Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Vujić, Ante
• Kočiš Tubić, Nataša
• Radenković, Snežana
• Ačanski, Jelena
• Likov, Laura
• Arok, Maja
• Gorše, Iva
• Djan, Mihajla

Titel

The Extraordinary Diversity of IMerodon avidus/I Complex —Adding New Areas, New Species and a New Molecular Marker

Ist Teil von

• Insects (Basel, Switzerland), 2024-02, Vol.15 (2)

Ort / Verlag

MDPI AG

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In this paper, the Merodon avidus (Diptera, Syrphidae) species complex was revised, whereupon we discovered and described four new species for science. An integrative taxonomy approach was used to delimit species boundaries. The molecular analysis, the differences in the shape of the wings, the morphological characters of the adults and the distribution ranges successfully separated all species from the complex. In this paper, the Merodon avidus (Diptera, Syrphidae) species complex was revised, whereupon we discovered and described four new species for science: Merodon atroavidus Vujić, Radenković et Likov sp. nov., M. magnus Vujić, Kočiš Tubić et Ačanski sp. nov., M. nigroscutum Vujić, Radenković et Likov sp. nov. and M. pseudomoenium Vujić, Kočiš Tubić et Ačanski sp. nov. An integrative taxonomy approach was used to delimit species boundaries. Two molecular markers (the mitochondrial COI gene and nuclear 28S rRNA gene—newly analysed marker for the complex) and geometric morphometry of the wing shape, together with morphological data and distribution, successfully separated all species from the complex. The morphological variability of the analysed species is described and discussed and an illustrated diagnostic key for typical morpho-forms of species from the M. avidus complex is presented. A distribution map of all investigated species from the complex is provided. The level of endemicity of the M. avidus complex was discussed.