Balcus Sharp, 1877

Bartlett, Justin S., 2023, Clarification of ambiguous genus records for Australian Cleridae (Coleoptera: Cleroidea), Zootaxa 5383 (3), pp. 375-382 : 377

Genus Balcus Sharp

Balcus violaceus (Fabricius) : Schenkling’s (1906: 265) inclusion of Australia in the distribution of Balcus signatus Broun was followed by a question mark in parentheses, indicating doubt. Opitz (2013) synonymised B. signatus with B. violaceus , rendering the genus monotypic. It is possible that Schenkling had before him the Australian species, Orthrius sepulcralis (Westwood) , which bears strong superficial resemblance to maculate specimens of Balcus violaceus . This author has not encountered a single Australian-collected Balcus specimen.

Of relevance, and worth documenting here, is past confusion around the identity of Chalciclerus pantomelas Boisduval. While documenting Australian clerid types in MNHN, Paris, I found two possible syntype specimens of ‘ Chalciclerus pantomelas ’, a species described from Australia (Western Port in Victoria) and now assigned to the genus Eleale Newman : one labelled ‘ Chalciclerus pantomelas Boisduval , Australie, Port Western, D’Urville—1829 / TYPE’ ( Fig. 1 ), clearly an Eleale ; the other, labelled ‘N. Zealande, Pantomelas, Ex Museo Minisz (Coll. Oberthur) / SYNTYPE?’ ( Fig. 2 ), clearly a specimen of Balcus violaceus (Fabricius) . Though presently assigned to Eleale and considered an Australian species (supported by the labels on the first-mentioned syntype, and the illustration of a very Eleale -like C. pantomelas published by Boisduval 1835, see t. 6, f. 14), ‘ pantomelas ’ had, in the past, been referred to as a New Zealand species ( White 1846, Broun 1880, Hudson 1934, Corporaal 1950a). For the record, to prevent future confusion potentially resulting in erroneous synonymy of Eleale pantomelas with Balcus violaceus , I state clearly here that the second-mentioned, Ex Museo Minisz, type, potentially the reason White (1846) considered pantomelas a New Zealand species, is not a type specimen of Chalciclerus pantomelas Boisduval , Balcus violaceus Fabricius , either synonym of the latter (i.e., Balcus niger Sharp or Balcus signatus Broun ), or of any other species.

Distribution: New Zealand ( Opitz 2013).

Status: Balcus violaceus is non-native and absent in Australia.

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. (1) Syntype specimen of Chalciclerus pantomelas Boisduval (MNHN); (2) specimen of Balcus violaceus (Fabricius) erroneously labelled as a type specimen of Chalciclerus pantomelas Boisduval (MNHN); (3) specimen of Thallis janthina Erichson (Erotylidae) (SDEI) misidentified by Sigmund Schenkling as Korynetes abdominalis (Fabricius); (4) syntype specimen of Corynetes unicolor Chevrolat, 1876 (MNHN), a synonym of Korynetes coeruleus (De Geer); (5) syntype specimen of Labasiella duboulayi Pic, 1950 (MNHN), a synonym of Solervicensia ovata (Spinola); (6) syntype specimen of Elasmocerus picticollis Blackburn, 1901 (NHML), a synonym of Monophylla terminata (Say).