Antherophagus ochraceus subnitidus Grouvelle, 1911

Kole, John Paul & Ivie, Michael A., 2023, New US State and County Records for Members of the Genus Antherophagus Dejean, 1821 (Coleoptera: Cryptophagidae) with Notes on Biology, The Coleopterists Bulletin 77 (3), pp. 307-318 : 315-316

Antherophagus ochraceus subnitidus Grouvelle, 1911 , incertae sedis

Antherophagus ochraceus subnitidus Grouvelle 1911: 100 ; Schenkling 1923: 52; Blackwelder 1945: 429; Arnett 1975: 4.

Remarks: The subspecific name A. o. subnitidus (originally listed as a “variété” by Grouvelle 1911: 100) is of uncertain status, and remains incertae sedis under the species name in which it was originally placed. The type has not been examined, and its location is uncertain. In the paper in which it was described, which seems to be the only place the name has been used beyond a few lists and catalogs (e. g., Arnett 1975: 4; Blackwelder 1945: 429; Schenkling 1923: 52), Grouvelle described two new species of Cryptophagidae from the Sierra de Tlalpujahua, near Toluca, State of México, Mexico, collected by Léon Diguet, and both series were deposited in the MNHN. He then discussed two specimens collected by Diguet in nests of Bombus ephippiatus Say, 1837 ( Hymenoptera : Apidae ) that he considered to be A. ochraceus , but did not mention a locality nor a repository for them. He stated that they differ from typical A. ochraceus in being shorter, more rounded, the punctation of the pronotum and elytra being finer and less dense, having a stronger carina at the base of the pronotum, and, by implication, being less setose than the typical form, and gave them the name A. o. subnitidus.

If we presume that these specimens are from the Toluca area of Mexico, as are the other Diguet Mexican specimens (but for which there is no evidence), which fits with the range of the host bee, the description and range would match A. ruficornis , which is known from the same general area of Mexico (Mexico City, reported herein). This is confounded by the fact that eight years later Grouvelle named A. ruficornis without reference to this subspecies, with which he was presumably familiar. It would be simple to synonymize them, but it would change the recognized 1919 name A. ruficornis to the previously unused senior name without reference to the type. In recognition of this uncertainty and threat to stability, we leave the 1911 name incertae sedis until the types can be located and studied. If indeed these two names prove to be synonyms, it would provide the first host association for the Mexican species.