Morphological, biogeographical and molecular evidence of Carpocoris mediterraneus as a valid species (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

Carpocoris mediterraneus Tamanini, 1958, synonymized with Carpocoris fuscispinus (Boheman, 1851) by Ribes et al. (2007), is restored to the species level. The shape of the pronotum is a good diagnostic character to distinguish the two species. The existence of two valid species is supported by geographical distribution patterns in Western Europe: Medi-terranean-Atlantic for C. mediterraneus , and Continental for C. fuscispinus . In France and Spain, in some areas, the two species are found in sympatry (sometimes even on the same plant). Morphological observations are confirmed at the mo-lecular level by sequencing of the mitochondrial Cytochrome c oxidase I standard barcode fragment. Indeed, inter-specific divergence largely exceeded intra-specific divergence and our phylogenetic reconstructions reveal that Carpocoris medi-terraneus and Carpocoris fuscispinus form two reciprocally monophyletic genetic lineages. A morphological identifica-tion key is proposed for all the European species of the genus Carpocoris, to facilitate identification. Carpocoris fuscispinus is first time recorded from Portugal.