Meliboeus aureolus (Abeille de Perrin, 1893)

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 : 165-166

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4718391
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6852ABCD-34C0-4716-85AF-BC7DBFA7A7CD
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15813546
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C29767-FF8E-B74D-FEAA-FBA3D64DFE2C
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Meliboeus aureolus (Abeille de Perrin, 1893)
status

Treatment

Meliboeus aureolus (Abeille de Perrin, 1893) View in CoL

( Fig. 5)

Meliboeus latesculptus Obenberger, 1916 .

The species was originally described in the genus Coraebus . Théry (1904) did not move it to his genus Nalanda , although its characters fit those of Nalanda ; Niehuis (1996) listed it under Nalanda aureola (see Bellamy 2008). Now it is moved to Meliboeus again.

Material examined: Morocco: S, Vallée Draa zw. Agdz und Zagora , 27.v.1995, F. Brechtel ( CNA) ; Agdz env., 13.v.2003, M. SnÍžek ( CKB) ; Prov.Zagora , w Tazzarine, R 108, 7.v.2018, W.Ziegler ( CZR) . Algeria: Amguid, Tassili occidl. female fin 00.04.1928 (sub aeneolus Ab.) Coll. Alfieri (coll. Frey in NMB) ; Amguid, Tassili ouest Mission du Hoggar Février – Mai iv.1928 ( NMPC) ; Biskra, 29–30.v.1971, A. Hoffer & J. Horák ( CKB) [Biskra, Montagne de Sable , according to Théry (1929) is the type locality of M.aureolus ] . Egypt: Egypte Alexandria TYPUS Meliboeus latesculptus m. Type Det. Dr. Obenberger ( NMPC) . Israel: Arava Valley: 1♂ ' Iddan , 135 km N Elat, 30°47'N 35°17'E, 8.v.1996, M.E. Irwin, Malaise trap ( CNA) GoogleMaps . Jordan: Jordan m.-occ., At-Tafilah govern., Jibal Al-Batra Mts. , 8 km SE Feifa vil., 250 m, 21.iv.2018, J. Simandl, det. M. Niehuis ( CNA) .

Distribution: This very rarely collected species was only once recorded in Israel (Niehuis 1996; Halperin &Argaman 2000, as Meliboeus aureola ). It is now known from Morocco over Algeria and Egypt to Jordan and Israel. In Israel, it occurs only in the northern part of the Arava Valley, or south of the Dead Sea, which is not far from the locality in Jordan.

Host plants: Unknown. J. Simandl (pers. comm., 2020) wrote me the following: “I found the species on a small semi-shrub with narrow leaves. Specimens were sitting on twigs of only one plant, the several others (of the same species) were without beetles.”