Placophyllopus cothurnatus Blöte

Type species: Placophyllopus cothurnatus Blöte, 1938: 277 . NEW SYNONYMY .

Breddin (1903), described Meluchopetalops new genus with one new species, M. banausus, from Bolivia. Brailovsky (2009) added the second species M. nigrolineatus from Colombia, Suriname, and Venezuela, and added new distributional records to M. banausus (Bolivia and Peru). Blöte (1938) described and illustrated Placophyllopus with one new species, cothurnatus from Peru (Pachitea).

During the revision of the generic status of Acanthocephalini, the type specimens of M. banausus (DEIC) and P. cothurnatus (RMNH) were examined and compared, and not founded any significant differences in color or morphology. So, I am placing P. cothurnatus as a subjective junior synonym of M. banausus .