Luperomorpha xanthodera ( Fairmaire, 1888 )

Luperomorpha xanthodera ( Fairmaire, 1888) ( Coleoptera : Chrysomelidae : Galerucinae ),

the rose flea beetle, is an Asian species described from Jiangxi ( China) by FAIRMAIRE (1888). Its native distribution range includes China and Korea, while outside of this range it is currently known from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom ( DÖBERL, 2010; FAGOT & LIBERT, 2016; VIÑOLAS et al., 2016; SADY, 2020).

In the Iberian Peninsula, VIÑOLAS et al. (2016) recorded L. xanthodera from the Spanish province of Girona ( Map 1 View Map 1 ). In this study, we present the first Portuguese records of the species derived from the study of one specimen deposited in the collection of MHNC-UP (Museu de História Natural e da Ciência da Universidade do Porto, Portugal) and a photograph uploaded to the citizen science online platform Biodiversity4all.org.

Material examined

Porto district:

— Porto municipality: Porto (city) (41.164346, -8.663410; MGRS 100 km 2 square: 29TNF25), 09/04/2023, 1 ♀, Grosso-Silva leg., MHNC-UP col. (MHNCUP-ART-41101) (live picture in Fig. 1 View Fig ).

The specimen was dissected and the coxites, the bursa copulatrix rods and the spermatheca are identical to the structures shown in DEL BENE & CONTI (2009, Figure 1 View Fig ).

GoogleMaps

— Vila Nova de Gaia municipality: Francelos (41.078288, -8.646762; MGRS 100 km 2 square: 29TNF24), 14/09/2021, 1 speciMen photogrAphed by Vítor dA SilVA (usernAMe “AMAnithor”): https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/94831592. GoogleMaps

The records of Luperomorpha xanthodera presented in this study, besides being the first from Portugal, greatly expand the known Iberian range of the species, as illustrated in Map 1 View Map 1 . This is the third exotic flea-beetle species ( Alticini ) to establish in Portugal, following the discoveries of the presence of the potato pests Epitrix papa Orlova-Bienkowskaja, 2015 (recorded by OLIVEIRA et al., 2008 as Epitrix similaris Gentner, 1944) and Epitrix cucumeris (Harris, 1850) (reported by DOGUET, 2009).