E. Jendek, V. Grebennikov. Agrilus (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) of East Asia. Prague, 2011

This is the first comprehensive revision of the east-Asian species of the hyperdiverse beetle genus Agrilus (Coleoptera, Buprestidae).
The target area includes continental China, Korean peninsula, Mongolia, eastern-most Russia and the main Japanese islands.

All 278 Agrilus taxa known from the target area of East Asia are treated, among them 74 are described as new. Eight taxa are not confirmed for the region but cited as possible; three species outside the target area are also included to address their taxonomic and nomenclatural issues. All 641 species-group names of east-Asian Agrilus, both available and unavailable, are cited and annotated. Misidentifications, nomina nuda and other unavailable species-group names are briefly mentioned to explain their taxonomic history and status. A total of 459 primary types (89.3% of all relevant) and an additional 9,112 Agrilus specimens originating from 2,627 sampling records have been examined. Comprehensive nomenclatural, taxonomic, typological, bibliographic, biological and biogeographic information is provided for each Agrilus taxon. Exhaustive bibliography comprises 748 publications linked to the 5220 taxon-level references. Data from specimens locality labels are used to compose distributional, seasonal and altitudinal data for each species.

The core of the book consists of three chapters: Morphology, Taxonomy and Analysis, illustrated with 68 full-page plates of 1,053 individual color images. The Morphology chapter presents an overview of morphological characters with their character states illustrated with 173 images on plates 1-7. The Taxonomy chapter is the most extensive part of the book providing A) an overview of all 36 subgenera proposed within the genus Agrilus with critical re-examination of their type species; B) the definition and diagnosis of 34 informal Agrilus species-groups employed throughout the book with a list of included taxa, host plants and link to related Agrilus species-groups; and C) a comprehensive taxonomic inventory of all Agrilus species recorded from East Asia. For each Agrilus taxon the following information is provided: a) adult habitus, aedeagus and type images, whenever possible; b) detailed bibliography with annotated taxonomic and nomenclatural acts and the type of published information; c) complete list of type material with information on the original spelling, type locality, type status, type fixation, locality label data of primary type and reference to publication fixing the primary type; d) a brief diagnosis, assignment to a particular species-group and the name of the most closely related species; e) overview on the specimens examined grouped by the country of origin with information on number, sex, verbatim locality and deposition data and specimen depository; f) seasonal and altitudinal adult occurrences compiled from the original locality labels; g) critically re-evaluated larval host plant data from published sources complemented with original data; and h) global and regional distribution. The taxonomy chapter is illustrated with 264 habitus images, 248 aedeagus images and 325 type images thus covering the vast majority of treated taxa and types. The Analysis chapter provides statistical and biogeographical analyses. Statistical analyses highlight various aspects of the names, type specimens, examined material, host plants, altitudinal distribution, regional diversity and the origin of East Asia Agrilus taxa illustrated with 14 graphs. Biogeographical analyses provide insight into differences and similarities between various regional Agrilus faunas illustrated with 29 color maps.

New taxonomic and nomenclatural act, proposals and changes: 73 new species and 1 new subspecies of Agrilus are described, 2 specific names are revalidated, 1 name is downgraded to subspecies, 69 new synonyms and 72 lectotype designations are proposed.

Eduard (= Edo) Jendek was born in 1959 in Bratislava, in the former Czechoslovakia. Edo researches the worldwide jewel-beetle genus Agrilus with particular emphasis on the Asia-Pacific Region, which he explored through twenty expeditions. Edo provided the first species-level identifications of the infamous Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, the notorious tree-killer colloquially known as "Emerald Ash Borer", when the insect had been found established in North America.