A new endemic species of Baridinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from the Mount Olympus on Cyprus

Authors

  • Peter E. Stüben CURCULIO-Institut, Hauweg 62, 41066 Mönchengladbach, Germany, https://peterstueben.com; P.Stueben@t-online.de
  • Ariel-Leib-Leonid Friedman The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel; laibale@tauex.tau.ac.il https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4389-6858
  • Christoph Braun Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum Koenig Bonn, Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1312-5953

Keywords:

Biodiversity, barcoding, beetles, Coleoptera, integrative taxonomy, molecular analysis, morphology, new species, taxonomy, host plants, Cyprus, Israel, Middle East, Turkey

Abstract

A new baridine species, Melanobaris troodi Stüben, n. sp., associated with Odontarrhena troodi (Boiss.) Španiel, Al-Shehbaz, D.A. German & Marhold (Brassicaceae) is described from Mt Olympus (‘Chionístra’) of the Troodos massif in Cyprus. The new species has been distinguished morphologically and molecularly from its sister taxa M. margaritae Korotyaev & Friedman and M. amanicola (Pic) from the Middle Eastern mainland, using traditional and innovative (such as 3D-scanning) optical microscopy methods within the framework of integrative taxonomy. A Neighbour-joining tree and Bayesian tree for the mtCO1 gene are presented and a p-distance matrix is compiled for 12 related species of the genus Melanobaris Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal, mainly from the Mediterranean Region. It is pointed out that a high endemism rate can be assumed for many ground-dwelling, flightless Melanobaris species in isolated mountain massifs and on islands. Morphological methods alone are certainly not helpful for recognition of these very similar, often cryptic, species. Molecular analysis is indispensable in such cases, above all in new descriptions.

To cite: Stüben, P. E., Friedman, A.-L.-L. & Braun, C. 2024. A new endemic species of Baridinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from the Mount Olympus on Cyprus. Israel Journal of Entomology 53: 131–152.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14552434
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2FDE2515-3482-4CF6-B4CE-1B31FE3EAA03

Holotype of Melanobaris troodi n. sp.

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Published

2024-12-25

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Articles