Jakovos Demetriou‡§, George Kakiopoulos|, Jiri Háva¶, Angeliki F Martinou‡§#, Alex Delobel¤Corresponding author: Jakovos Demetriou ( jakovosdemetriou@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Melania Stan © Jakovos Demetriou, George Kakiopoulos, Jiri Háva, Angeliki F Martinou, Alex Delobel. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Demetriou J, Kakiopoulos G, Háva J, Martinou AF, Delobel A (2022) First record of the alien seed beetle Stator limbatus (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Bruchinae) from Cyprus. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 65(1): 37-43. https://doi.org/10.3897/travaux.65.e81350 |  |
The subfamily Bruchinae includes the majority of alien to Europe Chrysomelidae. Up-to-date, seven alien seed-beetle species have been collected from Cyprus affecting ornamental plants and stored products. During the last decade Stator limbatus (Horn, 1873), a New World species has been gradually reported invading Middle-Eastern countries and Mediterranean islands. In this publication, S. limbatus is recorded for the first time from the island of Cyprus. Specimens were collected from Ficus microcarpa, Eucalyptus sp. and Delonix regia, with the later species being confirmed as a suitable host for S. limbatus. The alarming presence of S. limbatus in both urban and protected areas raises some questions about any adverse effects on native biodiversity and socioeconomic parameters. The general lack of knowledge regarding the Bruchinae fauna of Cyprus hampers research endeavours for possible agonistic behaviour between native and alien species for resources and host-plants.