Bostrychoplites cornutus ( Olivier, 1790 )

Jerzy, Borowski, 2022, Taxonomic changes in Bostrichidae (Insecta, Coleoptera), Zootaxa 5154 (5), pp. 590-594 : 592

Bostrychoplites cornutus ( Olivier, 1790)

Bostrichus cornutus Olivier, 1790: 108

Bostrichus abyssinicus Murray, 1867: 90

Bostrychoplites megaceros Lesne, 1899b n . syn.

Geographical distribution: Africa south of Sahara, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, Saudi Arabia, Yemen (incl. Socotra); introduced to USA and Europe.

4. Bostrychoplites suturalis Lesne, 1931 and Bostrychoplites peltatus Lesne, 1899

Lesne described B. suturalis based on 4 females caught in the eastern and southern parts of Africa, e.g. Transvaal. The description was accompanied with figures of the elytral declivity of the species. On the other hand, B. peltatus was described over 30 years earlier based on a single female from Transvaal ( Lesne 1899b). While comparing both descriptions one can indeed imagine two separate species, however, in the description of B. peltatus P. Lesne made a mistake. After verification of the types of both species (MNHN) the described female of B. peltatus turned out to be a small male. An analysis of further material, mainly from South Africa (numerous specimens from the NHML collection) helped to establish that both described species just represented the opposite sexes of the same species. B. suturalis should thus be treated as a junior synonym of B. peltatus . Full synonymy of the species names along with its geographical distribution is presented below.