Chitona fucata tristis (Faldermann, 1837) stat. nov. (Figs. 8, 35) Nacerdes tristis Faldermann, 1837: 140; type locality: ‘Transcaucasus’. Nacerda tristis: SEIDLITZ (1899): 836. Chitona (Dolichopyga) tristis: ŠVIHLA (1999): 383. Chitona sieversi Kiesenwetter, 1878 in SCHNEIDER & LEDER (1878): 257; type locality: ‘ Armenia, Etschmiadsin’ [= Ecmiadzin], syn. nov . Type material examined. Chitona sieversi. SYNTYPE, J, ‘Kaukasus, Armenia, leg. Schneider [printed] // Paratypus [sic!], Chitona sieversi Kiesenwetter [red bordered label, red printed and black handwritten]’ (HNHM). Additional material examined. ARMENIA: Dzhararat, Aras river valley, 30 km SW of Yerevan, 16.vi.1988, S. Bečvář, L. Skoupý, Z. Jindra, J. Strejček & J. Morozinski lgt., 39 JJ 40 ♀♀; TURKEY: IĞDİR prov., 30 km E of Iğdir, 28.vi.1987, T. Osten lgt., 1 J 1 ♀ (all NMPC). Differential diagnosis. Chitona fucata tristis does not differ from the nominotypical subspecies in any morphological characters including the male terminalia. It differs only in the coloration and pubescence; the mouthparts and antennae are darker than in the nominotypical subspecies, chestnut brown to sooty, legs entirely sooty, elytra indigo to slate blue, and the elytral pubescence excluding that on suture is slightly shorter and sparser, so that elytra appear blue and not dark grey as in the nominotypical subspecies. On the other hand, the pubescence on the suture is slightly denser and reaching almost the apices of elytra, so that the suture is more conspicuous (see also Fig. 35). Length J ♀: 5.2-7.5 mm. Distribution. S Armenia, NE Turkey. ZAITZEV (1941) mentioned this species as Dolichopyga sieversi from Azerbaijan: Naxçivan (see also Fig. 8). Comments. Given that only the coloration and pubescence differ, I regard C. tristis merely as a subspecies of C. fucata. The type material of N. tristis has not been found so far, however, FALDERMANN (1837) described N. tristis close behind N. fucata in the same publication and compared it with the latter species. Moreover, Faldermann’s description fits very well with the material at my disposal.

{"references": ["FALDERMANN F. 1837: Fauna entomologica Trans-caucasica. Coleoptera. Pars II. Nouveaux Memoires de la Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou 5: 1 - 433.", "SEIDLITZ G. C. M. VON 1899: Oedemeridae. Pp. 681 - 968. In: ERICHSON W. F., SCHAUM H. R., KRAATZ G., KIESENWETTER E. A. H. VON, WEISE J., REITTER E. & SEIDLITZ G. C. M. VON (eds.): Naturgeschichte der Insekten Deutschlands. Erste Abtheilung Coleoptera. Funfter Band. Zweite Halfte. Nicolai, Berlin, 968 pp.", "SVIHLA V. 1999: On the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Palaearctic Oedemeridae (Coleoptera). Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemicae 63: 379 - 385.", "SCHNEIDER O. & LEDER H. 1878: Beitrage zur Kenntnis der kaukasischen Kaferfauna. Verhandlungen des Naturforschenden Vereins in Brunn 16: 3 - 258.", "ZAITZEV P. A. 1941: Rasprostranenie vidov sem. uzkotelok v Zakavka'ze (Coleoptera, Oedemeridae). (Uber die Verbreitung der Oedemeriden-Arten in Transcaucasien (Coleoptera )). Trudy Zoologicheskogo Sektora Gruzinskogo Filiala Akademii Nauk SSSR 3: 229 - 243 (in Russian, German description and summary)."]}

Published as part of Švihla, Vladimír, 2006, Revision of Chitona species (Coleoptera: Oedemeridae) from the eastern Mediterranean, pp. 107-121 in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 46 on page 111, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5176666