Taxonomic reassessment and nomenclatural status of Niceforonia dolops and Hylodes philippi (Amphibia: Anura: Strabomantidae).

The taxonomic and nomenclatural status of Hylodes philippi and H. verrucosus have been in state of flux. Some problems regarding their identity were noticed in 1971, which were partly solved with the finding of the purportedly lost type of H. verrucosus in 2006 and the morphological revisions of both H. philippi and H. verrucous in 2008 and 2012, upon which they were considered conspecific and closely related to the Eleutherodactylus dolops group; H. verrucosus became a junior synonym of H. philippi, and the latter, a nomen dubium within Hypodactylus (later, Niceforonia). The reexamination of the type series of Eleutherodactylus dolops Lynch & Duellman, 1980 and the types of Hylodes verrucosus Jimnez de la Espada, 1875 and H. philippi Jimnez de la Espada, 1875, suggests that they are conspecific. Accordingly, Eleutherodactylus dolops is herein regarded as junior synonym of H. philippi and a new combination, Niceforonia philippi (Jimnez de la Espada, 1875), and a new diagnosis are granted. This species is known from a few scattered localities along the montane forest of the Amazonian versant of the Andes from Orellana and Napo provinces in northern Ecuador to Sibundoy in southwestern Colombia, and little to nothing is known about its natural history and population trends.

Taxonomic study of Mesomeloe coelatus (Reiche amp; Saulcy, 1857) (Coleoptera: Meloidae: Meloini), with the description of an overlooked new species.

A new species of the genus Mesomeloe (Meloidae) is described from Qatar on the north-eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Mesomeloe ottomerkli sp. nov., which is currently only known from the type locality, was previously identified as Meloe (Mesomeloe) coelatus. Both the morphological and molecular variability of M. coelatus across its wide distribution range are studied to determine the level of congruence between the morphological and genetic differentiation of M. coelatus and the new species. Mesomeloe ottomerkli is distinguishable from all other congeneric species in various traits: it presents a body tegument and appendages that are black in colour and shiny in appearance; an elytral surface absent of impressed longitudinal shallow ridges; a pronotal surface absent of depressed areas and longitudinal midline; and a pronotal base that is slightly arcuate. In addition, males of M. ottomerkli have antennae that gradually widen towards the apex; protarsomeres with a brush patch of yellowish setae on the ventral surface of the first two segments; genitalia in which the gonostyli, in lateral view, become slenderer towards the apex and an aedeagus that is relatively wide and rounded in the distal portion. The distribution records of M. coelatus are also updated and summarized.