Study of Carabus (MORPHOCARABUS) ROTHI COMPTUS Dejean 1831

Abstract

C. (Morphocarabus) rothi comptus Dejean 1831, is a endemic species of the Romania, appearing localized to some mountainous massifs of Romanian Banat and their piedmont areas (Poiana Rusca Mountains, Țarcu Mountains). Its presence in the Apuseni Mountains is doubtful, due to the lack of recent captures and to the confusion with C. (Morphocarabus) hampei diffinis Csiki 1905, morphologically like. In Banat the species occurs in two forms: szorenyensis Csiki 1908 at higher altitude (1300-2000 m) and ulrichhoffmanni Lie 1982 in hilly areas, which is distinguished by a larger size. Whatever the altitude and the ecological conditions, the period of activity is brief, spread over a month with a maximum of over two weeks. Molecular biology studies: confirm the belonging of comptus to rothi as a subspecies of her (28SRNA5 marker); suggest (concatenation COI I / cyt b) a low infra-specific variability between provenances of the szorenyensis (Rusca, Muntele Mic) and between the origins of the ulrichhoffmanni.