First record of the genus Micromeriella Betrem, 1972 (Hymenoptera, Scoliidae) from the Maltese Islands, central Mediterranean

Abstract

Here we report the first distribution record of the genus Micromeriella Betrem, 1972 (Hymenoptera, Scoliidae) from the archipelago of Malta, based on two specimens of Micromeriella aurolea (Klug, 1832) collected from the island of Gozo. Although this species is relatively well distributed in the Afrotropical and Palaearctic regions, we extend its distribution to the central Mediterranean islands. Molecular barcoding using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was conducted and compared with the known COI sequences of the genus to confirm the identification of the species.

Keywords

• Biomonitoring
• DNA barcoding
• Malta
• new record
• s