different micropopulations and even within one micropopulation (including among beetles collected in different years in one locality). Both, the holotype of M. strejceki and specimens (males and females) of M. abschasica were collected in different parts of Sochi city: Matsesta and Khosta. The distance between Matsesta (the type locality of M. strejceki ) and Khosta (our specimens) is 7 km. Shapes of the aedeagus figured by Novák (2022) and those shown on our Fig. 11C, D View FIGURE 11 are identical. Thus, we assume that both names are synonyms, but to be absolutely sure, it is necessary to collect females and males together from Matsesta. We do not include M. strejceki in the key below, because we believe that its distinguishing characters of the pronotum are only variability (this variability was also shown by Novák (2022) on his figures 28 and 28).

Distribution. The species is known only in southern environs of Sochi ( Russia, Krasnodar Region: Khosta, Macesta) ( Novák 2022; present material) and Abkhazia ( Georgia).

Bionomics. The species was collected in window traps, with exposition on mouldering Fagus and soil trap in Taxus forest.