The first record of the genus <em>Merus</em> Gistel (Curculionidae: Molytinae: Mecysolobini) in the Western Palaearctic, with description of <em>Merus freidbergi</em> n. sp. from Israel

Ariel-Leib-Leonid Friedman

Authors

Ariel-Leib-Leonid Friedman The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. E-mail: laibale@tauex.tau.ac.il https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4389-6858

Keywords:

Biodiversity, Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Molytinae, weevils, Acanthaceae, Blepharis, endangered species, endemic, new host, new record, new species, Israel, Jordan Valley, Middle East, Palaearctic

Abstract

Merus freidbergi, a new species of the Palaeotropical genus Merus, developing on Blepharis attenuata (Acanthaceae), is described from Israel, based on two specimens (male and female) collected in the Jordan Valley – the northern part of the Great Rift Valley. Description of the external morphology and genitalia of both sexes is given and illustrated with photographs and line drawings. The species has Afrotropical affinities and belongs to the Afrotropical denticulatus species group, being its northernmost representative. The new species is characterized by a narrow slender body about 4 mm long and elytral pattern composed of white longitudinal stripes covering incompletely interstriae 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 with scaled parts of the 3^rd interstria corresponding to bare parts of 4^th interstria and vice versa; a thick, cylindrical, slightly bent rostrum that is as long as the pronotum; medially toothed femora, with the profemur having an additional denticle anterior to the tooth; and the tibia bearing a long acute mucro, a stout premucro and rounded ventral tooth. The specimens were reared in 1973, no additional specimens have been found since then; thus, the species can be endangered or extinct. This is the first record of the genus Merus from the Western Palaearctic and from the East Mediterranean, the fourth species of the predominantly tropical Mecysolobini in the Western Palaearctic fauna, the first host record and an additional evidence of the existence of Afrotropical elements in the Jordan Valley fauna.

Cite as: Friedman, A.-L.-L. 2019. The first record of the genus Merus Gistel (Curculionidae: Molytinae: Mecysolobini) in the Western Palaearctic, with description of Merus freidbergi n. sp. from Israel. Israel Journal of Entomology 49 (2): 351–364.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3593312

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:871428B3-D877-4014-BBDB-1866169F9CF4