Lagocheirus araneiformis parvulus Casey, 1913

Santos-Silva, Antonio, Roie, Martijn Van & Jocqué, Merlijn, 2021, Longhorned woodboring beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) from Cusuco National Park, Honduras: new species, new records, and revalidation, European Journal of Taxonomy 764, pp. 37-61 : 42-43

Lagocheirus araneiformis parvulus Casey, 1913 revalidated

Figs 11–12

Cerambyx ypsilon Voet, 1778 ?: 11 (nom. nud.).

Lagochirus parvulus Casey, 1913: 304 .

Lagocheirus stroheckeri granulatus Dillon, 1956: 139 .

Material examined

HONDURAS • 2 ♀♀; Cortés, Cusuco National Park, Santa Thomas , transect 2; 20 Jul. 2015; beginning of night, ‘ disturbed forest’; L. Geeraert and M. Jocqué leg.; RBINS .

Remarks

Voet (1778?) described Cerambyx ypsilon ( Fig. 11 ) from “ America septentrionali”.According to Santos- Silva et al. (2010) on Polyrhaphis spinosa (Drury, 1773) (translated from Portuguese): “…it is worth noting that this work was successively added to new parts from 1766 onward and, contrary to what appears in almost all the catalogs on Cerambycidae , many species are before 1778 and were already published in 1776 ( Beckmann 1776). Sherborn (1902) was probably the first to report that Voet’s work (op. cit.) did not follow the binominal system … Anyway, in relation to Polyrhaphis spinosa , the name used by Voet (op. cit.), only appeared after 1776 because, according to Beckmann (op. cit.), in that year the work only included 14 species in Cerambyx and eight pages ( Cerambyx horridus was published on page 15, as species number 59). With the death of Johannes Eusebius Voet, in 1778, the work was unfinished, but in 1796 volume II, in which Cerambyx was addressed, already had 24 pages and 24 prints ( Dryander & Banks 1796). As the work did not undergo additions between 1778 (Voet’s passing) and 1804 [British Museum (Natural History) 1915], Voet had undoubtedly already included Cerambyx horridus [= Polyrhaphis spinosa ] in his work.” The same reasoning can be used regarding Cerambyx ypsilon , which was published on page 11 (Latin part). Nevertheless, the names published by Voet (1766 – 1806) cannot be considered as nomenclaturally available, as has been indicated by some authors, for example, Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal (1999), Santos-Silva et al. (2010), and Krell (2012).

Schönherr (1817) synonymized Cerambyx ypsilon with Cerambyx araneiformis Linnaeus, 1767 . Dillon (1956) described Lagocheirus stroheckeri granulatus based on males and females from the USA (Texas), and Linsley & Chemsak (1995) synonymized it with L. araneiformis ypsilon . Dillon (1957) considered C. ypsilon as a subspecies of Lagocheirus araneiformis , without comment about the synonymy proposed by Schönherr (1817), which is also present in Aurivillius (1922), and Blackwelder (1946). In the same work, Dillon (1957) synonymized L. parvulus with L. araneiformis ypsilon , which was described by Casey (1913) based on a single male from Panama. Currently, the species is known as Lagocheirus araneiformis ypsilon , with L. parvulus , and L. stroheckeri granulatus as junior synonyms.

It is not possible to be sure whether Cerambyx ypsilon is really synonymous with Lagocheirus parvulus Casey, 1913 (generic name published as Lagochirus , attributed to Erichson (1847), but Lagocheirus is by Dejean (1835)). This is because the short description and drawing in Voet (1778?) do not allow confirmation. Unfortunately, Voet’s collection is probably lost; according to Santos-Silva et al. (2010) discussing Polyrhaphis armiger ( Schönherr, 1817) (translated from Portuguese): “According to British Museum (Natural History) (1915), the stock from Johannes Eusebius Voet was acquired by Bakhuysen in 1804. We do not know whether Voet’s insect collection was part of the material acquired by G. Bakhuysen, but according to Reichard (1827), this insect collection remained in La Haye: “La Haye. Cette ville, qui n’a ni murs ni portes, est entourée d’un large fossé sur lequel on a pratiqué des ponts-levis. Elle surpasse néanmoins plusieurs villes célèbres par la magnificence de ses bâtimens et ses autres ornemens. Curiosités: … les cabinets d’insectes de MM. Voet et Meuschen, le cabinet de conquillages de M. Lyonnet”… [The Hague. This city, which has neither walls nor gates, is surrounded by a wide moat over which drawbridges have been made. It nevertheless surpasses several famous cities by the magnificence of its buildings and its other ornaments. Curiosities: … the insect cabinets of Voet and Meuschen, the cabinet of shells of Mr. Lyonnet …].” However, it is not within the scope of this work to verify previously proposed synonymies, but only to solve the problem related to the correct name of the species/ subspecies. As Lagocheirus parvulus is the oldest available name, it is used instead of “ ypsilon ”. Accordingly, the name of the subspecies is L. araneiformis parvulus .

The specimens from Honduras examined by us ( Fig. 12 ) agree well with several specimens identified as L. araneiformis ypsilon in MZSP collection. However, comparing the original description of L. stroheckeri Dillon, 1956 (currently, L. araneiformis stroheckeri ), as well as photographs of the holotype and allotype of this species with the specimens usually identified as L. a. ypsilon , the only reliable difference we have found is the more angulate humerus in L. stroheckeri . This suggests that the current subspecies of L. araneiformis need a full revision because at least part of them may be just variations of the same taxon (especially L. stroheckeri , which is probably synonymous with L. parvulus ).

Figures

Figs 11–12. Lagocheirus araneiformis parvulus Casey, 1913. 11. Cerambyx ypsilon from Voet (1778?). 12. Female from Honduras (RBINS). Dorsal habitus. Scale bar = 5.0 mm.