Macroteleia brevigaster Masner, 1976

Figs 10–12

Apegus punctatus Kieffer, 1908: 150, 161 (preoccupied).

Macroteleia brevigaster Masner, 1976: 27 (replacement name for Ageus punctatus).

? Macroteleia minor Kozlov & Kononova, 1987: 93, 95 (syn. nov.).

Biology

Combined records of Masner (1956) and Notton (2006) suggest that this species prefers dry grassland and dune habitats.

Remarks

M. brevigaster was first recorded from Britain (Devon and the Isle of Wight) by Notton (2006, as M. minor). It appears that M. brevigaster and M. minor are the same species, based on the interpretation of the former by Masner (1956, as Parapegus punctatus) and its similarity with the description of Kozlov & Kononova’s species. Unfortunately the types of neither A. punctatus nor M. minor could be examined, so the new synonymy proposed here is provisional. The new synonymy suggests that the distribution of this species is much wider: Bulgaria (Kononova & Petrov 2003, as M. minor); Czech Republic and Slovakia (Masner 1956, as P. punctatus); England and the Channel Islands (Notton 2006, as M. minor); Hungary (Kozlov 1978, as P. punctatus); Northern Italy (Kieffer 1908, as A. punctatus); Romania (Popovici 2007; Fabritius & Popovici 2007, as M. minor); and Ukraine (Kozlov & Kononova 1987, as M. minor).