Saprinus (Saprinus) planiusculus Motschulsky, 1849

Penati, Fabio, 2009, An updated catalogue of the Histeridae (Coleoptera) of Sardinia, with faunistic, zoogeographical, ecological and conservation remarks *, Zootaxa 2318, pp. 197-280 : 263

Saprinus (Saprinus) planiusculus Motschulsky

Literature data. “ Sardinia ” ( Vienna 1980; Audisio et al. 1995; Penati & Vienna 2002; Yélamos & Lackner 2004).

Notes. This species was for a long time and by many authors considered a synonym of Saprinus semistriatus (see for example Luigioni 1929), so no records ascribable with certainty to this species exist in the literature prior to Vienna (1980). Moreover, in Italy it is widespread and very frequently sympatric with Saprinus semistriatus and S. subnitescens (see Penati & Vienna 2005, 2006a), with which it has often been confused (see notes under S. subnitescens ). This situation does not give a clear and definitive picture of the Italian distribution of S. planiusculus . Nevertheless, no Sardinian specimen was found in the examined collections and I therefore consider it as absent from the island, as already suggested by Penati and Vienna (2005, 2006a).