Macrolophus costalis Fieber, 1858

Figures 6, 9

Macrolophus costalis Fieber, 1858: 342 .

Material examined. ABKHAZIA: Sukhum, 1♀ 17 X 1927, G. Zimin. Pitsunda, 5♀ 1♂ 3 IX 1932, Belizin. ARMENIA: Byurakan, 2♀ 4♂ 24 IV 1948, Richter. Yerevan, 4♀ 1♂ 6 V 1932, Korinek, 1♂ 22 IV 1938, ffi 201- 938, unknown collector. Tavush Prov., Dilijan, 1♀ 16 VIII 1927, Diakonov. AZERBAIJAN: Adzhikend, Ganja, 1♀, V. Jakovlev coll. CRIMEA: Alushta, 1♀ 26 VII 1911, A.M. Diakonov.

Diagnosis. Body relatively small, 3.0–3.4; vertex of male 1.4–1.8 X as wide as eye, female 2.1–2.4 X; antennal segment I dark brown to brown; dark brown longitudinal stripe behind eye broad, about one third of eye height, with almost parallel margins; apex of scutellum narrowly darkened.

Distribution. Northern Mediterranean species, also known from Crimea and Southern Caucasus, including Abkhazia (Pitsunda, Sukhumi, Tsebelda) and Armenia (Yerevan, Byurakan) (Kiritshenko 1918, 1939; Putshkov 1978).

Host. Putshkov (1978) reported M. costalis from a variety of host plants including Mentha, Salvia, Stachys spp. ( Lamiaceae), Echinops, Pulicaria spp. ( Asteraceae), Cistus sp. ( Cistaceae), and Nicotiana sp. ( Solanaceae). Macrolophus costalis is shown to be an effective predator of the aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer) on tobacco in Greece (Margaritopoulos et al. 2003; Athanassiou et al. 2005).

Discussion. Josifov (1992) treated Macrolophus rubi as a junior synonym of Macrolophus costalis . Although this action was not followed by many subsequent authors (e.g., Kment et al. 2003; Gossner & Schuster 2005; Hradil et al. 2008; Aukema & Hermes 2009), an accurate morphological identification of these species remains challenging due to significant variation in body size and proportions.