Meloidae of Namibia (Coleoptera): taxonomy and faunistics with biogeographic and ecological notes
Author
Bologna, Marco A.
Author
Amore, Valentina
Author
Pitzalis, Monica
text
Zootaxa
2018
2018-01-16
4373
1
1
141
journal article
30985
10.11646/zootaxa.4373.1.1
6c17414c-fd9d-47b0-b9b0-b9c538aa8cf0
1175-5326
1151722
202AFD20-7B37-405A-9CBA-051EF24E9FB2
Genus
Lydomorphus
Fairmaire, 1882
This genus was revised by
Kaszab (1955a
,
1978
, as
Cylindrothorax
), while
Selander (1988a as
Cylindrothorax
)
summarized the distribution of all species.
Bologna & Aloisi (1992)
described the first instar larva, evidenced the priority of the name
Lydomorphus
over
Cylindrothorax
and improved the infrageneric classification by describing two new subgenera. We accept here, with few exceptions, the groups of species proposed by
Kaszab (1955a)
and the subgenera described by
Bologna & Aloisi (1992)
. Most of the species of this genus, including the Namibian ones, are nocturnal or active also during the day.
Recent research, based on adult (
Bologna & Pinto 2002
) and larval morphology (Bologna
et al.
in preparation), and on molecular data (Pitzalis et
et al.
in preparation), pointed out the polyphyly of
Lydomorphus
. Actually, some Palaeotropical and Saharan species belong to an undescribed genus (Pitzalis
et al.
in preparation); one northern Namibian species (
L. optatus
) and another one from Namaqualand and Karoo (
L. mesembryanthemi
) are referable to two new genera described below (
Dilatilydus
and
Desertilydus
).