P. Audisio et al., Morphological, molecular and ecological evidence of a new Euro-Anatolian species of the Meligethes coracinus complex (Coleoptera : Nitidulidae), IN SYST EVO, 31(4), 2000, pp. 361-385
An analysis of morphometric, allozymic and ecological data gives clear cues
of the presence in southern Europe and the Near East of a so far not recog
nised species of the pollen-beetle genus Meligethes Stephens, previously wi
dely confused with the common and widespread M. coracinus Sturm. Re-examina
tion of the type material allowed the authors to discover that this 'new' t
axon was originally described by Ganglbauer (1899) as M. coracinus var, aen
escens (nec M. aenescens Fairmaire, 1875), later considered a mere synonym
of M. col acinus. This taxon is here resurrected at a specific rank, redesc
ribed, and renamed Meligethes erysimicola Audisio & De Blase, nom. n. The t
wo species are also compared with the closely related Meligethes matronalis
Audisio & Spornraft, 1990, a monophagous species strictly associated with
Hesperis is matronalis L. (Brassicaceae). M. erysimicola is an oligophagous
species, strictly associated at larval stage with several members of the p
lant genus Erysimum L. (Brassicaceae), while M. coracinus is a more polypha
gous species, developing mostly on Brassica spp., Sinapis spp., Bal balm sp
p. and Sisymbrium spp. (Brassicaceae). Waiting for the final results of fur
ther molecular and ecological researches concerning the same subject, an up
dated taxonomical outline of the Meligethes coracinus species-complex is al
so reported, and a provisional key to identification of species and include
d sub-complexes, is finally given.