Redescription and natural history ofMeligethes longulusSchilsky, 1894, and provisional revision of theM. coracinusspecies‐complex (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae, Meligethinae)

Abstract

The taxonomic identification and a re-description of the problematic Meligethes longulus Schilsky, 1894 from eastern Turkey are presented. This species, belonging to the M. coracinus complex and known so far on the basis of a single immature holotype, was repeatedly confused in the past with other closely related taxa, thus introducing considerable instability in the nomenclature and taxonomy of the whole group, involving several distinct biological species throughout southern Europe and western Asia. The recent re-discovery of this species in eastern Turkey allowed M. longulus to be definitely identified as being an extremely rare and localized species, with larval stages strictly associated with the host-plant Matthiola odoratissima (Bieb.) R.Br. (Brassicaceae), in dry exposed terrigenous and sandy hill slopes of eastern Turkey. An updated key to the identification of both described and un-described members of the M. coracinus complex is also presented, and a rather isolated species of the M. coracinus complex from southern Turkey, M. cristofaroi n. sp., is described as new. A preliminary evolutionary scenario of the whole species--complex, based also on results from a companion molecular research, is finally discussed.

Rosaceae, Brassicaceae and Pollen Beetles: exploring relationships and evolution in an anthophilous beetle lineage (Nitidulidae, Meligethes-complex of genera) using an integrative approach

“…Therefore, geographic isolation and repeated hostshifts in more or less isolated mountain valleys seems to have played a more relevant role than ecological specialization and coevolution in Meligethes and Odonthogethes evolutionary history. On the contrary, in the mostly W Palaearctic Brassicogethes (associated with the unrelated family Brassicaceae) it is evident that several recently differentiated species evolved in connection with rare and endemic plant species [1,5,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Molecular evidence also suggests that the two largest genera of Rosaceae Rosoideae, Rubus and Rosa, split more than 40 Mya [40], well before the estimated divergence between Odonthogethes (mostly associated with Rubus spp.)…”

“…The closely related and purported sister genus Brassicogethes Audisio & Cline, 2009 (Figs. 1A (c), D), comprises instead some forty, mostly Western Palaearctic species, all associated with Brassicaceae [2,5,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], and a few species [e.g. B. aeneus (F.) and B. viridescens (F.)] represent economically important pests, massively attacking blossoms of oilseed rapes, broccoli, cauli owers, and others.…”

“…Brassicogethes, following their shift to Brassicaceae very likely from a stem of ancestral Odonthogethes, expanded and strongly diversi ed its constituent lineages mostly in W Palaearctic, paralleling a westward evolution, diversi cation and expansive radiation of Brassicaceae host-plants. Several closely related species of this (sub)genus likely differentiated only in the last 2 Mys[14,[22][23]. These species, in fact, usually exhibit low levels of molecular interspeci c differentiation, typical of very recent speciation where genetic differentiation can be markedly slower than morphological and ecological differentiation.…”

New data on distribution, ecology, and taxonomy of Turkish Nitidulidae (Coleoptera)

“…Additional data on new or poorly known Turkish species were later reported by Audisio andJelínek (2005-2013), Audisio et al ( , 2001bAudisio et al ( , 2002Audisio et al ( , 2005aAudisio et al ( , 2005bAudisio et al ( , 2006, Lasoń (2007), Jelínek and Audisio (2007), De Biase et al (2012), and . Finally, several important nomenclatorial and taxonomic changes have been recently introduced in Nitidulidae systematics, chiefly in the subfamily Meligethinae Jelínek and Audisio, 2009;Rutanen et al, 2010), thus rendering the list of Audisio et al (2000) out of date.…”

“…Pending molecular analyses aimed to estimate genetic distances between South African and E Mediterranean populations of Pria angustula and P. zenobia and considering the morphological similarities of the 2 populations, we introduce the following new synonymy: P. zenobia Jelínek, 1997= P. angustula Cooper, 1982 This endemic Turkish species was known thus far from 4 specimens of both sexes that were collected a few years ago in southern central Turkey on the Ala Mountains, near Çamardı (Niğde Province : Audisio et. al., 2005b).…”