Dascillus Latreille, 1797

Johnston, M. Andrew & Gimmel, Matthew L., 2020, Review of North American Dascillidae (Coleoptera: Dascilloidea), with Descriptions of Dramatic Female Wing Reduction, The Coleopterists Bulletin 74 (4), pp. 731-757 : 744

Dascillus Latreille, 1797

Dascillus Latreille 1797: 43 . Type species: Chrysomela cervina Linnaeus, by subsequent monotypy ( Latreille 1802: 98) ( ICZN 1999: Art. 69.3).

Atopa Paykull 1799: 116 . Type species: Chrysomela cervina Linnaeus, by monotypy; synonymized with Dascillus by Latreille (1802: 99).

Dascyllus : LeConte 1859b: 283 [unavailable name, incorrect subsequent spelling ( ICZN 1999: Art. 33.3)].

Notes. This genus contains approximately 30 additional species distributed in the Old World ( Fang et al. 2020; Jin et al. 2013b, 2016, 2017; Terzani et al. 2017; Wang et al. 2019a, b), where the type species, Dascillus cervinus (Linnaeus, 1758), occurs. The genus can only be diagnosed in its present constitution using a combination of characters ( Jin et al. 2013b). Consequently, monophyly of the genus is an open question, particularly with regard to the North American species, representatives of which were not considered in detail in the most comprehensive modern treatment of Jin et al. (2013b). Larval evidence is consistent with the view that the North American species is an isolated lineage (Grebennikov and Scholtz 2003). It is worth noting that Jin et al. (2013b: 559) credited the fixation of Chrysomela cervina as the type species of Dascillus to the listing found in Thomson (1859: 107); however, Latreille (1802: 98) already established this as the type species according to subsequent monotypy (see ICZN 1999: Art. 69.3). Therefore, the synonymy of Atopa proposed by Latreille (1802: 99) is solidified by objective synonymy of the two genera, since they share the same type species.