Gromphas lacordairii ( Oken, 1834 )

Cupello, Mario, 2024, The genus Gromphas Dejean, 1836 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeinae): nomenclature, distribution, and conservation, including a contribution to the debate on electronic publications in zoology, Zoosystema 46 (2), pp. 23-59 : 34

Gromphas lacordairii ( Oken, 1834)

Coprobius lacordairii Oken, 1834: 1117 [30th November 1834].

Gromphas inermis Harold, 1869 b: 62 [1st November 1869], n. syn.

Gromphas lacordairii bipunctata d’Olsoufieff, 1924: 59 [31st December 1924], n. syn. [subjective synonymy with G. inermis firstly established by Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello (2013: 464); here extended to G. lacordairii ( Oken, 1834) ].

NAME-BEARING TYPE. — Coprobius lacordairii : syntypes (unknown sexes), unknown whereabouts, likely destroyed; allocation remains unambiguous (see the text above) .

Gromphas inermis : lectotype (male), designated by Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello (2013: 464), MNHN (ex Edgar von Harold and René Oberthür collections) .

Gromphas lacordairii bipunctata : lectotype (male), designated by Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello (2013: 464), MNHN (ex René Oberthür collection) .

TYPE LOCALITY. — Coprobius lacordairii and Gromphas inermis : Argentina: either somewhere in the province of Buenos Aires or the adjacent city of Buenos Aires .

Gromphas lacordairii bipunctata : Brazil: Mato Grosso .

ETYMOLOGY. — Coprobius lacordairii : the masculine singular genitive of the proper noun Lacordairius , the Latinised form of the French surname Lacordaire. It is an eponym after Belgian-French naturalist Jean Théodore Lacordaire (1801-1870), the collector of the type material. The name is spelled as ‘ lacordairii ’, and not ‘ lacordairei ’ as originally intended by its coiner Dejean (1833, 1836) and so far cited in most of the literature, because Oken derived it not directly from Lacordaire’s name in modern French as Dejean did (i.e., the name Lacordaire + the Latin masculine genitive suffix - i), but, as said, from its Latinized form, Lacordairius (i.e., by adding the masculine suffix - i to the stem Lacordairi -; see Article 31.1.1 of the Code for more details). The ‘ lacordairei ’ spelling is regarded here as an incorrect subsequent spelling in the terms of Article 33.3 of the Code; even though it is in prevailing usage, because this spelling has never been attributed to the publication of the original spelling (i.e., to Oken 1834), it cannot be deemed a correct original spelling under Art. 33.3.1.

Gromphas inermis : A Latin adjective in the nominative case meaning ‘unarmed’, ‘having no weapons’ ( Lewis & Short 1891; Brown 1954; Glare 1968 -1982), a reference to the hornless condition of this species in contrast to the horned congeneric G. aeruginosa .

Gromphas lacordairii bipunctata : A New Latin first-class adjective in the nominative case meaning ‘bi-punctate’, ‘bearing two punctures’, the combination of the Latin prefix bi - for ‘two’, ‘occurring twice’, and the New Latin adjective punctatus (- a, - um) for ‘punctate’ ( Brown 1954; Wiktionary 2019a). It alludes to the pair of tenuous posterior pronotal fossae that characterized the purported variety of G. lacordairii for which d’Olsoufieff (1924) established the name and which he knew exclusively from Mato Grosso ( Brazil). Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello (2013) observed that specimens bearing this feature are always small and actually found throughout the range of the species, always in polymorphism with the much more abundant smooth individuals of all sizes. Due to this, and in keeping with the authors’ taxonomic criteria, they were prompted to invalidate d’Olsoufieff’s taxon and name.

DISTRIBUTION. — Open environments of middle South America in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay, inhabiting savannas, grasslands, floodplains, river sandbanks, pastures, and restingas as well as associated forest edges and gallery forests.