New and little-known species of Meligethes Stephens, 1830 from China (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)

Audisio Paolo, Jelínek Josef, Cooter Jonathan
Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 45: 111-127, 2005
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Abstract: The genus Meligethes Stephens, 1830 (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae, Meligethinae) comprises several anthophagous species attacking a wide range of wild and cultivated flowering plants. We describe four new species from China (Meligethes chlorocupreus sp. nov., M. difficiloides sp. nov., and M. abditus sp. nov., members of the M. difficilis-group; M. bocaki sp. nov., a member of the M. planiusculus-group), and provide distributional or ecological data on other Chinese species Meligethes sp. cf. praetermissus Easton, 1957 and M. kasparyani Kirejtshuk, 1984. An updated provisional check-list of Chinese Meligethes of about 60 species is presented.
Key words: Coleoptera, Nitidulidae, Meligethes, new species, China, host-plants, check-list