Mordella viridescens Costa, 1859: 18–19

Selnekovič, Dávid & Improta, Roberta, 2020, The type material of Mordellidae described by Achille Costa (Coleoptera Tenebrionoidea), Zootaxa 4803 (1), pp. 42-50 : 49

Mordella viridescens Costa, 1859: 18–19

( Fig. 13 )

Type locality. “Terra d’Otranto” [includes present provinces of Taranto, Brindisi and Lecce ( Pantaleoni 2005)], Italy .

Material examined. Lectotype by present designation ( Fig. 13 ), male, MZFN: new box, labelled: “ Mordella viridescens , m. [original Costa’s label] | LECTOTYPE Mordella viridescens Costa, 1854 D. Selnekovič des. 2019 [red label]”; pinned in metacoxae; densely covered in dirt.

Current status. Valid species.

Remarks. Mordella viridescens appears in the literature with the incorrect year of description, either 1854 or 1857. The species was described on pages 18–19 of the supplements to “ Fauna del Regno di Napoli ” (Costa 1859), published on 1 October 1859 according to Bosquet (2016). It may be possible that the lectotype is conspecific with M. aculeata Linnaeus, 1758 but as it is covered in dirt, we were not able to examine the diagnostic characters.

Figures

FIGURES 1–13. Lectotype labels. 1, Tomoxia bucephala Costa, 1854. 2, Mordella coronata Costa, 1854. 3, Mordella inter- rupta Costa, 1854. 4, Mordella basalis Costa, 1854. 5, Mordella brevicauda Costa, 1854. 6, Mordella perspicillata Costa, 1854. 7, Mordellistena stricta Costa, 1854. 8, Mordellistena purpurascens Costa, 1854. 9, Mordellistena picipes Costa, 1854. 10, Mordellistena confinis Costa, 1854. 11, Mordellistena minima Costa, 1854. 12, Natirrica meridionalis Costa, 1854. 13, Mordella viridescens Costa, 1859.