Gymnetron vulpes Lucas

Gymnetron vulpes Lucas, 1849: 459; Brisout 1862: 659; Reitter 1908: 17.

This taxon was described from a single specimen collected at Milah (Constantine province, Algeria) and is now housed in the general collection of the MNHN. It corresponds exactly to the original description and illustration and is labelled as follows "756 [handwritten under a blue round label] / Gymnetron vulpes, Lucas [handwritten white rectangular label] / Museum Paris, Algérie, coll. H. Lucas 78-49 [typewritten grey rectangular label] / TYPE [typewritten red rectangular label]". It is a male and here designated as the lectotype of Gymnetron vulpes Lucas, 1849 (des. Caldara). Lucas (1849) referred to the fact that, according to the opinion of Roussel, this species is also common in the environs of Alger, where the larva develops on Celsia cretica L. (syn. of Verbascum creticum (L.) Cav.). Brisout (1862) believed erroneously that this specimen was only a teneral individual of G. p i l o s u m and therefore synonymised these two taxa. In fact, it is a junior synonym of the species called Gymnetron marmota Fairmaire, 1883 by Reitter (1908), presently placed in Mecinus (Caldara 2001) . Moreover, the specimens collected on Celsia cretica actually belong to R. tetra (Fabricius, 1792) .