Ammobatoides luctuosus

Abstract

Ammobatoides luctuosus (Friese, 1911) MATERIAL EXAMINED: Bulgaria: 1♂, 1♀, Sandanski, 30 May 1989, B. & O. Tkalců leg. (OÖLM); 1♂, N Dolni Pasarel village, 796 m a.s.l., 10 Jun. 2024, T. Trifonov leg., T. Trifonov det. (IBER). Turkey: 1♀, As. Turk. Sille b. Konya, 9 Jun. 1975, J. Heinrich leg., J. Heinrich det. (ZSM); 1♀, Elazig As. Turk. [Elâzığ], 28–29 May 1975, J. Heinrich leg., J. Heinrich det. (ZSM); 1♀, As. Turk. Sille b. Konya, 8 Jun. 1972, J. Heinrich leg., J. Heinrich det. (ZSM). REMARKS: Ammobatoides luctuosus is a rare species recorded predominantly from Turkey. Warncke (1982) was the first to record the species as part of the European fauna, and it can now be newly recorded from Bulgaria. The host is currently unknown, but based on the size, distribution (see examined material below), and flight period (males in late May to early June), M. taurica is a suitable candidate. This is currently unconfirmed, but in the absence of evidence to the contrary it forms a good working hypothesis. It is necessary to discuss the distribution of A. luctuosus as this has been confused in secondary sources. Kuhlmann et al. (2014) list A. luctuosus from Luxembourg, Italy, Malta, North Macedonia, Lithuania, Moldova, Turkey, and Cyprus. This listing from Malta was repeated by Balzan et al. (2016), and the listings from Moldova and Malta was repeated by Reverté et al. (2023). The listings from Luxembourg, Malta, Lithuania, Moldova, and Cyprus are not credible in isolation and without supporting specimen information. No Melitturga species have ever been recorded from Luxembourg or Malta, making the presence of any Ammobatoides species highly suspect. We suspect that this listing may be based on an accidental encoding of Melecta luctuosa (Scopoli) which is present across these countries (with the exception of Cyprus, although there is a severe taxonomic impediment in this genus which limits understanding of the luctuosa -group). Given the few numbers of verified A. luctuosus specimens that we could examine, all from south-eastern Europe, we consider European records from outside of this range to be unverified without the provision of the underlying source specimen data. DISTRIBUTION: North Macedonia, Bulgaria *, and Turkey (Heinrich, 1977; Warncke, 1982).

Authors 2

1. Thomas James Wood Aachen Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR, Leiden, the Netherlands (thomas. wood @ naturalis. nl)

2. Sébastien Patiny

   University of Mons

   Affiliation as printed

   Laboratory of Zoology, University of Mons, 7000, Mons, Belgium (patiny. s @ gmail. com)