Abstract
The species of the mylabrine genus Mimesthes are revised and a new species (M. karooensis) is described from the South African Karoo. The systematic position of the genus is also discussed and an identification key to the species is proposed. Geographical distribution and habitat preferences, as well as other bionomic features, are summarised.
Highlights
The meloid tribe Mylabrini is the largest tribe of the subfamily Meloinae, in cludes approximately 750 described taxa and occurs only in the Old World
Since the primitive attempt . of revision made by Billberg (1813), Marseul published two monographs on the Palaearctic (1870) and Old World (1872) species, and subdivided Mylabris into four sub genera, which are considered as distinct genera
The range of the genus (Figs 2, 3) includes a coastal and subcoastal area in Namibia and Namaqualand, between about 26° on North and 33°30' to South, the Bushmanland and northern Ka roo, the southern and central Karoo to East. This range is more or less paral leled by several other insect genera, including some Meloidae: Iselma Haag-Rutenberg, 1879, Paractenodia, and an undescribed lyttine genus (Bologna, unpubl.)
Summary
The meloid tribe Mylabrini (as defined by Bologna, 1991) is the largest tribe of the subfamily Meloinae, in cludes approximately 750 described taxa and occurs only in the Old World. The re cent study of numerous Paractenodia specimens and of the triungulin of P. parva Peringuey, 1904 (Bologna, unpubl.) confirmed the validity of this genus and clarified its true relationship with another lineage that includes the genera Hycletts and Ceroctis This phyletic lineage, containing only Mimesthes and ■Actenodia, is identified by the following characters: Mesosternum without a definite shield, mesepisterna scarcely bordered; aedeagal hooks positioned far from apex or reduced to a single hook; antennal apical seg ments compressed and progressively enlarged, completely or incompletely fused. The range of the genus (Figs 2, 3) includes a coastal and subcoastal area in Namibia and Namaqualand, between about 26° on North and 33°30' to South, the Bushmanland and northern Ka roo (from Aggeneys to Putsonderwater, and from Vanrhynsdorp to Carnarvon and Prieska), the southern and central Karoo (from Stellenbosch to Willowmore and Victoria West) to East This range is more or less paral leled by several other insect genera, including some Meloidae: Iselma Haag-Rutenberg, 1879, Paractenodia, and an undescribed lyttine genus (Bologna, unpubl.). Rearing attempts of M. maculi collis from three different Namaqualand localities (Sep tember 1994) have been unsuccessful. (Note: While this paper was in press, I obtained the triungulin of M. maculi collis, which will be described in a separate paper.)
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