Ceroctis Marseul, 1870

Bologna, M. A. & Pinto, J. D., 2002, The Old World genera of Meloidae (Coleoptera): a key and synopsis, Journal of Natural History 36 (17), pp. 2013-2102 : 2062

43. Ceroctis Marseul, 1870

Type species. Mylabris trizonata Reiche, 1865 , by subsequent designation (Pardo Alcaide, 1954a). See Selander (1991). 59 spp.

Geographic distribution. Africa (except western regions, Madagascar and the inner Sahara), W Arabia, Sinai, Palestine.

References

Taxonomy. Marseul (1870, 1872 partial keys and catalogues); Péringuey (1909); Wellman (1908); Borchmann (1940); Pic (1948); Kaszab (1951d, 1958c, 1983); Kuzin (1954); Pardo Alcaide (1958b); Bologna (1980, 1990).

Bionomics. Cros (1919a, 1927a); PeyerimhoV (1931); MacSwain (1956); Gess and Gess (1980, 1983).

Larvae. Cros (1919a, 1927a).

Anatomy. Gupta (1971, 1978).

Notes

The genus can be divided into several distinct species groups on the basis of elytral pattern and antennal shape. The status of about 10 species of Ceroctis insuYciently characterized by Pic (see particularly Pic, 1948) remains questionable.

The larval biology of the only two species of Ceroctis adequately studied deviates from that in other mylabrines and most meloines. Ceroctis groendali (Billberg, 1813) is a parasitoid of Masaridae wasps (Gess and Gess, 1980), and C. capensis (Linné, 1767) has been associated with the nest of a sphecid wasp (specimens associated with wasps in SAMC; also Whitehead, in verbis, 1994). The Mylabrini generally are parasitoids of Acridoidea, or, less commonly, megachilid bees.

The rst-instar larva of a single Saharan species was described; those of four additional S African species remain undescribed (CB).