New data on diagnostics and distribution of the little-known comb-clawed beetle Cornucistela serrata (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae)
M.V. Nabozhenko
& K. Matsumoto
Abstract. Additional diagnostic characters of the little-known alleculine species Cornucistela serrata Campbell, 1980 are discussed. Variability of ocular index, a character widely used in the systematics of Alleculinae, is demonstrated. The distribution of C. serrata is amended; the species is known from the central part of Saudi Arabia and not from western provinces of the country as previously thought. A corrected key to species of Cornucistela Campbell, 1980 is given.
Key words: morphology, variability, ocular index, Saudi Arabia, Tenebrionidae, Alleculinae, Gonoderina, Cornucistela
Zoosystematica Rossica, 2021, 30(1): 8-12 ▪ Published online 18 March 2021
https://doi.org/10.31610/zsr/2021.30.1.8 ▪ Open full article 
References
Bousquet Y., Bouchard P. & Campbell J.M. 2015. Catalogue of genus-group names in Alleculinae (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). The Coleopterists Bulletin, 14(mo4): 131–151. https://doi.org/10.1649/0010-065X-69.mo4.131
Campbell J.M. 1980. Insects of Saudi Arabia, Coleoptera: Fam. Alleculidae. Fauna of Saudi Arabia, 2: 133–136.
Campbell J.M. & Marshall J.D. 1964. The ocular index and its applications to the taxonomy of the Alleculidae (Coleoptera). The Coleopterists Bulletin, 18(2): 42.
Harry St John Philby Collection (reference code GB165-0229; fonds level description created by C. Brown 27 July 1999 and revised by D. Usher 9 October 2003) [online]. 2004. Middle East Centre Archive of St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/mec/MEChandlists/Philby-Collection.pdf [published online 2 April 2004; viewed 29 December 2020].
Novák V. & Nabozhenko M. 2019. A new species of Cornucistela Campbell, 1980 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae: Gonoderina) from Iran. Zootaxa, 4612(2): 267–274. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4612.2
Sabatinelli G. & Pontuale G. 1998. Melolonthinae and Pachydeminae of Arabia (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Melolonthidae). Fauna of Arabia, 17: 107–146.