Revision of first instar larvae of Meloe, subgenera Eurymeloe and Coelomeloe, with new descriptions and a key to the species (Coleoptera: Meloidae)

Figures & data

Table I. Main sizes (in mm) of the Meloe (Eurymeloe) first instar larvae mounted on slides and examined with a light microscope. Abbreviations: A1–A3 = length of antennomeres I–III; ABL = length of abdomen; ASL = length of apical antennal seta on A3; BL = body length; ESL = epicranial stem length; HL = head length; HW = head width; N. = number of examined specimens; SD = diameter of stemmata; PL = prothorax length; PW = prothorax width; SPA = abdominal spiracle maximum width; SPM = mesothoracic spiracle maximum width; TSL = length of terminal abdominal setae

	affinis	apenninicus	apivorus	brevicollis	corvinus	flavicomus	ganglbaueri	glazunovi	mediterran	rugosus	scabriusc	tuccius
N.	3	2	3	1	2	2	2	2	4	1	2	2
BL	0.985–1.062 (1.021)	0.692–0.708 (0.700)	1.292–1.415 (1.369)	1.031	0.954–0.969 (0.962)	0.692–0.692 (0.692)	0.646–0.662 (0.654)	0.985–1.031 (1.008)	1.025–1.385 (1.237)	0.523	0.908–1.046 (0.977)	0.938–0.954 (0.946)
HL	0.198–0.210 (0.203)	0.119–0.137 (0.128)	0.183–0.189 (0.185)	0.207	0.201–0.220 (0.210)	0.128–0.137 (0.133)	0.110–0.113 (0.111)	0.186–0.192 (0.189)	0.244–0.271 (0.257)	0.113	0.155–0.155 (0.155)	0.204–0.207 (0.206)
HW	0.220–0.235 (0.228)	0.137–0.146 (0.141)	0.229–0.235 (0.232)	0.174	0.177–0.189 (0.183)	0.131–0.134 (0.133)	0.128–0.128 (0.128)	0.207–0.210 (0.209)	0.213–0.235 (0.226)	0.116	0.189–0.198 (0.194)	0.198–0.204 (0.201)
SD	0.021–0.027 (0.024)	0.015–0.015 (0.0152)	0.018–0.021 (0.020)	0.021	0.011–0.020 (0.015)	0.006–0.008 (0.007)	0.011–0.011 (0.011)	0.017–0.018 (0.018)	0.020–0.027 (0.023)	0.014	0.009–0.009 (0.009)	0.015–0.018 (0.017)
ESL	0.046–0.072 (0.063)	0.037–0.038 (0.038)	0.049–0.065 (0.058)	0.068	0.065–0.075 (0.070)	0.040–0.075 (0.058)	0.026–0.032 (0.029)	0.060–0.063 (0.062)	0.077–0.089 (0.086)	0.031	0.046–0.048 (0.047)	0.054–0.055 (0.055)
A1	0.009–0.015 (0.011)	0.006–0.008 (0.0069)	0.012–0.015 (0.014)	0.008	0.009–0.011 (0.010)	0.006–0.009 (0.008)	0.006–0.009 (0.008)	0.011–0.011 (0.011)	0.008–0.017 (0.014)	0.009	0.006–0.009 (0.008)	0.009–0.011 (0.010)
A2	0.026–0.029 (0.027)	0.014–0.015 (0.015)	0.018–0.022 (0.020)	0.017	0.015–0.015 (0.015)	0.014–0.022 (0.018)	0.011–0.012 (0.012)	0.014–0.018 (0.016)	0.017–0.022 (0.018)	0.011	0.017–0.018 (0.018)	0.012–0.014 (0.013)
A3	0.049–0.052 (0.051)	0.025–0.029 (0.027)	0.049–0.055 (0.052)	0.051	0.046–0.051 (0.048)	0.031–0.037 (0.034)	0.020–0.026 (0.023)	0.054–0.057 (0.055)	0.060–0.072 (0.066)	0.029	0.049–0.051 (0.050)	0.046–0.054 (0.050)
ASL	0.149–0.160 (0.153)	0.105–0.128 (0.116)	0.123–0.169 (0.147)	0.172	0.208–0.217 (0.212)	0.043–0.043 (0.043)	0.054–0.054 (0.054)	0.112–0.117 (0.155)	0.063–0.143 (0.091)	0.077	0.126–0.143 (0.135)	0.109–0.166 (0.138)
PL	0.177–0.192 (0.185)	0.078–0.080 (0.079)	0.160–0.186 (0.173)	0.122	0.118–0.120 (0.119)	0.078–0.080 (0.079)	0.074–0.086 (0.080)	0.118–0.122 (0.120)	0.122–0.138 (0.130)	0.065	0.122–0.123 (0.122)	0.091–0.097 (0.094)
PW	0.235–0.249 (0.243)	0.180–0.191 (0.185)	0.280–0.286 (0.284)	0.198	0.203–0.215 (0.209)	0.1177–0.185 (0.181)	0.158–0.171 (0.165)	0.220–0.223 (0.222)	0.246–0.275 (0.262)	0.136	0.223–0.226 (0.225)	0.223–0.235 (0.229)
ABL	0.463–1.123 (0.697)	0.360–0.363 (0.361)	0.642–0.790 (0.716)	0.543	0.457–0.479 (0.468)	0.369–0.430 (0.399)	0.345–0.366 (0.355)	0.549–0.555 (0.552)	0.432–0.741 (0.630)	0.473	0.497–0.561 (0.529)	0.488–0.491 (0.489)
TSL	0.142–0.157 (0.147)	0.103–0.106 (0.105)	0.228–0.254 (0.239)	0.154	0.146–0.166 (0.156)	0.092–0.106 (0.019)	0.086–0.086 (0.086)	0.145–0.154 (0.149)	0.192–0.223 (0.208)	0.092	0.163–0.169 (0.166)	0.190–0.194 (0.192)
SPM	0.028–0.031 (0.029)	0.023–0.025 (0.024)	0.018–0.031 (0.026)	0.031	0.017–0.023 (0.020)	0.018–0.020 (0.019)	0.018–0.020 (0.019)	0.018–0.023 (0.021)	0.028–0.034 (0.032)	0.015	0.017–0.028 (0.022)	0.026–0.029 (0.028)
SPA	0.029–0.035 (0.031)	0.022–0.023 (0.022)	0.034–0.038 (0.036)	0.025	0.017–0.029 (0.023)	0.023–0.028 (0.025)	0.020–0.025 (0.022)	0.031–0.034 (0.032)	0.031–0.037 (0.034)	0.018	0.031–0.032 (0.032)	0.055–0.055 (0.055)

Figure 1. First instar larvae of Meloe (Eurymeloe) (a) apenninicus, (b) apivorus, (c) ganglbaueri and (d) mediterraneus: habitus in (a–d) dorsal, (a1–d1) right lateral and (a2–d2) ventral view.

Figure 2. First instar larvae of Meloe (Eurymeloe) (a) apenninicus, (b) apivorus, (c) ganglbaueri and (d) mediterraneus: head in (a–d) dorsal, (a1–d1) right lateral and (a2–d2) ventral view; (a3–d3) right antenna in anterior view.

Figure 3. First instar larvae of Meloe (Eurymeloe) (a) apenninicus, (b) apivorus, (c) gangbaueri and (d) mediterraneus: (a–d) pro- and mesonotum (dorsal view), (a1–d1) abdominal tergites I–III (left lateral view) and (a2–d2) claws (midlegs).

Figure 4. Images of slide-mounted first instar larvae of the following Meloe (Eurymeloe) species: (a) brevicollis, (b) corvinus, (c) mediterraneus, (d) affinis, (e) apenninicus, (f) apivorus, (g) flavicomus, (h) ganglbaueri, (i) glazunovi, (j) rugosus, (k) scabriusculus; and (l) Meloe (Coelomeloe) tuccius. Scale bar: 0.2 mm.