Anoplognathus brunnipennis (Gyllenhal, 1817)

Seidel, Matthias & Reid, Chris A. M., 2021, Taxonomic changes resulting from a review of the types of Australian Anoplognathini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae) housed in Swedish natural history collections, Zootaxa 4908 (2), pp. 225-238 : 226-227

Anoplognathus brunnipennis (Gyllenhal, 1817)

Rutela brunnipennis Gyllenhal, 1817 (in Schönherr 1817: 62)

Rutela chloropyra Drapiez, 1819: 44 ; new synonym

Rutela chloropyga Thunberg, 1822: 311 ; new synonym

Anoplognathus nitidulus Boisduval, 1835: 176 ; Ohaus 1918: 170; new synonym

Types. Rutela brunnipennis Gyllenhal, 1817 : lectotype (present designation): ♀: “N: Holland. / Hooker. // NHRS- JLKB / 000029806 ” (NHRS); Rutela chloropyga Thunberg, 1822 : lectotype (present designation): ♀: “Uppsala Univ. Zool. Mus. / Thunbergsaml. nr. 3132 / Rutela chloropyga / TYP” (UUZM).

Remarks. Lectotypes are designated here for Anoplognathus brunnipennis ( Fig. 1 A–D) and Rutela chloropyga ( Fig. 1 E–H) to fix their identities. Type material of A. brunnipennis was not seen by Carne (1957) in his revision of the genus. Examination of Gyllenhal’s lectotype makes it clear that the species was misidentified by Carne and is conspecific with A. chloropyrus ( Drapiez, 1819) , which was described in detail and has been consistently interpreted by subsequent authors (e.g., Carne 1957). Therefore, A. chloropyrus is a junior synonym of A. brunnipennis . The lectotype of Rutela chloropyga ( Fig. 1 E–H) is also conspecific with A. brunnipennis and therefore these names are placed in synonymy. The validity of the synonymization of A. nitidulus with A. chloropyrus as proposed by Ohaus (1918) and subsequently listed in Carne (1957), was not examined in this work.

Anoplognathus brunnipennis occurs from Victoria to southeastern Queensland and is a common species around Sydney (AMS). It is distinguished by the rough surfaced but glabrous and brilliant green pygidium ( Reid & Smith 2016; Burleigh & Reid 2017).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotype females of Anoplognathus brunnipennis (Gyllenhal, 1817) (A–D) and Rutela chloropyga Thunberg, 1822 (E–H). A, E, Dorsal habitus; B, F, ventral habitus; C, G, lateral habitus; D, H, frontal view.