Eleodes binotatus Walker

Thomas, Donald B., Smith, Aaron D., Triplehorn, Charles A. & Aalbu, Rolf A., 2014, Walker’s Eleodes (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), Zootaxa 3835 (4), pp. 583-592 : 587

Eleodes binotatus Walker ( Fig. 4)

Eleodes binotata Walker, 1866 , vol. 2, p. 329.

Original Description: “Black, slightly shining. Head and thorax extremely minutely punctured. Thorax with a slight impression on each side of the middle of the disk; sides convex before the middle; fore angles prominent, acute. Elytra subfusiform, with slight punctured striae, nearly four times the length of the thorax. Length of the body, 10 lines.”

Type Material. HOLOTYPE by monotypy.

Labels: (a) [circular, margined in red] “ Type H.T.” (b) [circular, blue, hand-script] “Brit Colum,” (c) [handscript] “ binotata .”

Gebien (1910) listed Walker’s name as a synonym of Eleodes sponsus LeConte (1858) . But E. sponsus does not occur in or near British Columbia, being native to the four-corners area of New Mexico (the type locality) and adjacent parts of Colorado, Utah and Arizona. On examination we find that Walker’s beetle is actually conspecific with Eleodes hispilabris (Say 1824) . Eleodes hispilabris is a widespread and variable species occurring from southern Canada to northern Mexico. Boddy (1965) astutely recognized Walker’s species as a synonym of E. hispilabris connexa LeConte , a variant found in New Mexico and west Texas. The population in the Pacific northwest was characterized as “forma laevis ” by Blaisdell (1909), later formally described by him ( Blaisdell 1918) as “variety imitabilis,” which he later ( Blaisdell 1925) raised to subspecific status. They have the integument dull, alutaceous, smooth; sulci very shallow, intervals feebly convex. This is the race found in eastern Washington and Oregon, eastern Idaho, northwestern Nevada, and northeastern California. Eleodes binotatus ( Walker 1866) from British Columbia belongs here as well and is thus senior as a synonym of the subspecies name imitabilis Blaisdell (1918). Our concept of E. hispilabris and its variants is treated in a revision of the subgenus Eleodes currently in preparation. Although we do not consider the forms of E. hispilabris to warrant subspecific status, future revisers should be aware of the priority.