Praocis rotundata Lacordaire, 1830

Flores, Gustavo E. & Pizarro-Araya, Jaime, 2010, Two new synonymies in the genus Praocis (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), Zootaxa 2386 (1), pp. 65-68 : 66

Praocis rotundata Lacordaire, 1830 resurrected

( Figs. 2–3 )

Praocis rotundatus Lacordaire, 1830: 284 (not Laporte, 1840: 187); Solier, 1840: 235 (rev.) [as synonym of Praocis sulcata Eschscholtz, 1829 ].

Praocis rotundata ; Dejean, 1834: 180 (cat.); Dejean, 1836: 200 (cat.); Gemminger & Harold, 1870: 1906 (cat.) [as synonym of Praocis sulcata ]; Philippi, 1887: 732 (cat.) [as synonym of Praocis sulcata ]; Gebien, 1910: 262 (cat.) [as synonym of Praocis sulcata ]; Gebien, 1938: 400 (cat.) [as synonym of Praocis sulcata ]; Blackwelder, 1945: 523 (cat.) [as synonym of Praocis sulcata ]; Kulzer, 1958: 19 (rev.) [as synonym of Praocis sulcata ]; Peña, 1966: 429 (cat.) [as synonym of Praocis sulcata ].

Praocis soror Kulzer, 1958: 77 . New synonymy.

Material of Praocis rotundata Lacordaire studied by Lacordaire ( MNHUB) ( Fig. 2 ): two specimens, with labels: [14903] [Hist.-Coll. ( Coleoptera )/ Nr. 14903/ Praocis rotundata Lacord. / Coquimbo, Melly (data error)/ Zool. Mus. Berlin] [ rotundata / Lacord./ Chili. Dej.] [ Praocis / punctata Sol. / det. H. Kulzer 1957].

Holoype of Praocis soror Kulzer (NHMB) : [Villavicenzio/ Mendoza / 3-11-52] [ Argentinien / leg. Wittmer] [Holotypus / Praocis / soror m./ det. H. Kulzer 1957] ( Fig. 3 ).

Comments. Due to the misidentification of Solier (1840), who put Praocis rotundata Lacordaire in synonymy with Praocis sulcata , all the subsequent authors (listed above) assigned this species as inhabiting Chile. We remove Praocis rotundata Lacordaire from the Chilean fauna and based on the examined material (IADIZA, LEULS) we determine its geographical distribution as Mendoza and San Juan provinces of Argentina, being endemic to the Uspallata-Calingasta altitudinal valley between 1400 and 3630 m, in the biogeographic provinces of Monte, Altoandean, and Puna (Roig Juñent et al. 2003). The type locality “Paramillos de Uspallata” is located within this area, in the Precordillera at 3000 m, and it is part of the currently so-called “Reserva Villavicencio”.

The aforementioned two specimens of Praocis rotundata Lacordaire (MNHUB) were previously determined by Kulzer as Praocis punctata Solier , which is indeed a different species. Praocis punctata Solier has elytra with carinae weakly demarcated and lateral margin of pronotum with a row of long, golden setae (syntypes seen in MNHN). On the other hand, these specimens of Praocis rotundata and the holotype of Praocis soror have elytra with carinae well demarcated and elevated and lateral margin of pronotum glabrous ( Figs. 2–3 ).

Figures

FIGURES 1−3. 1. Praocis sulcata Eschscholtz, lectotype, length: 8.5 mm; 2. P. rotundata Lacordaire, length: 10.5 mm; 3. P.soror Kulzer, holotype, length: 10.0 mm.