Monoxia obesula Blake is here recorded for the first time from Malta. This constitutes the second record for the Palaearctic Region, as the species was previously found in Sardinia (Italy) in 2013. In Malta, M. obesula was found on Chenopodium album, which represents a new host-plant record for this beetle.peer-reviewe

Mifsud, David

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Bulletin of Insectology 69 (1): 159-160, 2016 ISSN 1721-8861   A second Palaearctic record of Monoxia obesula (Coleoptera Chrysomelidae Galerucinae)  David MIFSUD Institute of Earth Systems, Division of Rural Sciences and Food Technology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta    Abstract  Monoxia obesula Blake is here recorded for the first time from Malta. This constitutes the second record for the Palaearctic      Region, as the species was previously found in Sardinia (Italy) in 2013. In Malta, M. obesula was found on Chenopodium album, which represents a new host-plant record for this beetle.  Key words: Monoxia obesula, Chenopodium album, Malta.   Introduction  The recorded leaf beetle fauna of Malta (Coleoptera Chrysomelidae, excluding Bruchinae) is composed of some 60 species (Cameron and Caruana Gatto, 1907), but more species are known to occur and old records are in need of taxonomic updates. In November of 2015, large populations of a species of Chrysomelidae were found resting on vertical walls in full sunshine and it was clear that the beetles belonged to a species un-known to me from this territory. A quick search in the area immediately revealed that these beetles were feed-ing on Chenopodium album L. Species identification of the beetles proved to be problematic using the two vol-ume work of Palaearctic Chrysomelidae (Warchałowski, 2010) until I got hold of the work of Clark et al. (2014), and it was then immediately clear that it was an exotic species, Monoxia obesula Blake (figure 1). Maltese specimens of M. obesula, including male genitalia, per-fectly agreed with the extensive description provided by Clark et al. (2014).   Material examined  Malta, St. Thomas Bay, 30.xi.2015, 19 males and 23 females on Chenopodium album, leg. D. Mifsud.   Host-plant data and damage  In North America (Nebraska), this species is associated with Atriplex dioica Rafinesque, a plant that occurs in saline habitats (Clark et al., 2014), and with Cheno-podium sp. (Clark et al., 2004). In Sardinia, the species was found associated with both Atriplex halimus L. and Atriplex portulacoides L. in brackish water environ-ments. In Malta, the species was found on C. album in a coastal area. Damage on Atriplex by M. obesula was re-ported as so intense in Sardinia that, from May to Octo-ber, many plants were almost completely devoid of their leaves (Clark et al., 2014). Severe damage was also ob-served in Malta on C. album, with entire plants dying because of the intense larval damage.   Figure 1. Monoxia obesula ♀. Scale bar = 1 mm. (In colour at www.bulletinofinsectology.org)   Distribution  M. obesula was described from Texas (Blake, 1939) and was also found in Nebraska (Clark et al., 2014). Clark et al. (2014) remark that both areas probably represent the natural distribution for M. obesula and that the species most likely occurs natively in several other central states. M. obesula was also reported from Maryland (Santiago-Blay and Virkki, 1996), but this occurrence was apparently an accidental introduction that faced ex-tinction after a year or two (Clark et al., 2014). The ac-cidental introduction of this species in Italy (Sardinia) and Malta probably took place via trade of agricultural products or ornamental plants. The fact that the species was found in two rather distant places in Europe may indicate that the species is already more widespread.   160 Acknowledgements  First and foremost, I would like to thank my ten-year-old son Andre who was the first to spot these beetles while we were playing some football in St. Thomas Bay (Malta). I also thank Jan Bezděk (Czech Republic) who guided me to the proper literature so that I could iden-tify this species. I also thank Shawn Clark (USA) who confirmed my identification and provided useful com-ments regarding the present communication.   References  BLAKE D. H., 1939.- A study of Leconte’s types of the beetles of the genus Monoxia, with descriptions of new species.- Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 87 (3072): 145-171. CAMERON M., CARUANA GATTO A., 1907.- A list of the Col-eoptera of the Maltese Islands.- The Transactions of the En-tomological Society of London, 26 (3): 383-403. CLARK S. M., LEDOUX D. G., SEENO T. N., RILEY E. G., GIL-BERT A. J., SULLIVAN J. M., 2004.- Host plants of leaf beetle species occurring in the United States and Canada (Coleop-tera: Megalopodidae, Orsodacnidae, Chrysomelidae, ex-cluding Bruchinae).- Special Publication no. 2 of the Col-eopterists Society, USA. CLARK S. M., RATTU A., CILLO D., 2014.- Monoxia obesula Blake, 1939, a species native to the U.S.A. and adventive to Sardinia, Italy (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Galerucini).- Zootaxa, 3774 (1): 83-89. SANTIAGO-BLAY J. A., VIRKKI N., 1996.- Evolutionary rela-tionships within Monoxia (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae): chromosomal evidence for its intrageneric classification.- Caryologia, 49 (3-4): 257-265. WARCHAŁOWSKI A., 2010.- The Palaearctic Chrysomelidae identification keys. vol 1 and 2.- Natura optima dux Founda-tion, Warszawa, Poland.            Author’s address: David MIFSUD, Institute of Earth Sys-tems, Division of Rural Sciences and Food Technology, Uni-versity of Malta, Msida MSD 2080, Malta. (david.a.mifsud@um.edu.mt)  Received January 26, 2016. Accepted April 4, 2016.  

Evolutionary relationships within Monoxia (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae): chromosomal evidence for its intrageneric classification.-

Host plants of leaf beetle species occurring in the United States and Canada (Coleoptera: Megalopodidae, Orsodacnidae, Chrysomelidae, excluding Bruchinae).- Special Publication no. 2 of the Coleopterists Society,

Institute of Earth Systems, Division of Rural Sciences and Food Technology,

Monoxia obesula Blake,

The Palaearctic Chrysomelidae identification keys. vol 1 and 2.- Natura optima dux Foundation,

A second Palaearctic record of Monoxia obesula (Coleoptera Chrysomelidae Galerucinae)

https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/bitstream/handle/123456789/13057/Mifsud%20-%20Monoxia%202016.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

A second Palaearctic record of Monoxia obesula (Coleoptera Chrysomelidae Galerucinae)

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