Merodon aureus
Creators: name: Veselić, Sanja
name: Vujić, Ante
name: Radenković, Snežana
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Syrphidae
Merodon
Merodon aureus

description: Key to species subgroups and species within the Merodon aureus group sensu Radenković et al. (2011)
[Adapted from Šašić et al. (2016)]
1 Body pilosity very short (Fig. 17 a), pile on dorsal surface of hind femur shorter than scapus; pile on tergites II and III shorter than basoflagellomere; distal half of hind tibia, and hind tarsi dorsally darkened (Fig. 17 b).................................................................................... Merodon nisi sp. n. (Aegean island of Rhodes, Greece)
- Body pilosity longer, pile on tergites II and III as long as or longer than basoflagellomere........................... 2
2 Tibiae and tarsi mostly pale, at least basal half of fore and mid tibiae and tarsi ventrally............................. 3
- Tibiae and tarsi predominantly black...................................................................... 4
3 Tergites reddish.................................. Merodon dobrogensis subgroup (Eastern Mediterranean, 3 species)
- Tergites dark, exceptionally with small orange spots on lateral sides of tergites II and III..............................
.......................................... Merodon bessarabicus subgroup (central and southern Europe, 6 species) 4 Tergites II and III with pale lateral spots............................... Merodon unguicornis (Western Mediterranean)
- Tergites uniformly dark............................................................................... 5
5 Mesonotum only with pale pile...................... Merodon aureus subgroup (central and southern Europe, 3 species)
- Mesonotum, at least near wing base, with black pile......................................................... 6
6 Species with strong blue body lustre....................................... Merodon caerulescens (Aegean islands)
- Species with dark brown or greenish body lustre............................................................ 7
7 Tergites without microtrichia, shiny dark brown to black. Frons above antennae swollen and striated, with median tubercle above lunulae; metatarsus of hind leg with small dorsal depression.................................................................................................... Merodon robustus sp. n. (Aegean island of Samos, Greece)
- Tergites with at least a trace of microtrichose stripes or spots.................................................. 8
8 Body pile shorter; pile on scutellum in male shorter than hind basitarsus; tergites in female without microtrichose bands, or with small ones on tergites II and III............................................................................................... Merodon chalybeus subgroup (islands, coastal zone or low altitudes in Mediterranean, 4 species)
- Body pile longer; pile on scutellum in male as long as or longer than hind basitarsus; tergites II–IV in female with pair of microtrichose stripes......... Merodon cinereus subgroup (Central and South European mountains, 2 species complexes)
description: Published as part of Veselić, Sanja, Vujić, Ante & Radenković, Snežana, 2017, Three new Eastern-Mediterranean endemic species of the Merodon aureus group (Diptera: Syrphidae), pp. 401-434 in Zootaxa 4254 (4) on pages 430-431, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4254.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/556010