Rhamphus subaeneus Illiger, 1808

Caldara, Roberto, Toševski, Ivo, Mendel, Howard & Germann, Christoph, 2022, In search of some type-specimens of Rhamphus [Clairville], 1798 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Zootaxa 5169 (4), pp. 371-380 : 373

Rhamphus subaeneus Illiger, 1808

Rhamphus subaeneus Illiger, 1808: 324

This taxon was described from specimens collected in Portugal (“Lusitania”) without more detailed locality information. Regarding Illiger’s collection, what is reported above in respect of Hellwig’s collection at the ZMNB (see R. pulicarius ) is equally valid.

In the case of Rhamphus subaeneus there is the following series (B. Jaeger, pers. comm.):

Series no 54462: according to the catalogue of the historical collection ( Fig. 1A ) this series originally comprised seven specimens of “(aeneus Schh.) = subaeneus Boh. [sic]” from “Lusitania” and “Gall. merid.” In the collection now, B. Jaeger could locate only five specimens. The series in the collection, as labelled, includes specimens of “subaeneus” from “Lusit.”; we think that a part of the series is from Portugal, another part being from southern France. The labelling of individual specimens indicates that the first two specimens are from Portugal and are syntypes , and the remaining three specimens are from southern France. The two syntypes (sex not determined) are in quite poor condition (pinned with thick rusty pins), but still easily identifiable as the species currently considered as R. subaeneus . We designated the specimen in Fig. 2B and labelled “ subaeneus Ill …Lus.” as the lectotype of this species adding the following label “ LECTOTYPE Rhamphus subaeneus Illiger des. Caldara & Toševski 2021”. We indicated the other specimen labelled “54462/ subaeneus Schönh. Lusit 4” ( Fig. 2C ) as a paralectotype.

As with R. pulicarius , there is additionally a slide including elytra and the abdomen of one specimen ( Fig. 1F ). This slide was prepared by E. M. Hering when he published about oxyacanthae and compared it with pulicarius and subaeneus ( Hering 1921) . According to the labelling of the slide the embedded body parts are from material from the historical collection, but their precise origin remains uncertain.

Figures

FIGURE 1. (A). A page of the catalogue of the historical collection at ZMHB from numbers 54441 to 54470 (for Rhamphus see numbers 54461 and 54462). (B). Old catalogue of the collection of Hellwig and Illiger (for R. pulicarius see penultimate line). (C). Label of the series 54461 (R. pulicarius) at ZMHB. (D). Cover of the anonymous book (1798) signed by Clairville. (E) Label from the ancient collection at the NHMB. (F). A microscope slide probably including elytra and abdomen of one specimen of R. pulicarius at ZMHB. (G). A microscope slide including elytra and abdomen of one specimen of R. subaeneus at ZMHB.

FIGURE 2. Habitus and labels of: (A) Curculio pulicarius Herbst, 1795, neotype; (B) Rhamphus subaeneus Illiger, 1708 lectotype; (C) Rhamphus subaeneus Illiger, 1708 paralectotype.