[Taxacom] Coleoptera question: Bromius obscurus or not

[Soowon Cho]

Dear members,

I found the insect reported as Bromius obscurus (Linne) in Korea looks
slightly different from the original B. obscurus in Europe (e.g., different
length of antennae, or different head angle, etc.). This is a pest species
on grapes and is known to be mainly parthenogenetic. Two main color
variations are found in Europe but only one color pattern has been found in
Korea.

I wonder if the insect in Korea is same as the one in Europe. I wish I could
compare their genetic sequences such as COI barcodes but no B. obscurus
barcode is uploaded in the GenBank or BOLD database. Could anyone possibly
help me solving my curiosity by sending me a few specimens or its barcode
sequence of the European species? Or, do you think they are the same
species? Since I am not a coleopterist, please let me know your professional
opinion. I put some adult images of them in my website:
http://web.chungbuk.ac.kr/~soowon/ (First three images (European ones) are
from the Internet and the next three images (Korean ones) are what I took or
from the Internet.)

Sincerely,

-- 
Soowon Cho
chosoowon at gmail.com
Dept Plant Medicine
Chungbuk Nat'l Univ
Cheongju, 361-763
KOREA