RUTELINA MacLeay, 1819

Hielkema, Auke J. & Hielkema, Meindert A., 2019, An annotated checklist of the Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) of the Guianas, Insecta Mundi 732 (732), pp. 1-306 : 127

RUTELINA MacLeay, 1819

Synopsis. Soula 1998, 2002a, 2002 b, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010b (former Anticheirina and Pelidnotina)

Note 1. In his treatment of the subtribes Anticheirina and Pelidnotina (now both incorporated in the subtribe Rutelina ), Soula (1998, 2002a, 2002 b, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010b) is rather intuitive in his classification, makes double descriptions of species, is inconsistent in the spelling of names and makes various other errors. Most of these issues are addressed and corrected in Moore and Jameson (2013) and Moore et al. (2014). Several additional issues are addressed in Hielkema (2017, 2018) and Moore et al. (2017). Soula also frequently uses the term neallotype. This word has never been defined by the ICZN (1961, 1964, 1985, 1999) and should not be used.

Note 2. In his various publications, Soula describes a large number of subspecies within the present tribe Rutelina . Because these subspecies are largely based on color patterns, they may only be geographic variations. Collecting additional material and new research methods may corroborate or refute Soula’s hypotheses in the future.

Note 3. Moore et al. (2017) list four “pelidnotine” species for the Guianas, which we regard as not occurring in the research area and which have, to our knowledge, also not been reported elsewhere for any place close to the research area. For each of these species, Moore et al. (2017) only cite a single source. These species are:

Epichalcoplethis sanctijacobi ( Ohaus, 1905) (1905b: 318) , which is mentioned in Moore et al. (2017: 108) and copied from Gruner (1971: 844), who lists it for French Guiana as Pelidnota sancti-jacobi . Gruner (1971) appears to contain many misidentifications and spelling errors, and seems generally untrustworthy;

Pelidnota alliacea ( Germar, 1824) (p. 117), which is mentioned in Moore et al. (2017: 158) and copied from Herbst (1790: 66), who lists its present synonym Melolontha americana for Suriname. Given the distance of Suriname to the rest of the distributional area, the record in Herbst (1790) is likely based on a mislabeled or misidentified specimen;

Pelidnota hoefigi Ohaus, 1912 (p. 318), which is mentioned in Moore et al. (2017: 211) and copied from Gruner (1971: 844), who lists it for French Guiana as Chaleoplethis [sic] hoefigi ;

Pelidnota langsdorffi ( Mannerheim, 1829) (p. 48), which is mentioned in Moore et al. (2017: 219) and copied from Harold (1869e: 1222), who list it for French Guiana as P. langsdorfi [sic]. Given the distance of French Guiana to the rest of the distributional area, the record in Harold (1869e) is likely based on a mislabeled or misidentified specimen.

We have not included these four species in the species accounts.