Coccinella septempunctata algerica Kovář, 1977 (Kovar, 1977) 2019

Romanowski, Jerzy, Ceryngier, Piotr, Větrovec, Jaroslav & Szawaryn, Karol, 2019, The Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) from Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Zootaxa 4646 (1), pp. 101-123 : 114

Coccinella septempunctata algerica Kovář, 1977 , stat. nov.

= Coccinella algerica Kovář 1977: 231 , syn. nov.

Material examined. Total of 109 specimens (56 adults, 19 larvae and 34 pupae) were collected from herbaceous plants, L. arborescens , Aloe sp., N. oleander , Hibiscus sp. and P. granatum . The species was recorded at 11 study sites: Aeropuerto de Fuerteventura (30.III.2017), Barranco de las Penitas (29.III.2017) , Barranco de los Gutierres (25.III.2017) , Caleta de Fuste (13.II.2017) , Costa Calma (30.IX.2016, 20.I.2017, 09.II.2017, 14.II.2017, 13.III.2017, 22.III.2017, 27.III.2017, 04.VIII.2017) , El Pinar (25.III.2017), Lajares (10.02.2017) , La Lajita (13.II.2017), La Pared (20.II.2017), Morro Jable (24.III.2017) and Tarajalejo (24.III.2017).

Distribution. This Palaearctic species inhabits all seven Canarian islands ( Eizaguirre 2007; Oromí & Báez 2010).

Remarks. Based on specimens from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and all seven islands of the Canary archipelago, Kovář (1977) separated the North African populations of C. septempunctata as a distinct species C. algerica . In the species description he mentioned some morphological differences between C. algerica and C. septempunctata , mostly in the shape of the male genitalia. However, subsequent molecular studies ( Marin et al. 2010) conducted on 11 samples of C. septempunctata from various parts of the Palaearctic (including Algeria) and one sample from the Nearctic region did not support the distinction of the Algerian population. Moreover, our interbreeding experiment shows that the Polish and Canarian individuals readily mate in the laboratory and subsequently many of the females lay fertile eggs ( Table 2 ). The results of this very preliminary experiment should, however, be treated with caution because of no comparisons with the control groups (Polish female × Polish male and Canarian female × Canarian male), uncertainty as to the virginity prior to the experiment of the field-collected Polish females and the low genetic diversity of the Canarian individuals (progeny of one female). In any case, the experiment suggests lack of reproductive isolation between the Polish and Canarian individuals. Although (1) Marin et al. (2010) emphasized that their Algerian sample belonged to the same species as the other C. septempunctata samples and (2) in the Hodek et al. (2012) monograph on Coccinellidae , C. algerica is consistently considered a subspecies of C. septempunctata , and its taxonomic status has not formally been changed. We therefore propose to synonymize Coccinella algerica Kovář, 1977 with Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, 1758 . On the other hand, accepting morphological peculiarities of the North African and Canarian populations, we postulate retaining their taxonomic distinction as the subspecies Coccinella septempunctata algerica Kovář, 1977 .