Calosoma algiricum Géhin, 1885

Assmann, Thorsten, Boutaud, Estève, Buse, Jörn, Drees, Claudia, Friedman, Ariel-Leib-Leonid, Hetzel, Andreas, Orbach, Eylon, Renan, Ittai, Reuter, Christoph & Wrase, David W., 2020, The Caterpillar Hunter Beetles Calosoma Weber (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the southern Levant, Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 50 (2), pp. 133-158 : 138-139

Calosoma algiricum Géhin, 1885

( Figs 1A, 2A, 4)

Dispersal power: Macropterous, very active flyers; single records from vagrants of this desert species also from southern Europe (Sicily, Tuscany, Greece: Casale et al. 1982; Bandinelli 1984; Franzen 2006; Bruschi 2013).

Habitat: Desert habitats, especially oases ( Breuning 1927 a; Casale et al. 1982; Gourves 1997).

Phenology: Adults from March to June ( Bruschi 2013), supported by label data of the specimens in SMNHTAU.

Material examined: Israel: Upper Galilee: 1♂ 1♀ Karmi'el, 29.v.2019, U. Shalom; Lower Galilee : 1♀ Qiryat Tiv'on, 22.iv.2001, E. Orbach; Central Coastal Plain : 1♂ Tel Aviv, Ramat Aviv, 5.v.1998, Y. Orion; ' Arava Valley : 1♀ 'En Yotvata, 20.iii.2001, V. Kravchenko, I. Yarom; 1♀ ' En Yotvata, 14.iv.2004, U. Shanas, V. Chikatunov ( SMNHTAU) . Syria: 1♂ 1♀ Prov. Homs, env. Palmyra , 450 m, 14.iv.1988, de Freina ( CAB) .

Distribution range: From Morocco and Mauritania to Iran and Turkmenistan ( Bruschi 2013; HÄckel 2017).

Distribution in southern Levant: In Israel, there are single records from across the entire country (eXcept for Har Hermon); it was previously recorded from 'En Gedi ( Gobbi 1995). The species is also known in Jordan: Wadi Rum ( Borzatti von Lowenstern 1987), Lebanon (only 1 specimen from Tripolis; most probably a vagrant) ( Deuve 2004), and Syria ( Bruschi 2013). Two specimens were collected in the Upper Galilee during the 2019 outbreak of C. olivieri (see below). Calosoma algiricum is a species restricted to deserts, therefore areas with the Mediterranean climate cannot be regarded as part of its regular distributional range.