Larinus elegans Desbrochers, 1897

Gültekin, Levent & Perrin, Hélène, 2006, The species of Larinus Dejean, 1821 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) described by J. Desbrochers: lectotype designations and new synonymies, Zootaxa 1350, pp. 55-68 : 63-64

Larinus elegans Desbrochers, 1897

Larinus elegans Desbrochers, 1897: 29

In the description, Desbrochers indicates “Long. 9­12 mill., “Algẻrie, Aïn­Sefra, des rẻcoltes de Hẻnon”, and “le ɗ est un peu plus ẻtroit que l’autre sexe, à abdomen subdẻprimẻ au lieu d’ȇtre assez convexe”. The size and the last sentence show that there are several specimens in the type series.

Types. Several specimens stand under this name in Desbrochers’ collection. One female, pinned through right elytron, missing the left hind tarsus, and bearing the handwritten labels “ L. elegans, Fr. 97, Ψ, Ψ” and “ type ”, is here designated as lectotype by adding a red label “ Lectotypus Ψ, Larinus elegans Desbr., Gültekin & Perrin des. 2005”. Three males and two females, all intact and bearing the label “Aïn­Sefra, Hẻnon” [printed] are designated as paralectotypes and labelled accordingly as “ Paralectotypus ɗ/Ψ, Larinus elegans Desbr., Gültekin & Perrin des. 2005” [on red paper]. Fifteen other specimens standing with the syntypes, bearing labels “A. Sefra” or “Aïn­Sefra” [handwritten] and “Ex Museo, Dr. Ch. Martin” or “ex Musaeo Desbrochers 1904” [printed] do not belong to the type series because the original description does not refer to any specimen from Dr. Ch. Martin’s collection or the reference to Hẻnon is lacking.

Remarks. Larinus elegans Desbrochers, 1897 is conspecific with Larinus kirschii Capiomont, 1874 , the types of both having been examined by the senior author. However, the binomen Larinus kirschi was also employed by Reitter (1872) for another Larinus (Larinomesius) species, and Larinus kirschii Capiomont, 1874 is a junior primary homonym of L. kirschi Reitter, 1872 since the endings –i and –ii regarded as homonymous (ICZN 1999). Bedel (1887: 201) proposed the replacement name of Larinus mutabilis for Larinus kirschii Capiomont, 1874 , but also this name cannot be used because it is a primary homonym of Larinus mutabilis (Host, 1789) , a synonym of Larinus latus (Herbst, 1784) . Csiki (1934) correctly placed Larinus mutabilis Bedel, 1887 under the synonyms of Larinus elegans Desbrochers, 1897 . Larinus elegans is related to Larinus ursus (Fabricius, 1792) , clearly differing from the latter by its shorter and thicker rostrum and the sharp apical constriction of the aedeagus.