Contribution to the synonymies, distributions, and bionomics of the Old World species of Macrosiagon (Coleoptera: Ripiphoridae)

Abstract: Selected material of 26 species of Macrosiagon Hentz, 1830 from the Old World and Australia has been studied. Based on the examination of type specimens, the following 27 species group names are synonymised in this paper: Macrosiagon axillaris (Gerstaecker, 1855) = M. maculaticeps Pic, 1913, syn. nov., = M. axillare var. bedoci Pic, 1930, syn. nov., = M. subparallelum Pic, 1930, syn. nov., = M. elongatum Pic, 1950, syn. nov., = M. axillare var. discithorax Pic, 1951, syn. nov., = M. axillare var. senegalense Pic, 1951a, syn. nov., = M. axillare var. senegalense Pic, 1951b, syn. nov., = M. conradsi Pic, 1951, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon bequaerti Pic, 1913, stat.nov. = M. diversipenne Pic, 1930, syn. nov., = M. monardi Pic, 1949, syn. nov., = M. rubronotatum Pic, 1950, syn. nov., = M. rubronotatum var. leyei Pic, 1950, syn. nov., = M. villiersi Pic, 1953, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon bifasciata (Marseul, 1877) = M. medana Pic, 1910, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon biguttata (Blanchard, 1846) = Rhipiphorus biguttatus Blanchard, 1853, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon bimaculata (Fabricius, 1787) = Ripiphorus dubius Motschulsky, 1849, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon caffra (Fåhraeus, 1870) = M. caffrum var. fahraeusi Pic, 1953, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon ferruginea (Fabricius, 1775) = Ripiphorus indicus Hope, 1831, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon gabonica Pic, 1950 = M. senegalense Pic, 1951, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon inferna (Schaufuss, 1872) = Rhipiphorus lugubris Fairmaire, 1887, syn. nov., = Macrosiagon longipes Pic, 1929, syn. nov., = M. longicolle Pic, 1931, syn. nov., = M. longithorax Pic, 1947, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon marcelli Alluaud, 1902 = M. lemoulti Pic, 1930, syn. nov., = M. theresae Pic, 1950, syn. nov., = M. auberti Pic, 1951, syn. nov.; Macrosiagon signaticollis Pic, 1907 = M. signaticollis var. usambarensis Pic, 1909, syn. nov. Macrosiagon axillaris var. bequaerti Pic, 1913 is raised to species status. The lectotype of Emenadia armata Waterhouse, 1883 is designated. Aerva javanica (Burm.f.) Juss. and Sericocomopsis sp. (S. hildebrandtii Schinz or S. pallida (S.Moore) Schinz) (both Amaranthaceae: Aervinae) are reported as the plants visited by adults of Macrosiagon terminata (Laporte, 1840) and M. ferruginea in the Arabian Peninsula, Sudan and Kenya. The plant subfamily Aervinae is recognised as playing an important role in the bionomics of these two Macrosiagon species in the area. Nine Macrosiagon species groups are recognised, six of them are newly established; M. bifasciata species group is redefined and additional species have been proposed for inclusion. Three Macrosiagon species, M. axilaris, M. caffra and M. inferna, were found to occur both in continental Africa and Madagascar. Their possible significance for future biogeographic studies is shortly outlined. Eight species of Macrosiagon are identified as widely distributed Afrotropical species. The first distributional records from the following countries or provinces are given: Africa: Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Republic of South Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe; Asia: Bhutan, China (Gansu, Guizhou, Hainan Isl.), India (Darjeeling, Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh), Indonesia (Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatra), Iran, Laos, New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Solomon Isl., Sri Lanka, ‘Thibet’ and Vietnam; Australia: Queensland; Europe: continental Greece.

Key words: Coleoptera, Ripiphoridae, Macrosiagon, taxonomy, new synonymy, distribution, Old World, bionomics