Open AccessTaxonomía y distribución de <i>Meloe (Eurymeloe) saharensis</i> Chobaut, 1898 (Coleoptera, Meloidae), con nuevas sinonimias y primeros registros para Europa y la Macaronesia
Author(s) -
José Luis Ruiz,
Marco Alberto Bologna,
Mario GarcíaParís
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
graellsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.134
H-Index - 9
eISSN - 1989-953X
pISSN - 0367-5041
DOI - 10.3989/graellsia.2010.v66.015
Subject(s) - taxon , geography , mediterranean basin , genus , mediterranean climate , range (aeronautics) , zoology , taxonomy (biology) , biology , archaeology , ecology , materials science , composite material
Taxonomic study of nine specimens (including type material of M. saharensis, M. otini Peyerimhoff, 1949 and M. vignai Bologna, 1990), allows us to conclude that previously\udreported specific differences between M. saharensis, M. otini and M. marianii Kaszab, 1983,\udparticularly the appearance of the metanotum, fall within the variability of a single species. The\udstudy of a broader set of characters, including male genitalia, does not contribute to the separation\udof taxa except for M. vignai. Consequently, we propose the formal synonymy of M.\udmarianii (syn. nov.) and M. otini (syn. nov.) with M. saharensis, and therefore this species complex is reduced to two taxa: M. saharensis and M. vignai. Specimens examined allow us to assign a broad geographic range to M. saharensis, which extends from Israel and Saudi\udArabia to the Canary Islands (Tenerife), with presence in southeastern Spain and most of the northern African countries (Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco). Despite its antiquity, dating\udback more than 80 years, the record of M. saharensis in Murcia represents the first known data about its presence in Europe