Lepidiota rubrior Blackburn, 1912

Allsopp, Peter G., 2020, Clarification of the status of the types of Australian Melolonthini (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) described before 1950, Zootaxa 4885 (4), pp. 451-486 : 470

Lepidiota rubrior Blackburn, 1912

Lepidiota rubrior Blackburn, 1912: 55 .

Lepidiota rugicollis Moser, 1913: 50 ; Britton 1978: 71 (synonymy).

Lectotype of Lepidiota rubrior (here designated) female: Type H.T. (circular red ringed, typeset) | 7903 Qu. [Queensland] (red, handwritten) female symbol, T (handwritten) | Blackburn coll. 1910-236 (typeset) | Lepidiota rubrior, Blackb. (handwritten) | my lectotype label; in NHML.

Blackburn (1912) did not define the type series, seeing an unknown number of females (vide Articles 73.1.2, 72.1.1). Lea (1912) noted that the ‘type’ had been sent to NHML, and Britton (1978) referred to a “ holotype ” female from Queensland in NHML. Houston & Weir (1992) listed a “ holotype (probable)”. As Britton (1978) and Houston & Weir (1992) provided no discussion and did not label any specimen in NHML, neither mention of a holotype constitutes a valid lectotype designation (vide Article 74.5). To stabilise nomenclature, I designate the female in NHML the lectotype.

Lectotype of Lepidiota rugicollis (designated by Britton 1978: 72) male ( Fig. 35 ): Queensland Cooktown [15.47°S, 145.25°E] (black bordered, typeset and handwritten) | Lepidiota rugicollis Type Mos (handwritten) | Holo-Type (circular red ringed, typeset and handwritten) | L. grata Blkb. 1890 = L. rugicollis Moser 1913 E.B. Britton det. 1964 (handwritten and typeset) | my lectotype label; in ZMB.

Moser (1913) did not define the type series, seeing an unknown number of males (vide Articles 73.1.2, 72.1.1). Britton (1978) referred to a “ holotype ” male from Silver Valley in ZMB and labelled it as such. Houston & Weir (1992) recognised this status, although neither provided any discussion as to why they considered Moser (1913) might have had only one specimen. As Britton (1978) clearly labelled the male in ZMB, I consider this a lectotype designation by Britton under Article 74.5.

Britton’s label indicates that in 1964 he thought this species was a junior synonym of L. grata Blackburn, 1890 . He, later ( Britton 1978), formally synonymised it under L. rubrior .

A second specimen in ZMB labelled by Brenske with the then unpublished name of “ rugicollis ” ( Fig. 36 ) has no type status .

Figures

FIGURES 29–37. 29–30. Lepidiota minuta Moser, 1913, labels on types. 29, lectotype male; 30, paralectotype female. 31, Lepidiota oblonga Brenske, 1900, labels on lectotype; 32, Lepidiota podicalis Moser, 1913, labels on lectotype. 33, Lepidiota sororia Moser, 1913, labels on lectotype; 34, Lepidiota parva Moser, 1913 (junior synonym of Lepidiota rothei Blackburn, 1888), labels on lectotype. 35–36. Lepidiota rugicollis Moser, 1913 (junior synonym of Lepidiota rubrior Blackburn, 1890), labels on specimens. 35, lectotype male; 36, non-type specimen in ZMB. 37. Holophylla furfuracea Burmeister, 1855 (now Pseudholophylla furfuracea), label on lectotype. Figs. 29–36 courtesy of Museum für Naturkunde. Fig. 37 courtesy of Karla Schneider.