Forum Entomologi Italiani

Buongiorno.

This Nitidulidae is just about 1,6 mm long. First I thought it's a small Epuraea, but now I am not sure, because the Tibia are so short and broad. Does someone has an idea, what it is?

Grazie,
Michael

Meanwhile I got the idea that it belongs to the Meligethinae. It should be a female of Pria dulcamarae.

Michael

Club of the antenae is compact, I think Meligethinus pallidulus ?

_________________
Marion Mantič
marion.m@seznam.cz

Thank you for the answer. I never heard of Meligethinus pallidulus, but it looks good.

The very compact club is indeed an obstacle for Pria dulcamarae. In the other hand I had the impression that in females this caracteristic can be unclear. If I see this correctly, the last abdominal sternit of Meligethinus has - as in Meligethes - some curved lines on it, whereas in Pria sp. it is smooth and without lines. Is this correct? If so, I will reexamine the specimen tomorrow.

Michael

There is an article "Preliminary re-examination of genus-level taxonomy
of the pollen beetle subfamily Meligethinae" from Audisio & al. with descriptions of the genera of the subfamily an detailed pictures of the two species in question (Pria dulcamarae, Melgethinus pallidulus).

Concerning the lines on the last abdominal sternit of Meligethinus it says, they are "frequently
largely or almost completely obscured by distal portion of penultimate visible abdominal ventrite". I can't see any in my specimen.

But there are some other characteristics that indeed speak for Meligethinus, as e.g.
- for shape of the prothorax (with a sharp angle and anteriorly narrowing at Pria dulcamarae, with a more obtuse angle and lateral rounded at Meligethinus pallidulus)
- antennomeres 4+5 (about or more than twice as long as broad in Pria, shorter in Meligethinus)
- middle tibiae (very broad and with S-shaped ventral margin in Meligethinus, longer and with evenly arched ventral margin in Pria.
- shape of the mentum (rounded in Pria d., pentagonal in M. pallidulus)
- prosternal process (with furrows in P. dulcamarae, without furrows in Meligethinus)
and some other.

So overall I am meanwhile also conviced that it is Meligethinus pallidulus. So thank you for your correction.

Michael