Meligethes (Odonthogethes) pectoralis Rebmann, 1956

Liu, Meike, Huang, Min, Cline, Andrew Richard & Audisio, Paolo, 2018, New and poorly known Meligethes Stephens from China, with bionomical data on some species (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Meligethinae), Zootaxa 4392 (3), pp. 546-566 : 561

Meligethes (Odonthogethes) pectoralis Rebmann, 1956

Examined material. China, GUIZHOU, ZUNYI CITY, TONgZI COUNTY, LOUSHANgUAN, WANmUHUAHAI, 1122 m A.S.L., 16.Iv.2017, X. CHEN LgT, ON Malus asiatica NAKAI IN MATSUmURA ( ROSACEAE ), 15 ♂, 12 ♀ (NWAU, CAR-MZUR, NMPC, ARCC); ZHEJIANg, HANgZHOU CITY, LINAN DISTRICT, QINgLIANgfENg NATURE RESERvE, 14.Iv.2017, X. CHEN LgT, 2 ♀ (NWAU).

Distribution. KNOWN THUS fAR WITH CERTAINTY ONLY fROm SW, SE AND CENTRAL CHINA (GUIZHOU, HUbEI, FUJIAN, ZHEJIANg, TAIWAN) AND S JApAN ( REbmANN 1956b; KIREJTSHUK 2005; S.- T. HISAmATSU 2009; AUDISIO et al. 2015) ( FIg. 6b ). THE NEW RECORDS AbOvE fROm GUIZHOU REpRESENT THE WESTERNmOST KNOWN LImIT Of THE gEOgRApHICAL DISTRIbUTION Of THIS SpECIES. THIS SpECIES IS A mEmbER Of THE Meligethes (Odonthogethes) pectoralis SpECIES gROUp, AND INCLUDES A SHORT SERIES Of mOSTLY vICARIANT TAXA DISTRIbUTED fROm NEpAL, CHINA AND JApAN (AUDISIO et al. 2015).

Host-plants. CONCLUSIvE SpECIfIC HOST DATA REmAINS UNCERTAIN, AND ADDITIONAL COLLECTINg EvENTS ARE NEEDED THAT fOCUS ON ObTAININg LARvAL mATERIAL. A LONg SERIES Of ADULT SpECImENS, SEvERAL bEINg fEmALES, HAvE bEEN COLLECTED (SEE AbOvE: GUIZHOU, ApRIL 2017) ON fLOWERS Of THE SmALL TREE Malus asiatica ( ROSACEAE ) ( FIg. 4D ). THIS pLANT mAY REpRESENT THE TRUE LOCAL LARvAL HOST pLANT Of THIS SpECIES, bUT ADDITIONAL COLLECTINg EffORTS ARE NEEDED TO vALIDATE THIS AS THE LARvAL HOST. Meligethes pectoralis WAS LISTED bY S.- T. HISAmATSU (2009) AS fREqUENTLY COLLECTED IN TAIWAN ON Prunus phaeosticta (HANCE) MAXIm. ( ROSACEAE ), IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE RELATED AND ENDEmIC Meligethes (Odonthogethes) sadanarii S.- T. HISAmATSU, 2009. THEREfORE, ALL mEmbERS Of THE Meligethes (O.) pectoralis SpECIES gROUp mAY bE AbLE TO DEvELOp AS LARvAE ON fLOWERS Of SmALL TREES Of THE RELATED HOST pLANT gENERA Prunus AND Malus ( ROSACEAE ).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Actual and/or putative Rosaceae larval host plants of Meligethes (Odonthogethes) species: a, Rubus rosifolius from Hubei (likely host plant of M.(O.) trapezithorax sp.n., M. (O.) tricuspidatus sp. n., and M. (O.) luteomaculatus sp. n.); b, Rubus niveus from Sichuan (host plant of M.(O.) pallidoelytrorum); c, Photyniaserratifolia from Chongqing (likely host plant of M. (O.) flavicollis); d, Malus asiatica from Guizhou (likely host plant of M. (O.) pectoralis); e, Sorbaria arborea from Shaanxi (likely host plant of M. (O.) wagneri).

FIGURE 6. Distribution maps of Meligethes (Odonthogethes) species; a (M. simulator, M. pallidoelytrorum, M. luteomaculatus sp. n., M. tricuspidatus sp. n., and M. trapezithorax sp. n.); b (M.wagneri, M. ferruginoides, M. pectoralis, M. pseudopectoralis).