1. Aphodius felix Angus et al., 2024 and A. bellumgerens Angus et al., 2024 in Calabria.

Angus et al. (p. 268) mentioned newly acquired living material from Calabria, collected from the mud of a dried-out pool near Villagio Mancusa (39.107°N, 16.641°E). This material was collected by members of the Balfour-Browne Club (a water-beetle study group) in the course of a meeting in Calabria. Much of this material was moribund but karyotypes were obtained from three females. These are shown in Fig. 1, along with material from Campo Felice for comparison. Although identification of the X chromosomes is difficult when only females are available, the sequence of chromosomal sizes and shapes along the karyotype matches those of A. felix, but not those of either A. bellumgerens or the Sardinian A. krelli Angus et al., 2024, when their karyotypes are used as templates. The collecting site is shown in Fig. 2.

Figure 1. 

Mitotic chromosomes of A. felix Angus et al., 2024, arranged as karyotypes a, b Campo Felice, ♂♂, a Giemsa stained b C-banded c Campo Felice, ♀, Giemsa stained d–g ♀♀, Calabria, Giemsa stained d, e ♀ 2 f, g ♀4. Missing chromosomes in g are indicated by heavy dots. Scale bar: 5 μm.

Figure 2. 

Members of the Balfour-Browne Club working the bottom of a dried-out pool near Villagio Mancusa. Photo courtesy of Zuqi Mai.

The possibility of A. bellumgerens occurring in the extreme toe of Calabria was suggested by Jason Maté after studying material borrowed from the Muséum d’histoire naturelle in Geneva, Switzerland.

We have been able to re-examine two of these specimens, a male and a female, collected by Paganetti. Both specimens were in the R. Petrovitz collection. The female has the data “Calabria/ Sta Christina/ lg Paganetti.” and the male simply “Calabria/Paganetti”. The aedeagus of the male was glued to the face of the card on which the beetle was mounted, but only the phallobase remained, the parameres and aedeagal tube having been broken off, probably long ago. However, floating the basal piece off the card and clearing it in KOH solution showed that the retracted endophallus was present, as were the two struts which arise from the base of the aedeagal tube. These parts are shown in Fig. 3, with the whole aedeagi of A. bellumgerens and A. felix for comparison. The endophallus (Fig. 3c), though contracted, is a better size match for that of A. bellumgerens (Fig. 3d) than the larger endophallus of A. felix (Fig. 3e).

Figure 3. 

Aedeagi a–c A. bellumgerens, aedeagal fragments from a specimen labelled “Calabria, Paganetti” (MHNG) a aedeagal struts b phallobase c retracted endophallus d A. bellumgerens, paratype, IT, Sicily, Nebrodi e A felix, Calabria, Villagio Mancusa. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Any consideration of the beetles from the toe of Italy must address the possibility of Sardinian species being present in view of the close proximity of the Plateau della Sila to Sardinia during the Pliocene. (Foster 2024). This plateau (and its National Park) is adjacent to the Villagio Mancusa locality where the A. felix was taken. In the case of subgenus Liothorax, the species involved would be A. krelli Angus et al., 2024. Fortunately, the shape of the pronotum distinguishes this species from both A. bellumgerens and A. felix. In A. felix and A. bellumgerens the sides of the pronotum bulge outwards so that the lateral margin is to some extent obscured in dorsal view, and the pronotal sides appear somewhat rounded (Fig. 4a–d), whereas in A. krelli the pronotal sides are less bulging and the lateral margins are visible throughout, giving straighter sides to the pronotum (Fig. 4e). It thus seems unlikely that A. krelli occurs in this part of Italy.

Figure 4. 

Heads and pronota a A. bellumgerens, holotype, Sicily b A. bellumgerens ♂, Calabria (MNHG)) c A. bellumgerens ♀, Calabria (MNHG) d A. felix, paratype, IT, Campo Felice e A. felix ♀ 2, Calabria f A. krelli, holotype, IT, Sardinia. Scale bar: 1 mm.

Although the identifications of A. felix and bellumgerens presented here appear to be reliable, it would be highly desirable to get better living material, including males, of both species so that totally unambiguous karyotypes could be obtained.

1. Figs 8, 9. The published figures are from previous manuscript versions and are incorrect and do not match the captions. Corrected versions are given here.

Figure 8. 

a–l epipharynxes a, b A. kraatzi, SV c, d A. isikdagensis paratypes, TR, Çamildere e, f A. felix sp. nov. paratypes g, h A. bameuli sp. nov. paratypes i A. alberti? AR j A. krelli sp. nov., paratype k, l A. alberti sp. nov., paratypes. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

Figure 9. 

a–i epipharynxes a–c A. niger a SV, Tullgarn b, c GB, Hampshire, New Forest d A niger? CZ, Hradec Králové e A. muscorum HU, Hortobagyi f, g A. bellumgerens sp. nov. paratypes, IT, Piano Battaglia h, i A. wilsonae paratypes, SP h El Vellón i Manzanares el Real. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

2. p. 245, Fig. 29c. The A. p. plagiatus, apparently in China (Nei Mongol), is incorrectly plotted - it should be in Mongolia.

3. p.272, A. isikdagensis. Fig. 8c, d is omitted from the list of figures.

4. p. 275. A. alberti. Before “Remarks” should be “Etymology. Named after Prof. Alberto Ballerio who collected the type material.”

5. A. alberti and “ballerioi”. In the initial drafts of this paper we (reluctantly) treated Liothorax as a genus and named Alberto Ballerio’s species as A. ballerioi. Then Prof. Ballerio cautioned that he did not regard the status of the genera/subgenera of Aphodius as stable and suggested using the name alberti to avoid future homonymy. In the event, we followed advice from two referees and treated Liothorax as a subgenus, so ballerioi was unavailable. Unfortunately, not all references were corrected, so ballerioi is listed in the captions to Figs 37 and 38 (p. 288) and 39A and B (pp. 289 and 290). This should be corrected to alberti here, as well as in any other places we still haven’t noticed.

6. In the Acknowledgements Prof. Ballerio is listed as being located in Rome, but it should be Brescia. This is correctly given in the list of Material on p. 207.

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

No ethical statement was reported.

No funding was reported.

All authors have contributed equally.

Robert B. Angus https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3860-5617

Jason F. Maté https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2505-7113

David Král https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7930-1927

All of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text.