Abstract
A morphological analysis was performed, combined with field data on insect/host-plant associations to clarify the taxonomic scenario of the Palaearctic Meligethes subaeneus complex (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae, Meligethinae), including three European and Caucasian species (M. subaeneus, M. matronalis, M. epeirosi n.sp.) that are associated with flowers of Brassicaceae for larval development. The analysis was focused on the diagnosis and formal description of a new species, M. epeirosi n.sp. from NW Greece (Pindo Chain), which develops on Cardamine (s.str.) glauca Sprengel. The morphological variation of the true M. subaeneus in Europe was also analysed; the combined morphological and ecological evidence suggests that this species is structured in three main groups of European populations, which are probably the result of Pleistocene differentiation, suggesting an ongoing process of incipient speciation within this taxon.
References
Audisio, P. (1993) Coleoptera Nitidulidae—Kateretidae. Fauna d'Italia, 32. Calderini Editore, Bologna, XVI + 971 pp.
Audisio, P., Belfiore, C., De Biase, A. & Antonini, G. (2001a) Identification of Meligethes matronalis Audisio and Spornraft, 1990 and M. subaeneus Sturm, 1845, based on morphometric and bionomic characters (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). European Journal of Entomology, 98, 87–97.
Audisio, P. & De Biase, A. (1999) Bionomic and morphological evidence of a new southern European species of the Meligethes viridescens complex (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). Folia Heyrovskyana, 7, 99–113.
Audisio, P., De Biase, A., Antonini, G. & Mancini, E. (2005b) Two new Meligethes of the M. coracinus complex from southern Europe (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae, Meligethinae). Fragmenta entomologica, Roma, 37, 65–89.
Audisio, P., De Biase, A. & Antonini, G. (2003) A new exceptional Meligethes of the M. aeneus species-group from Western Alps and an updated key to identification of M. aeneus and allied species (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Meligethinae). Insect Systematics and Evolution, 34, 121–130.
Audisio, P., De Biase, A., Antonini, G., Belfiore, C. & Oliverio, M. (2001b) Morphological, molecular, and ecological evidence of a new Euro-Anatolian species of the Meligethes coracinus complex (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). Insect Systematics and Evolution, 31, 361–385.
Audisio, P., De Biase, A., Antonini, G., Mancini, E., Özbek, H. & Gultekin, L. (2005a) Redescription and natural history of Meligethes longulus Schilsky, 1894, and provisional revision of the M. coracinus species-complex (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae, Meligethinae). Italian Journal of Zoology, 72, 73–85.
Audisio, P., De Biase, A., Antonini, G., Oliverio, M., Ketmaier, V. & De Matthaeis, E. (2002) Specific distinction by allozymic data of sympatric sibling species of the pollen-beetle genus Meligethes (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). Italian Journal of Zoology, 69, 65–69.
Audisio, P., De Biase, A., Romanelli, P., Angelici, M.C., Ketmaier, V. & De Matthaeis, E. (1999a) Molecular re-examination of the taxonomy of the Meligethes viridescens species-complex (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, 28, 1–13.
Audisio, P., Jelínek, J., Mariotti, A. & De Biase, A. (2000) The Coleoptera Nitidulidae and Kateretidae from Anatolian, Caucasian and Middle East regions. Biogeographia, Lavori della Società italiana di Biogeografia, 21, 241–354.
Audisio, P., Jelínek, J. & Stevanovic, M. (1999b) Morphological and biogeographical reexamination of the Meligethes squamosus species complex (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Meligethinae). Folia Heyrovskyana 7, 61–71.
Audisio, P. & Spornraft, K. (1990) Taxonomie, Ökologie und Verbreitung von Meligethes coracinus auctt. mit Beschreibung einer neuen Art (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). Nachrichtenblatt der Bayerischen Entomologen, 39, 70–75.
Davis, P.H. (1965) (ed.) Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, 1. Edimburgh Univ. Press, 567 pp.
De Biase, A., Antonini, G., Mancini, E. & Audisio, P. (2003) Molecular taxonomy of two sympatric sibling species of the pollen-beetle genus Meligethes (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae). Zootaxa, 190, 1–16.
Drès, M. & Mallet, J. (2002) Host races in plant-feeding insects and their importance in sympatric speciation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, B, 357, 471–492.
Ericson, B. (1999) Nya fynd av rapsbaggar (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Meligethes) med tre för Sverige nya arter. Entomologisk Tidskrift, 120, 117–125.
Hewitt, G.M. (1999) Post-glacial re-colonization of European biota. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 68, 87–112.
Jalas, J. & Suominen, J. 1994 (Eds) Cruciferae (Sisymbrium to Aubrieta). Atlas Florae Europeae, 10. University Press, Helsinki, 224 pp.
Kirejtshuk, A.G. (1992) Nitidulidae, Kateretidae: 114–216 In: Ler, P.A. (Ed.): The Insects of the USSR far East. III, Coleoptera, 2. (In Russian). Russian Academy of Sciences, St.Petersburgh, "Nauka", 1992, 704 pp.
Kirejtshuk, A.G. (1997) New Palaearctic nitidulid beetles, with notes on synonymy and systematic position of some species (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). Zoosystematica Rossica, 6, 255–268.
Meybohm, H. (1995) Meldungen zur Käferfauna von Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg und Nord-Niedersachsen. II.Teil. Bombus (Hamburg), 3, 49–50.
Pignatti, S. (1982) Flora d’Italia, vol. 1. Calderini Editore, Bologna, 790 pp.
Renner, K. (1995) Meligethes reitteri Schilsky und Meligethes matronalis Audisio & Spornraft im westlichen Deutschland (Col., Nitidulidae). Mitteilungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rheinischer Koleopterologen (Bonn), 5, 195–197.
Schillhammer, H. & Schuh, R. (2004) Bemerkenswerte Käferfunde aus Österreich (XII) (Coleoptera). Koleopterologische Rundschau, 74, 443–445.
Spornraft, K. (1998) Familie Nitidulidae, pp. 240–243, In: Lucht, W. & Klausnitzer, B. (Eds.): Die Käfer Mitteleuropas, 4. Supplementband. Goecke & Evers, Krefeld, 398 pp.
Strid, A. (1986) (ed.) Mountain Flora of Greece, vol. 1. University Press, Cambridge, 822 pp.