Coccinella (Chelonitis) venusta ( Weise, 1879 )

Kovář, Ivo, 2005, Revision of the Palaearctic species of the Coccinella transversoguttata species group with notes on some other species of the genus (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 45, pp. 129-164 : 61-62

IV. Coccinella (Chelonitis) venusta ( Weise, 1879)

Genus Chelonitis was established by WEISE (1879) for Chelonitis venusta Weise, 1879 differing from other European Coccinellinae in the complete lack of the additional lateral line of abdominal ventrite 1 and the peculiar coloration of elytra. SICARD (1907) described an aberrant form of it as ab. adalioides Sicard, 1907 (locality not given). CAPRA (1944) upgraded Sicard’s name to subspecific status, gave distributional data on both subspecies and fixed the type locality of C. adalioides by neotype from coll. F. Solari. IABLOKOFF- KHNZORIAN (1979) transferred Chelonitis to Coccinella and rejected the name venusta Weise, 1879 because of a secondary homonymy with C. venusta Melsheimer, 1847 . He replaced C. (Ch.) venusta (Weise) with C. adalioides Capra (attributing it to Sicard) and proposed the name C. (Ch.) adalioides venustula Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1979 for Weise’s taxon. The relationships between names are in fact more complex. At that time, C. venusta Melsheimer was already transferred to Neoharmonia sensu Casey, 1899 as its type species, designated by TIMBERLAKE (1943). However, the genus Neoharmonia was originally proposed by CROTCH (1871) and its type species Harmonia viridipennis Mulsant, 1866 (= Harmonia ampla Mulsant, 1850 ) was designated by RYE (1873). It is now classified as Neoharmonia venusta ampla (Mulsant, 1850) . Because the Nearctic Neoharmonia venusta (Melsheimer 1847) and the Palaearctic Coccinella (Chelonitis) venusta ( Weise, 1879) are not congeneric, the junior secondary homonym recognized by

IABLOKOFF- KHNZORIAN (1979) must be reinstated according to Article 59.4 of ICZN (1999). The synonymy of C. (Ch.) venusta for the two known subspecies is as follows:

Coccinella (Chelonitis) venusta venusta ( Weise, 1879)

syn. Coccinella (Chelonitis) adalioides venustula Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1979

Coccinella (Chelonitis) venusta adalioides Capra, 1944

syn. Coccinella (Chelonitis) adalioides adalioides Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1979