| heal.abstract |
Material of the genus Philaenus from all over the Mediterranean, was sexed, measured, and males were dissected for examination of the genitalia. By the structure of the anal tubes of the males two groups of species are distinguished: The P. spumarius and P. signatus group. The material of the P. spumarius group displays wide variation in size, yet no new taxa were discriminated beyond those reported so far, including the subspecies P. s. tesselatus. In contrast, the group of P. signatus, although less variable in size, has been separated into three geographically isolated species by distinct morphological characters of the aedeagus. Two of the species are new and are described here. Accordingly P. signatus is restricted to the Balkan peninsula, all north eastern Mediterranean region and Anatolia, P. italosignus, n. sp. occurs only in the middle and south of the Italian peninsula including Sicily and P. maghresignus, n. sp. in north west Africa and south Spain. Distribution and identification characters of all taxa of Philaenus known today are included. In addition some notes are presented here also on P. tarifa described as a new species elsewhere. |
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