Erotylini, Latreille, 1802

Skelley, Paul E., 2020, Nomenclatural notes for the Erotylinae (Coleoptera: Erotylidae), Insecta Mundi 2020 (767), pp. 1-35 : 10-11

IV. Erotylini : Brachymerus Dejean

Concern discovered. Type species discrepancy.

Discussion and results. Brachymerus Dejean, 1836: 427, is an available genus-group taxon by indication, listing several available species within it. Two different species from this list were subsequently designated as the type species by Hope (1841: 110, 113) in a table of type species and again with a short description of the genus. No author mentioned the type species until Alvarenga (1965: 82) cited Erotylus tibialis Duponchel, 1825: 55 , as type by subsequent designation of Hope (1841: 113). A few years later, Alvarenga (1977: 103) discovered Hope’s earlier page designation. Alvarenga reversed his 1965 type designation based on page priority and recognized Erotylus nitidulus Olivier, 1807 , as the type by subsequent designation of Hope (1841: 110). In his catalogue of Neotropical Erotylidae, Alvarenga (1994: 79) followed his 1977 work citing E. nitidulus as the type species of Brachymerus and placed these species in separate subgenera: Iphiclus (Brachymerus) nitidulus (Olivier) and Iphiclus (Neomorphoides) tibialis (Duponchel) . Beyond catalogs there have been no taxonomic review of Brachymerus, and no additional mention of type species until Bousquet and Bouchard (2013: 101) who cited Alvarenga’s (1965) first type designation.

According to ICZN (1999, Frequently Asked Questions, “Is there such a thing as page priority?”), page priority for such acts does not exist because the entire work was published at the same time. Then, ICZN (1999), Article 69.1.1., [quoted previously] states that the first designation, for whatever reason, right or wrong, is the valid designation. Thus, Hope’s (1841) designations were published at the same time, both having equal status. We must consider Alvarenga’s first clear designation of E. tibialis in 1965 as valid, his second designation in of E. nitidulus in 1977 as invalid and reevaluate Alvarenga’s (1994) catalog for the two subgenera involved with these two species.

With E. tibialis as the type species of Brachymerus and with E. tibialis currently placed within Neomorphoides Alvarenga, 1977: 103 ( Alvarenga 1994: 78), this renders Neomorphoides as a junior synonym of Brachymerus.

With the transfer of the name Brachymerus to a different genus-group, this leaves Brachymerus sensu Alvarenga (1977, 1994) needing a name. Before Alvarenga’s invalid 1977 type species designation, he had proposed the genus-group name Neobarytopus Alvarenga, 1965: 87. This name with the included type species is revalidated as the name for this genus-group.

Necessary changes to genus-group names based on these corrections are stated below. Synonymies for all includes species-group names are presented, most of which are new combinations updated from Alvarenga (1994).