Information: Berberomeloe insignis, is a large, species that was described in 1818 by Charpentier from the southern Spain.
Berberomeloe insignis can be distinguished from all other species of Berberomeloe by the following combination of characters: (1) entirely black abdomen; (2) presence of isolated symmetrical red blotches on the head temples; an additional red blotch on the frons is also present in some populations; (3) punctures on the head generally small to medium sized, rounded, shallow and mostly isolated from each other; (4) pronotum surface heterogeneously punctured; with medium or large-sized punctures, deep and located mainly on the sides and along the midline area; disc region almost smooth, with isolated punctures; (5) fore angles of pronotum expanded, obtuse, well-marked; (6) antennomere XI slender (both in males and females); (7) antennomeres VII and IX strongly dentate on the inner apical side, especially in males; and (8) male genitalia with apex of the median lobe markedly narrow.
Body length: 12 - 50 mm
Peak activity: February - May (June)
Remarks: Berberomeloe insignis is a species endemic to south-eastern Spain, including the coastal provinces of Murcia, Almería and Granada. It occurs mostly over the ‘Murciano almeriense’ phytochorological province, but it also extends westward to the Betic phytochorological province along the southern foothills of Sierra Nevada, where the species reach its western distributional limit at the surroundings of Jete, Motril, Órgiva and Polopos (Granada).
Berberomeloe insignis generally inhabits lowland areas, from sea level to 900 m of elevation at Fiñana (Almería) , at thermo- and meso Mediterranean bioclimate levels, with semi-arid (200–350 mm average rainfall) to dry (350–600 mm average rainfall) conditions . The habitat is mainly constituted by steppes and, to a lesser extent, by open fields with scrubs and no tree cover, with the exception of open Pinus formations or almond fields. Most parts of its range are dominated by xerophytic flora, such as Periploca laevigata Ait., Maytenus senegalensis, Ziziphus lotus, Pistacia lentiscus, Chamaerops humilis, Macrochloa tenacissima, Anthyllis cytisoides, Thymelaea hirsuta and Thymus, among others.
Adults are diurnal and feed on diverse plants, such as flowers of Convolvulus L. Males search for females actively and courtship is similar to that of the B. majalis species group recorded several localities where B. insignis co-occur with B. indalo (referred to as B. majalis), but interspecific courtship was not observed.
Distribution: Spain
Zoogeographic region: Palearctic
Taxonomic classification:
Geographic map of the current known populations of Berberomeloe insignis
and Berberomeloe tenebrosus in the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula.
Material examined (& observation):
Our observation period: April ~ May
Sampling Methods: in grassy vegetation 
Spain
