Ellipsoptera rubicunda (Harris, 1911)

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 215-216

Ellipsoptera rubicunda (Harris, 1911)

Cicindela cuprascens sperata var. rubicunda E.D. Harris, 1911 [before 31 May]: 55. Type locality: "Albuquerque and Deming, New Mex[ico]" (original citation). Syntype(s) in MCZ [# 25613]. Note. 1. Even if Harris (1911: 55) expressly gave this name an infrasubspecific rank, it is subspecific because it was adopted as the valid name of a subspecies before 1985 (e.g., Rumpp 1977: 176) (ICZN 1999: Article 45.6.4.1). 2. This name has been listed as a junior synonym of Ellipsoptera marutha (Dow) since Cazier (1954: 296). However, Harris’ name is older than Dow’s name. Indeed Ellipsoptera marutha was made available by Dow in the June 1911 (page 272) issue of volume 22 of the Entomological News mailed on 31 May. In the same issue (page 283), Henry Skinner reviewed Harris’ catalogue where the name rubicunda was proposed. Furthermore, Dow (1911: 271) reported "I have a good share of the color forms recognized in the E.D. Harris catalogue" indicating that he had Harris’ catalogue at the time. The statement of Harris (1911: 55) that " marutha is the brilliant green form lately described by Dow" was certainly in error. There is no precise date on Harris’ catalogue except that the “introduction” is dated February 1911. 3. Cicindela cuprascens sperata var. marutha was first described by Harris (1911: 55) in the same catalogue. However, his name was not adopted as the valid name of a subspecies since, to my knowledge, marutha has always been subsequently attributed to Dow.

Cicindela sperata var. marutha Dow, 1911 [31 May]: 272. Type locality: "[possibly] F[or]t Wingate [McKinley County], New Mexico" (original citation). Syntype(s) [2 originally cited] in AMNH [# 1204]. Synonymy established by Cazier (1954: 296). Note. Dow (1911: 271) did not formerly state a locality for his syntypes but simply wrote that he received the material "from Mr. John Woodgate, Ft. Wingate, New Mexico."

Distribution.

This species, also known as the "Aridland Tiger Beetle", is found from northern Utah to southern Colorado, south to Chihuahua (Cazier 1954: 297) [see Pearson et al. 1997: Fig. 29]. The record from “Arkansas” (Boyd 1982: 17) is in error or based on a stray.

Records.

USA: AZ, CO, NM, TX, UT - Mexico

Note.

Rumpp (1977: 176) recognized marutha and rubicunda as distinct subspecies under the specific name Ellipsoptera marutha . I have followed Freitag (1999: 95) in considering the two taxa as synonyms.