Eleodes (Steneleodes) hepburni Champion, 1892

Johnston, M. Andrew, 2015, A Checklist and New Species ofEleodesEschscholtz (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Pertaining to the SubgenusPromusLeconte, with a Key to United States Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 69 (1), pp. 11-19 : 11-19

Eleodes (Steneleodes) hepburni Champion, 1892 , new placement

Eleodes compressitarsis Blaisdell, 1935

Eleodes beameri Blaisdell, 1937

Eleodes bryanti Blaisdell, 1937

Eleodes palmerleensis Blaisdell, 1937

Eleodes hepburni is the valid name for a group of synonymized species names with a tangled nomenclatural legacy. Blaisdell (1937) described the subgenus Holeleodes Blaisdell as containing three then newly described species from Arizona, therein named E. beameri Blaisdell (the type species), E. bryanti Blaisdell , and E. palmerleensis Blaisdell. These three purported species were later found to be conspecific with each other and were thus synonymized, remaining assigned to the subgenus Holeleodes (Triplehorn and Doyen 1972) . Triplehorn (2010) further synonymized these three species names with two priority-carrying names, i.e., E. compressitarsis Blaisdell and E. hepburni , which had both been placed by Papp (1961) in the subgenus Ardeleodes Blaisdell.

In his act of assigning synonymy, Triplehorn (2010) erroneously placed E. hepburni in the subgenus Promus . However, throughout his discussion, Triplehorn referenced the similarity of this assemblage to Eleodes longicollis LeConte, 1851 , which has consistently been placed in the subgenus Steneleodes . It is thus apparent that Triplehorn (2010) intended to place E. hepburni in Steneleodes and not Promus . This interpretation is further and unambiguously supported by the presence of heavily sclerotized female genitalia characteristic of the subgenus Steneleodes and phylogenetic placement based on molecular data (A. D. Smith and M. A. Johnston, unpublished data). Eleodes hepburni is hereby placed in the subgenus Steneleodes .

Although Triplehorn (2010) did not make any mention of the subgenus Holeleodes , it is in accordance with current species-level synonymies that this subgenus follows the placement of E. hepburni and thereby becomes a junior subjective synonym of Steneleodes .