Blapstinus punctulatus (Kamiński & Lumen & Kanda & Smith, 1851)

Kamiński, Marcin Jan, Lumen, Ryan, Kanda, Kojun & Smith, Aaron Dennis, 2022, Phylogenetic status of some unique species representing Blapstinina Mulsant & Rey (Tenebrionidae: Blaptinae: Opatrini), and implications for continued study of the subtribe, Zootaxa 5093 (5), pp. 519-532 : 521-522

Status of Blapstinus punctulatus

Although molecular support for the placement of B. punctulatus is low, a review of available literature revealed that this species fell within the morphological concept of Austrocaribius (Marcuzzi 1982, 1986). Marcuzzi (1954) distinguished Austrocaribius from Blapstinus using the following characters: antennal segments eight-eleven transverse, segments six and seven more or less square, the remaining segments longer than wide; intercoxal process of prosternum developed posteriorly in an oval-lanceolate point, seen in profile prominent and abruptly truncate; penis widely projecting between the parameres, apical part of tegmen truncate, and contiguous. Upon examination of type material of Austrocaribius and comparison with representatives of Blapstinus , it is difficult to reliably separate Austrocaribius from Blapstinus using most of the characters Marcuzzi outlined (e.g., both Blapstinus and Austrocaribius have clavate antennae, resulting in the last 4 antennomeres becoming more-or-less transverse). The aedeagal characters remain useful and, as of this study, can be used to consistently delineate the two genera ( Fig. 1 ). However, the relationship uncovered by morphological comparison between Blapstinus punctulatus and previously known species of Austrocaribius necessitates the following nomenclatural acts: Namely, Blapstinus punctulatus is a synonym of Lodinus nigroaeneus Mulsant and Rey (see Bouchard et al. 2021), which is the type species of the monotypic genus Lodinus that was synonymised with Blapstinus by Gemminger in Gemminger and Harold (1870). Since the name Lodinus predates Austrocaribius by 95 years, the change in status of Blapstinus punctulatus therefore requires introduction of the following synonymy and combinations: Lodinus Mulsant and Rey stat. restit. (= Austrocaribius Marcuzzi syn. nov.), Lodinus araguae (Marcuzzi) comb. et stat. nov. [transferred from Austrocaribius ], L. punctulatus comb. nov. (= Lodinus nigroaeneus ), L. venezuelensis (Marcuzzi) comb. nov. [transferred from Austrocaribius ].

The unexpected phylogenetic position of L. punctulatus highlights an urgent need for additional morphological investigation of South American Blapstinina , especially those superficially resembling Blapstinus . Taxonomic acts in this paper greatly extend the range and change the status of a previously geographically restricted genus Lodinus . Furthermore, there are 75 species and subspecies of Blastinus recorded North of Mexico ( Bousquet et al. 2018), and no official records available for Argentina ( Fairmaire 1883, present paper, Gustavo Flores pers. comm.). Additionally, as a result of investigating taxon records for this study, it was revealed to the authors that the holotype of Blapstinus metallescens Fairmaire does not represent Tenebrionidae ( Cabrera et al. 2010, Gustavo Flores pers. comm.).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phylogeny of subtribe Blapstinina. Figured topology was recovered in maximum likelihood analysis using IQ- Tree. Ultrafast bootstrap values (1,000 replicates) (integers) and posterior probabilities (20 million generations) acquired in Bayesian analysis (decimals) are displayed in red. The three investigated Blapstinina species are displayed in blue. Male genitalia (1–4) of selected species (dorsal views) are illustrated on the left. Topologies of collapsed clades (‘remaining Opatrini’ & ‘Dendarini + Pedininini + Playtonotini’) are fully consistent with those presented in Lumen et al. (2020).