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Issue: Vol. 5665 No. 3: 23 Jul. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-07-23
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5665.3.9
Page range: 441-447
Abstract views: 44
PDF downloaded: 8

A new species of Lamiogethes Audisio & Cline from Central China (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Meligethinae)

MARA Key Laboratory of Sustainable Crop Production in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River (Co-Construction by Ministry and Province); College of Agriculture; Yangtze University; Jingzhou; Hubei; 434025; China.
MARA Key Laboratory of Sustainable Crop Production in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River (Co-Construction by Ministry and Province); College of Agriculture; Yangtze University; Jingzhou; Hubei; 434025; China.
Shennongjia National Park Administration; Shennongjia; Hubei; 442421; China.; Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory on Conservation Biology of the Shennongjia Golden Snub-nosed Monkey; Shennongjia; Hubei; 442400; China.
Shennongjia National Park Administration; Shennongjia; Hubei; 442421; China.; Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory on Conservation Biology of the Shennongjia Golden Snub-nosed Monkey; Shennongjia; Hubei; 442400; China.
Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie“Charles Darwin”; Sapienza Università di Roma; Viale dell’Università 32 I-00165 Rome; Italy.
Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie“Charles Darwin”; Sapienza Università di Roma; Viale dell’Università 32 I-00165 Rome; Italy.
Coleoptera Taxonomy pollen beetles new species Lamiaceae Euphorbiaceae Hydrangeaceae

Abstract

A new species of Lamiogethes (L. acutus Liu, Wang & Audisio sp. nov.) is described based on a series of specimens recently collected in Shennongjia National Forest Park (Hubei Province, Central China). The habitus, and genitalia of this new species are described and figured. Genital characters of the new species are in both sexes markedly different from those of any other known Eastern Palaearctic or Oriental species of Lamiogethes, and its phylogenetic relationships with other members of this huge genus are thus far unclear, although its closer relationships with members of the SW Chinese L. conjungens/potanini species-complex are well supported on morphological base. The paper also discusses the unexpected evidence that specimens of the new species were collected from flowers of family Hydrangeaceae, a plant family unrelated to any other known host plant of Meligethinae, with high females/males’ ratio (ca. 7:1).

 

References

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How to Cite

Liu, M., Wang, X., Yu, H., Mei, Y., Sabatelli, S. & Audisio, P. (2025) A new species of Lamiogethes Audisio & Cline from Central China (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Meligethinae). Zootaxa, 5665 (3), 441–447. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5665.3.9