Contribution to the knowledge of the Clytrini of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Near East and the Arabian Peninsula, with descriptions of four new species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cryptocephalinae)

Four new species of the tribe Clytrini Kirby, 1837, Labidostomis bcharrensis sp. nov. (Lebanon), Tituboea friedmani sp. nov. (Israel), Tituboea harteni sp. nov. (United Arab Emirates) and Tituboea radeki sp. nov. (Yemen, Oman), and the formerly unknown females of Labidostomis damavandensis Rapilly, 1984 and Saudiclytra wittmeri Medvedev, 1979 are described. The following new synonyms are proposed: Coptocephala coptocephaloides (Lacordaire, 1848) = Coptocephala furthi Medvedev, 1992 syn. nov., Labidostomis rufa (Waltl, 1838) = Labidostomis rufa (Lacordaire, 1848) syn. nov., Tituboea olivieri (Lacordaire, 1848) = Tituboea femoralis Medvedev, 1962 syn. nov., Saudiclytra wittmeri (Medvedev, 1979) = Saudiclytra spinifemorata Medvedev, El Torkey & Al Dhafer, 2014 syn. nov. A neotype is designated for Clythra (Tituboea) olivieri Lacordaire, 1848. Tituboea decemguttata Walker, 1871 is considered as nomen dubium. The variability of the elytral pattern of Afrophthalma arabica (Bryant, 1957) is delimited. New country records and comments on distribution of Clytrini species from the eastern Mediterranean, the Near East and the Arabian Peninsula are presented.


Differential diagnosis
Labidostomis bcharrensis sp. nov. is characterised by the peculiar elytral colouration with a large blackish spot covering most of the disc of each elytron including the humeral calli. A similar colouration is known in the females of Labidostomis limbata (Lacordaire, 1848) from Syria and Israel but the suture is yellow in Labidostomis bcharrensis sp. nov. while the spots are united and the suture is metallic black in females of Labidostomis limbata. The males of Labidostomis limbata have a different elytral colouration with separated small humeral spots (Bezděk 2018). Both species also differ in the punctation of the head pronotum (lustrous, covered with small fine punctures in Labidostomis bcharrensis sp. nov.; dull, densely covered with larger punctures in Labidostomis limbata). Colouration. Metallic blue with small brownish spot behind each eye, labrum black with thinly pale anterior margin, mandibles black with dark brownish apices. Antennae: antennomeres I-IV yellow, I with largely darkened dorsal side, II-IV with infuscate dorsal side, V black with yellow base, VI-XI black. Pronotum and scutellum metallic blue. Each elytron with large blackish spot covering most of the disc and widely connected with humeral spot, all margins narrowly yellow. Ventral side of body and legs black with slight metallic sheen. head and mandiBles. Enlarged (Fig. 1B). Labrum covered with fine microsculpture, anterior margin almost straight with small notch in middle, several pale setae on anterior margin, several additional setae along anterior margin near medial notch. Clypeus laterally with small triangular processes, with divergent apices. Anterior clypeal margin between processes distinctly widely rounded. Clypeal surface almost impunctate and glabrous except several setigerous pores on base of each lateral process bearing long pale seta. Genae large, subtriangular, with large punctures and microsculpture. Frons wide, glabrous, slightly uneven but without any median impression, 4.6 times as wide as transverse diameter of eye, covered with a mixture of large and small punctures. Vertex moderately convex, around eyes with a thin furrow, in middle with an indistinct longitudinal impressed line, surface lustrous, covered with small sparse punctures, glabrous. Mandibles relatively short and robust, dorsal keels sharp and moderately elevated, lateral side distinctly rounded, surface of inner slopes concave, lustrous and impunctate. Lateral side of left mandible subtriangular with slightly rounded upper margin, surface lustrous, covered with small sparse punctures. Antennae short, 0.32 times as long as body, length ratios of antennomeres I-XI equal to 14-6-7-8-9-6-5-5-5-5-9, antennomere I club-shaped, distinctly flattened; II subglobular, III and IV elongate, subparallel, antennae serrated from antennomere V, apex of antennomere XI bidentate.
Pronotum. Pronotum lustrous, glabrous, transverse, 1.70 times as wide as long, covered with small punctures, punctation more intensive along anterior and posterior margins. Anterior margin straight, lateral margins slightly rounded, posterior margin slightly rounded and moderately thickened in scutellar area. Lateral and posterior margins narrowly bordered, anterior margin bordered only in lateral thirds, border in middle part form shallow rounded impression along the margin. Posterior angles nearly rectangular, distinctly elevated upon elytral level. All angles with setigerous pore with long pale seta. Scutellum subtriangular with widely rounded tip, lustrous, glabrous, in basal half covered with small punctures, apical half almost smooth, scutellar apex not elevated upon elytral level. elytra. Elytra semicylindrical, parallel, 0.57 as long as body, 1.45 times as long as wide, glabrous, semiopaque, covered with dense confused small punctures and with microsculpture, elytral apices almost impunctate. Basal margin with border disappearing near scutellum. Epipleura glabrous, impunctate, wide in humeral area, suddenly disappearing in basal 1/5 of elytral length. Lateral margin of elytra concave in lateral view.
aedeagus. Aedeagus small (Fig. 1D), with apical part triangular with almost straight margins and obtuse tip. Dorsal median impression of shield-like shape, without median keel. Apex of aedeagus with inward triangular crooked folds and with small cavity between folds. Operculum transversely semicircular with basal margin slightly rounded. Non-everted anterior sclerite visible as thin process. In lateral view, ventral side distinctly vaulted.

Female
Unknown.

Differential diagnosis
Labidostomis damavandensis is characterised by two spots on each elytron, one small on the humeral callus and one large in the outer part of the posterior half. In Iran and adjacent countries it can be compared only with L. elegans. The two species can be distinguished by the structure of the aedeagus, the structure of the male mandibles (dorsal keel obtuse and placed medially, lateral margins almost straight in L. elegans, dorsal keel sharp and placed along outer margins, lateral margins rounded in L. damavandensis), the structure of the spermatheca and the elytral colouration (each elytron with a large metallic spot placed medially, suture narrowly yellow in L. elegans, large spot placed in outer part of posterior elytral half in Labidostomis damavandensis) (compare Figs 2B, D and G with photographs and drawings of L. elegans in Bezděk 2018).

Description of female
Body length. 6.9 mm.
Colouration. Head, pronotum and scutellum dark metallic blue, labrum black with brownish anterior margin, mandibles black with base and apices brownish (Fig. 2E). Antennae: antennomeres I-IV orange, I darkened dorsally, V black with pale base, VI-XI black. Elytra yellow, each elytron with two black spots: small spot on humeral callus, larger elongate spot on outer side of posterior elytral half. Ventral side of body and legs black with slight metallic sheen, claws with paler base.
head. (Fig. 2F). Anterior margin of labrum with wide shallow emargination and several short pale setae, additional longer pale setae placed on surface along anterior margin. Clypeus lustrous with sparse small punctures bearing pale setae, anterior clypeal margin with two small triangular divergent processes, margin between processes straight. Frons 4.33 times as wide as diameter of eye, with transversely elongate impression between eyes, covered with larger punctures mixed with transverse wrinkles and very short indistinct setae. Vertex moderately convex, around eyes with thin furrow, in middle with longitudinal impressed line, in middle of this line with one large elongate puncture, surface glabrous, lustrous, covered with sparse small punctures, basally tending to wrinkles. Antennae short, 0.22 times as long as body, length ratios of antennomeres I-XI equal to 10-5-6-6-6-5-5-5-5-5-10, antennomere I club-shaped, II subglobular, III and IV elongate, subparallel, antennae serrated from antennomere V, XI subapically emarginated from inner and outer sides.
Pronotum. Pronotum lustrous, glabrous, transverse, 1.96 times as wide as long, densely covered with small punctures. Anterior margin widely shallowly concave, lateral margins rounded, posterior margin nearly straight and moderately thickened in scutellar area. Lateral and posterior margins narrowly bordered, anterior margin bordered only in lateral thirds, border in middle part forming shallow rounded impression along the margin. Posterior angles nearly rectangular, distinctly elevated upon elytral level. Scutellum subtriangular with widely rounded tip, in basal half covered with small punctures and short setae, and with slightly elevated impunctate median line, apical half glabrous, with disappearing punctation towards apex, impressed along apex, scutellar apex not elevated upon elytral level. elytra. Elytra semicylindrical, parallel, 0.69 as long as body, 1.55 times as long as wide, glabrous, semiopaque, covered with dense confused small punctures mixed with very small punctures and with microsculpture, elytral apices almost impunctate. Basal margin with distinctly elevated sharp border disappearing near scutellum. Epipleura glabrous, impunctate, wide in humeral area, suddenly disappearing in basal 1/ 5 of elytral length. Lateral margin of elytra concave in lateral view. length ratios. Length ratios of protarsomeres I-IV equal to 8-5-5-8, of metatarsomeres I-IV equal to 7-4-4-8. Claws narrow, simple, with angulate base. sPermatheCa. Vasculum extremely long and thin, base somewhat wider, gradually narrowed to apex. Bulbus as wide as base of vasculum, divided into two parts. Ductus spermathecae ca 2.5 times as long as vasculum, with many small loops, only distal part without loops, proximal part tangled (Fig. 2G).

Material examined
Holotype Not examined. Not traced in NMHW where large part of Waltl's collection is deposited. Clythra rufa Lacordaire, 1848 TURKEY, GREECE: "environs de Constantinople, des provinces nord de la Grèce".

Comments
Labidostomis rufa was described by Waltl (1838). Ten years later, Lacordaire (1848) published the description of Clythra (Labidostomis) rufa Lacordaire, 1848 attributed to Frivaldsky based on males only. At the end of the description, Lacordaire mentioned that Frivaldsky's description was unknown to him and, moreover, Labidostomis rufa Waltl, 1838 is mentioned nowhere in the text. Despite the fact that all subsequent authors have referred Lacordaire's description to Waltl's Labidostomis rufa, I am convinced that Lacordaire's Clythra (Labidostomis) rufa must be treated as a validly described taxon. Based on one male syntype ( Fig. 3A-C, deposited in ZMHB), I synonymize Labidostomis rufa Lacordaire, 1848 with Labidostomis rufa (Waltl, 1838).

Material examined
Type material not examined.

Comments
Tituboea decemguttata Walker, 1871 was described from Cairo, Egypt (Walker 1871). Unfortunately, the collection of John Keast Lord, which included Walker's type material from his 1871 paper, was destroyed (Horn et al. 1990). As mentioned by Bezděk & Batelka (2011), no specimens were found in the institutions housing parts of Walker's collection: The Natural History Museum (London), University Museum of Natural History (Oxford), and Museum Victoria (Melbourne). The original description of Tituboea decemguttata is uninformative, predominantly based on colour characters, which are highly variable in the species of Tituboea.
Over the last 40 years, Tituboea decemguttata was published from various countries of the Near East and the Arabian Peninsula (Medvedev 1979(Medvedev , 1996Katbeh-Bader & Medvedev 2000;Lopatin et al. 2003). Regalin & Medvedev (2010b) summarised the distribution as follows: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. However, almost all the specimens identified as Tituboea decemguttata which I have examined in various collections proved to be Tituboea lacordairei (Pic, 1929).
Due to the loss of the type material and the uninformative description, I cannot resolve the species' identity with certainty. It cannot be excluded that the original type specimen(s) really were conspecific with Tituboea lacordairei because the westernmost known locality of Tituboea lacordairei is in the Sinai Peninsula (Bezděk & Regalin 2015), relatively near to Cairo. However, Tituboea decemguttata may also be conspecific with another species of Tituboea, for example Tituboea arabica (Olivier, 1808) or Tituboea olivieri (Lacordaire, 1848). Unfortunately I have seen no specimens from Egypt with a colouration as described in the original description, which could be used for neotype designation. At present, the best course of action seems to me to consider Tituboea decemguttata as a nomen dubium.    (Pic, 1896). C. Aedeagus in dorsal and lateral views. D. Spermatheca. E-F. T. atriceps Pic, 1924. E. Aedeagus in dorsal and lateral views. F. Spermatheca.
head. Mandibles distinctly enlarged, dorsal side flat, almost even, lateral sides of both mandibles moderately concave (Fig. 4C). Labrum almost invisible, with a straight anterior margin. Clypeus with bisinuate anterior margin, surface transversely impressed, very finely punctate, with longer pale setae cumulated laterally. Eyes small. Frons very wide, 4.88 times as wide as diameter of eye, surface uneven, densely covered with small punctures and short pale setae. Frons not separated from vertex. Vertex lustrous, covered with small punctures (finer than on frons) and short pale setae, with indistinct median line. Antennae short, 0.28 times as long as body, antennomere I club-shaped, II small, subglobular, III very small, IV triangular with produced apical angle, antennae shortly serrated from antennomere V, antennomeres V-X wider than long.
Pronotum. Pronotum glabrous, lustrous, strongly transverse, 1.80 times as wide as long, widest at basal half, moderately convex, irregularly covered with small punctures, punctures larger on disc, finer in lateral parts. Anterior margin straight, lateral margins rounded, posterior margin nearly straight but shallowly bisinuate in scutellar area. Anterior angles obtusangulate, posterior angles widely rounded. Lateral and posterior margins thinly bordered, anterior margin bordered only at lateral parts, in middle border almost invisible. Posterior angles not elevated above elytral base.
sCutellum. Scutellum subtriangular with rounded tip, in basal half punctate and covered with setae, towards apex becoming impunctate and glabrous, scutellar apex slightly elevated upon elytral level. elytra. Elytra short, subcylindrical, 0.55 times as long as body, 1.15 times as long as wide at humeral part, glabrous, lustrous, densely covered with small confused punctures, disappearing at elytral apices. Basal margin with complete thin border forming a narrow elevated keel, sharp in outer half, somewhat swollen in inner half. Epipleura impunctate, glabrous, wide in anterior fifth, suddenly narrowed and disappearing in anterior 1/ 5 of elytral length. Lateral margin of elytra widely concave in lateral view.
legs. Protibiae moderately prolonged. Protarsomere I very thin, 5.0 as long as broad, parallel, protarsomere II wider as I, length ratios of protarsomeres I-IV equal to 10-7-5-7. Metatarsi short and thin, length ratios of metatarsomeres I-IV equal to 7-4-3-6. Claws simple. male genitalia. Aedeagus 2.5 times as long as wide. In dorsal view, apex moderately rounded with pointed tip. In lateral view, the ventral margin of aedeagus is almost straight and apex forming small hook directed upwards (Fig. 5A).

Variability
Black spots on elytra slightly variable in size, posterior pair can be either separated or partially connected. One female paratype ( Fig. 4B) with additional small black spot subapically on each elytron. Two specimens with pale basal halves of each tibiae.

Bionomy
Based on the label data, the specimens were collected on Calligonum comosum L'Hér. and on a species of Polygonum L. (Polygonaceae Juss.).

Differential diagnosis
Tituboea harteni sp. nov. resembles three species distributed in the southern Arabian Peninsula: Tituboea lacordairei (Pic, 1929), Tituboea pindai Bezděk, 2011 and Tituboea ogloblini (Medvedev, 1962). Tituboea harteni sp. nov. can be easily distinguished by the shorter male protarsi and protarsomere I 3.2 times as long as wide (protarsi more prolonged and protarsomere I ca five times as long as wide in other three species) and in the structure of the aedeagus (tricuspidate in Tituboea harteni sp. nov., triangular in the other three species) (Fig. 7).
Male (holotype, Fig. 6) Colouration. Body completely orange, except gradually darkened antennomeres VI-XI, black apices of mandibles, claws and two small black spots on each elytron behind middle (outer spot smaller and placed slightly more anteriorly).
head and mandiBles. Not enlarged (Fig. 6B). Mandibles small. Labrum semiopaque, transverse, with anterior angles widely rounded and anterior margin shallowly emarginated, surface with four long setae along anterior margin. Clypeus lustrous, almost impunctate, with longer pale setae cumulated laterally, anterior margin almost straight. Eyes moderately large. Frons wide, 3.18 times as wide as diameter of eye, surface uneven, densely covered with larger punctures and short pale setae, posteriorly in middle distinctly impressed. Frons indistinctly separated from vertex. Vertex lustrous, covered with small punctures and short pale setae, with indistinct median line. Antennae short, 0.21 times as long as body, antennomere I club-shaped, II small, subglobular, III very small, antennae serrated from antennomere IV, antennomeres V-X wider than long.
Pronotum. Pronotum glabrous, lustrous, strongly transverse, 1.86 times as wide as long, widest in middle, moderately convex, covered with irregular mixture of fine and very fine punctures. Anterior margin straight, lateral margins rounded, posterior margin nearly straight but moderately thickened in scutellar area. Anterior angles obtusangulate, posterior angles widely rounded. Lateral and posterior margins thinly bordered, anterior margin bordered only at lateral parts, in middle border is almost invisible. Posterior angles slightly elevated above elytral base.
sCutellum. Scutellum subtriangular with rounded tip, in basal half punctate and covered with setae, towards apex becoming impunctate and glabrous, scutellar apex elevated upon elytral level. elytra. Elytra subcylindrical, 0.60 times as long as body, 1.41 times as long as wide at humeral part, glabrous, lustrous, densely covered with small confused punctures, in posterior half with indistinct traces of regular punctation. Basal margin with complete thin border forming narrow elevated keel. Epipleura impunctate, glabrous, wide in anterior quarter, suddenly narrowed and disappearing in anterior 1/4 of elytral length. Lateral margin of elytra widely concave in lateral view.
genitalia. Aedeagus three time as long as wide, apical part tricuspidate, middle part triangular, sharp, lateral angles widely rounded. In ventral view, apex with short keel and two large impressions, middle part with two lateral sharp keels (Fig. 7A).
VariaBility. Paratype from UAE ( Fig. 6D) with broad black band between eyes, pronotum with two black spots near basal margin, scutellum black, each elytron with four black spots (two, two), underside black, anterior legs with black coxae, middle and hind legs with black coxae and basal 2/3 of femora, outer margin of all tibiae near apex infuscate. The paratype from Oman is a very small male with a comparatively smaller and less developed aedeagus in comparison with the two males from UAE.

Female
Unknown.

Comments
Lacordaire (1848) described Tituboea olivieri from Egypt based on material received from Chevrolat, but did not specify the number of specimens, only explicitly mentioning the unknown female. Lefèvre (1872) noted only one male in Chevrolat's collection (presumably the holotype) and published a colour drawing of its habitus (Fig. 8E). Unfortunately, the type has not been traced in either the MNHN or BMNH, where Clytrini from Chevrolat's collection are deposited now. I treat the holotype as lost.
Recently, I examined 3 specimens from Egypt deposited in USNM, which exactly match the colouration published in Lefèvre (1872). Surprisingly, these specimens are conspecific with Tituboea femoralis (Fig. 8C) but with the black pattern extended in comparison with the specimens from Tunisia and Libya. I decided to designate one of the males as a neotype (Fig. 8A) to fix the identity of Tituboea olivieri and, subsequently, to propose Tituboea femoralis as a new synonym of Tituboea olivieri.

Differential diagnosis
Tituboea radeki sp. nov. is very similar to Tituboea arabica (Olivier, 1808) (Fig. 9G). The males of the two species differ in the shape of the protarsomeres. In Tituboea radeki sp. nov. protarsomere I is 1.65 times as long as wide and only slightly longer than subtriangular protarsomere II, while protarsomere I is 2.25 times as long as wide and 1.3 times longer than parallel protarsomere II in Tituboea arabica. The dorsal opening of the aedeagus of Tituboea arabica is subquadrangular, with a widely triangular apex while the apical part is regularly rounded towards the apex in Tituboea radeki sp. nov. In lateral view, the apex of the aedeagus of Tituboea arabica is abruptly bent upwards at an angle of ca 40°, while it is only slightly and gradually bent in Tituboea radeki sp. nov. (Fig. 10A, C). The spermatheca is similar in both species; the proximal spermathecal duct is 0.9 times as long as the cornu in Tituboea radeki sp. nov., but 1.2 times as long in Tituboea arabica (Fig. 10B, D).

Etymology
Dedicated to the late Radek Červenka, specialist in Scarabaeidae and the collector of the holotype.
head. Mandibles small (Fig. 9B). Labrum with widely rounded anterior angles and slightly concave anterior margin, surface with several irregular large setigerous punctures on the surface, additional setae accumulated along anterior margin (particularly at sides). Clypeus with widely shallowly V-shaped anterior margin, surface transversely impressed, small setigerous punctures accumulated laterally. Frons wide, 2.77 times as wide as diameter of eye, surface covered with an irregular mixture of smaller and larger punctures and short setae, in middle distinctly impressed, with furrow along inner eye margin. Frons not separated from vertex. Vertex lustrous, densely covered with small punctures and short pale setae, with indistinct median line. Antennae short, 0.19 times as long as body, antennomere I club-shaped, II small, subglobular, III very small, antennae shortly serrated from antennomere IV, antennomeres V-X wider than long.
Pronotum. Glabrous, lustrous, strongly transverse, 1.97 times as wide as long, widest at basal quarter, moderately convex, covered with mixture of dense small feeble punctures and sparse larger punctures. Anterior margin shallowly concave, lateral margins rounded, posterior margin nearly straight but shallowly bisinuate in scutellar area. Anterior angles obtusangulate with rounded tip, posterior angles widely rounded. All margins thinly bordered, border in middle part of anterior margin feeble but visible. Posterior angles slightly elevated above elytral base.
sCutellum. Scutellum subtriangular with rounded tip, in middle with elevated impunctate line, basal half punctate and covered with setae, towards apex becoming impunctate and almost glabrous, scutellar apex elevated upon elytral level. elytra. Elytra short, subcylindrical, 0.67 times as long as body, 1.50 times as long as wide at humeral part, glabrous, lustrous, densely covered with small confused punctures, disappearing at elytral apices, here and there tending to irregular puncture rows and 3-4 indistinct impunctate ribs. Basal margin with complete thin border forming narrow elevated keel. Epipleura impunctate, glabrous, wide in anterior fifth, suddenly narrowed and disappearing in anterior 1/4 of elytral length. Lateral margin of elytra widely concave in lateral view.
genitalia. Aedeagus 2.6 times as long as wide, apical part rounded towards to triangular apex, in lateral view apex only slightly and gradually bent upwards (Fig. 10A). Ventral side without imressions.

Description of females
Body length. 5.9-7.0 mm. Colouration (Fig. 11D): head black with orange underside, labrum, anterior margin of clypeus, mouthparts and small spot on posterior eye margin; pronotum pale orange with wide transverse black band, posterior and lateral margins with thin orange border, anterior margin with wider orange stripe; scutellum black, often with pale extreme apical margin; elytra orange with four small black spots (one at humeral callus, one subscutellar, two placed behind elytral midlength often connected forming transverse stripe); antennae black with orange antennomeres I-IV; legs completely orange; prosternum orange with black posterior parts, meso-, metasternum and abdomen black.
Pronotum. Pronotum lustrous, transverse, 1.67 times as wide as long, covered with small punctures and long pale setae, in middle with perpendicular more or less glabrous line. Anterior margin widely shallowly concave, lateral margins rounded with anterior parts straight and convergent anteriorly, posterior margin moderately rounded and moderately thickened in scutellar area. Lateral and posterior margins narrowly bordered (border slightly wider in posterior angles), anterior margin bordered only in lateral quarters. Anterior angles obtusangulate, posterior angles widely rounded, slightly elevated but not upon elytral level.
sCutellum. Scutellum subtriangular with transversely cut tip and slightly concave lateral margins, covered with small punctures and short setae, punctation and setae disappearing towards tip, in basal part with indistinct perpendicular glabrous line, scutellar apex elevated upon elytral level.
elytra. Elytra dull, semicylindrical, slightly convergent posteriorly, 0.71 as long as body, 1.4 times as long as wide, covered with very dense confused small punctures and dense short pale setae. Basal margin from humeral callus to base of scutellum with elevated swollen keel, highest in middle, basal elytral border elevated upon pronotum level. Epipleura narrow, visible in basal quarter, then disappearing, covered with sparse setae, nearly impunctate. Lateral margin of elytra moderately concave in lateral view.
sPermatheCa. (Fig. 11H). Cornu U-shaped, thin, apical part gradually narrowed to apex, basal part slightly wider. Nodulus small, cylindrical. Spermathecal duct twice as long as cornu, proximal half very thin and straight, distal half twice curved with wider terminal part. Kotpresse as in Fig. 11E-F.

Sexual dimorphism
Fore legs of females are not prolonged. Small denticles on profemora are less developed in females compared to well-developed denticles in males.

Distribution
Saudi Arabia (Medvedev 1979;Medvedev et al. 2014). Newly recorded from Oman. Medvedev et al. (2014) gave only superficial characters, such as the colouration of dorsum and the intensity of punctation on the head, pronotum and elytra to separate Saudiclytra spinifemorata and Saudiclytra wittmeri. All these characters are very variable in many species of Clytrini occurring in arid areas. Also the drawing of the aedeagus of Saudiclytra spinifemorata presented in the original description is inaccurate in comparison with the actual specimen. In reality, the aedeagus of Saudiclytra spinifemorata is of exactly the same shape as that of Saudiclytra wittmeri (Fig. 11G). Consequently, Saudiclytra spinifemorata is proposed as a new synonym of Saudiclytra wittmeri.

Comments
In one of my previous papers (Bezděk 2016) I tentatively accepted the placement of Antipa wittmeri in the genus Tituboea Lacordaire, 1848. At that time I was not aware of Saudiclytra Medvedev, El Torkey & Al Dhafer, 2014. The main diagnostic characters of Saudiclytra are propleura densely covered with long setae, short and strongly transverse second and third antennomere in male, numerous ventral spines on anterior femora and unusual form of the aedeagus, shortly pubescent epipleura and the unusual structure of the aedeagus (Fig. 11G).
The colouration is variable throughout the distributional area (Fig. 11A, C-D). All the specimens from Oman represent darker aberrations with the black pattern more developed (particularly on the pronotum). The holotype of Saudiclytra wittmeri is the palest aberration, with the black pattern reduced to small spots on the elytra.

Comments
The elytral colour pattern of Afrophthalma arabica is variable. The female holotype depicted in the original description has a metallic stripe starting on the humeral callus, narrow in the anterior half and widened in the posterior half on each elytron (Fig. 12A). The anterior part of the metallic stripe is missing in most of the examined specimens (Fig. 12C) including two female paratypes. On the contrary, two examined specimens from Yemen have an extended metallic pattern with only the sutural stripe orange (Fig. 12D). The males of pale and dark forms were dissected, and their aedeagi are exactly the same (Fig. 12E).

Distribution
Widely distributed in Middle, South and East Europe, Turkey, Israel (Regalin & Medvedev 2010b). New species for Lebanon and Syria.

Comments
Although Smaragdina xanthaspis is listed from Syria in some publications (e.g., Lopatin et al. 2003;Regalin & Medvedev 2010b), I do not know any concrete published specimens. The above mentioned specimens confirm the occurrence in Syria. Lopatin & Chikatunov, 2001 Fig. 13

Comments
The specimen from Libya ( Fig. 13D) was compared with the holotype (Fig. 13A-C).

Discussion
Taking into consideration the present paper, the Old World genus Tituboea Lacordaire, 1848 contains about 75 species with the majority of the 55 species distributed in the Palaearctic region (Regalin & Medvedev 2010b;Bezděk & Batelka 2011;Bezděk 2012;Bezděk & Regalin 2015). The classification of some species in Tituboea, however, requires verification (e.g., Regalin 1997). The taxonomy of Tituboea is complicated by the considerable variability of colouration and sexually dimorphic characters as well as local populations often being described as varieties or species (Bezděk & Regalin 2015). Despite these problems, the increasing number of Tituboea species is expected particularly in arid areas of the western Palaearctic.