Description of a new species of Mylabris Fabricius, 1875 of the subgenus Ammabris Kuzin, 1954 from Morocco and redescription of Mylabris (Ammabris) boghariensis Raffray, 1873 (Coleoptera, Meloidae)

Abstract

Ammabris Kuzin (1954), a subgenus of Mylabris Fabricius, 1775, includes a small group of fenetically close species associated to semiarid zones and deserts of Northern Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. Mylabris boghariensis Raffray, 1873, one of the least known species, doubtfuly included within the subgenus Ammabris, is known only from its type locality in Algeria. In this study, following the examination of the holotype of M. boghariensis, we expand its morphological description and redefine its nostic traits, including a description of the male genitalia. We confirm the assignation of M. boghariensis to Ammabris. The study of a series of specimens from Northeastern Morocco, phenetically close to M. boghariensis, but clearley differentiable by its external morphological characters and male genitalia, allow us to describe them as a new species, Mylabris avilai sp. nov .We discuss the diagnostic traits of this new species and compare them with all other species of Ammabris. As a result of the comparative morphological study of six especies of Ammabris we discuss the complexity and variability of the characters defining the subgenus, and the taxonomic position of Mylabris sisymbrii Klug, 1834. This study allow us to conclude that the subgenus is morphologically heterogeneous and possibly paraphyletic, in need of a broad systematic revisión to stablish its morphological limits and species composition.