Meliboeus monnerati Niehuis & Strauss, 2016

Niehuis, Manfred, 2020, A review of the jewel beetles of the genus Meliboeus in Israel (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 50 (2), pp. 159-176 : 171

Meliboeus monnerati Niehuis & Strauss, 2016

( Fig. 12)

That species was described in the nominal genus from Morocco. It belongs to a small group of species ( M. caucasicus (Abeille de Perrin, 1896) , M. kubani Niehuis, 1994 , M. reitteri (Semenov, 1889)) , which possess the unifying character of unsplit claws. The differences, compared with M. reitteri , are weak: seen from above, the vertex is broader, more arched; the fine sculpture (fine punctured lines) of the pronotum is nearly obscured in M. reitteri , but distinct in M. monnerati ; the terminal part of the aedeagus in M. reitteri has a whitish margin, in M. monnerati that margin is the colour of the parameres, dark.

Material examined: Israel: Central Negev: 4♂ Borot Loz, Rt. 171, 30°31'N 34°38'E, 900 m, 26.vi.2012, L. Friedman (SMNHTAU); 1♂ Har Horesha, Rt. 171, 30°30'N 34°36'E, 935 m, 26.vi.2012, L. Friedman, on Achillea fragrantissima , Artemisia herba -alba, Centaurea damascena (SMNHTAU) . Egypt: 1♂ Sinai, Gebel Katharina, 2500 m 24.vi.1998 A. Freidberg & F. Kaplan (SMNHTAU). Jordan: 1♂ S Madaba Wadi Wala 500 m 31.v.1957 J. Klapperich ( CMN, CKB); 1♀ Dana Reserve, N30.66051 / E35.55822 / 535 m, 4.VI.2011,C. Monnerat ( CCMN). Syria: Syria ( NMPC).

Distribution: This is the first record of the species for Israel. In CAN, there are specimens of M. reitteri from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, according to KubÁŇ (2006) there are also records from Iran. Tozlu and Özbek (2000) reported M. reitteri in Artvin /Eastern Turkey; but they erroneously treated M. caucasicus as a synonym of M. reitteri . It is therefore not evident which of the two species they referred to; I have collected M. caucasicus (vid./det. V. KubÁŇ) in Eastern Turkey, but never saw M. reitteri from there. My opinion is that all specimens from Morocco across Egypt to Israel, Jordan and Syria belong to M. monnerati , which is a separate species.

Host plants: Four labels of the SMNHTAU specimens read “on Verbascum sinaiticum ”. As Scrophulariaceae do not belong to the spectrum of host plants of this group of Meliboeus , the species might have used these plants perhaps as mating substrate. It is more probable that M. monnerati develops—like M. caucasicus —in Artemisia species or another genus of Asteraceae . The specimen from Har Horesha, collected on a variety of Asteraceae ( Achillea fragrantissima (Forssk.) , Artemisia sieberi Besser (as A. herba -alba) and Centaurea damascena Boiss. ), proves this. Artemisia sieberi Besser is found in Borot Loz (L. Friedman, pers. comm., 2020).