Eurypedus peltoides ( Boheman, 1854 )

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 311-312

Eurypedus peltoides ( Boheman, 1854)

Ischyrosonyx peltoides Boheman, 1854: 323 (original description).

Cassida oblonga Thon, 1826: 4 (original description incl. fig.; junior primary homonym), syn. nov.

Eurypedus thoni Barber, 1946: 291 (new substitute name for C. oblonga Thon, 1826 , not Illiger, 1798), syn. nov.

Type localities. Cassida oblonga : ‘Brasilia’; Ischyrosonyx peltoides : ‘Brasilia; St. Paul Brasiliae’ .

Type material examined. Ischyrosonyx peltoides : SYNTYPES: 1 spec., pinned, ‘ Brasil [w, p, s] || Mhm. [w, p, cb] || NHRS-JLKB | 000020267 [w, p, cb] || HOLOTYPE | Eurypedus peltoides | ( Boheman 1854) [r, p, cb] ’ ( NHRS); 1 spec., pinned, ‘ E. Coll | Chevt. [w, p, cb] || St Paul [g, hw by Chevrolat, s] || 145 [w, p, s] || Ischyrosonyx | peltoides Dj. | Bhn Brasilia [w, hw by Chevrolat, s] || 67·56 [w, p, s]’ ( BMNH).

Additional material examined. Cassida oblonga : pinned, ‘ Brasil [w, p, s] || Sturm [w, p, s] || NHRS-JLKB | 000020269 [w, p, cb] || HOLOTYPE | Eurypedus thoni | Barber 1946 [r, p, cb]’ ( NHRS).

Remarks. THON (1826) published descriptions of five new species of Cassida Linnaeus, 1758 in his Abbildungen auslaendischer Insecten. Three of them were described as new and attributed to Sturm as their author; the other two were described previously by Fabricius and Germar. Subsequently all authors always considered Sturm as the author of the three new species. BOUSQUET (2016) stated that all species should be attributed to Thon since there is no indication that Sturm was responsible for the name and the description. It is clear that Sturm is the author of the names as his catalogue has been cited ( STURM 1826) but it is uncertain whether he is the author of the descriptions as well. All three names published in this catalogue are nomina nuda as they were not provided with description or drawing. I concur with Bousquet that Thon should be author of the taxa for the following reasons: 1) according to introductory pages he founded the series of Abbildungen to provide illustrations and good bilingual descriptions of insects or supplement existing descriptions with good illustrations; 2) he thanks in introductory pages to Dr. Germar and Mr. Sturm for giving him specimens for illustration; 3) it was mentioned in the text that the material of all five figured and described species have stated was deposited in the collection of the publisher. Thefore I assume that Thon is author of the descriptions ( ICZN 1999: Art. 50.1.1).

BOROWIEC (1999a) considered the specimen in NHRS as type of Cassida oblonga because it originated from the collection of J. Sturm, however, THON (1826) clearly stated that the description was made upon material from his collection and therefore the NHRS specimen cannot be considered as part of the type series. The deposition of Thonʼs collection is unknown to me, however, the provided figure and description leave no doubts about the identity of this taxon. BARBER (1946) proposed a new substitute name Eurypedus thoni for Cassida oblonga Thon, 1826 preoccupied by Cassida oblonga Illiger, 1798 because Thonʼs name was younger and had no synonym.

BOHEMAN (1854) did not state how many specimens of Ischyrosonyx peltoides he had at his disposal. However, he must have had at least two as he mentioned two type depositories, colour variability, and also width span. One specimen from the collection of Mannerheim is housed in NHRS and I have found a second one in BMNH in the material from Chevrolatʼs collection acquired by the museum via the collection of Hamlet Clark. As Boheman mentioned the Chevrolatʼs collection and the specimen fairly agrees with the primary description I consider both as syntypes. Eurypedus peltoides was mainly based and separated from similar E. thoni (= C. oblonga ) by mostly red dorsum while the latter has extensive black pattern on elytra. Species of Eurypedus display a great variability in dorsal colouration and since E. peltoides and E. thoni differ only in colour I hereby synonymize them. Due to the new synonymy established here the name E. peltoides has the priority ( ICZN 1999: Art. 60.3).

Distribution. Argentina: Corrientes, Misiones, Salta; Bolivia: Santa Cruz; Brazil: Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul; Paraguay: Concepcion ( BOROWIEC & ŚWIĘTOJAŃSKA 2016).