Rediscovery of a second species of Reed Beetle in Israel (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Donaciinae)

By

Furth, David George
Friedman, Ariel-Leib-Leonid
Feldstein-Farkash, Tamar

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025-9-19

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1252

Pages

77--96

Subjects

Conservation , Donaciinae , Dora Park , indoor collecting , land reclamation/restoration , molecular taxonomy , wetland drainage

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1252.149428

 

Abstract

A species of reed beetle, Donacia simplex (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Donaciinae) was recently rediscovered in northern Israel. Now a second species, Donacia tomentosa, has been rediscovered (verified using molecular analysis) living further south in Israel. In 2021 a reed beetle expert discovered a very old record of Donacia tomentosa from modern day Israel in the collections of the Natural History Museum (London) from a few specimens collected near Tel Aviv by the British in 1918 during WWI. In 2022 the authors discovered a viable population of D. tomentosa in Israel. Given the extensive amount of collecting by many good field entomologists in that region since 1918, it is surprising that this species had not been seen for 104 years. The location, biology, molecular analysis, and other details of this newly found viable population of D. tomentosa in Israel are provided here.