Larinus centaurii ( Olivier, 1807 )

Gültekin, Levent & Perrin, Hélène, 2011, Study of a part of the A. G. Olivier Lixini collection (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): lectotype designations, new synonymies and nomenclatural acts, Zootaxa 2943, pp. 45-57 : 46-48

Larinus centaurii ( Olivier, 1807)

Figs. 1–2 , 17 .

Lixus centaurii Olivier, 1807: 278 ; pl. 21, fig. 276.

Original description. " L. longirostris , ovatus, niger, cinereo pubescens, rostro tenui cylindrico. Corpus ovatum, convexum, nigrum, cinereo pubescens. Rostrum tenue, vix incurvum, cylindricum, longitudine thoracis nec sulcatum neque carinatum. Thorax punctatus dorso linea brevi lateribusque obsolete cinereis. Elytra striatopunctata. Femora inermia".

Type locality. “Amadan en Perse”.

Types. In the general collection of MNHN, under the name of “ L. centaurii Olivier, Perse, M. Olivier ” written on yellow paper, a single male, pinned through the right elytron and in good condition, bears the labels “ L. centaurii, Perse, Olivier ” handwritten on a round paper, “MUSEUM PARIS, Perse, OLIVIER 1834” partly printed. The specimen matches both description and type locality, however Olivier (1807) did not mention on how many specimens the description was based. Accordingly we have designated it as the lectotype with: “ LECTOTYPUS 3, Lixus centaurii Olivier, Gültekin & Perrin des. 2010” and added a white label with “ Larinus centaurii (Olivier) , Gültekin det. 2010”.

Remarks. Larinus centaurii is one of most confused, misspelled and misidentified species with Larinus grisescens Gyllenhal, 1835 . The first misspelling “ centaurei ” was by Chevrolat (1866: 106). Gemminger & Harold (1871: 2408) used another misspelling “ centaureae ” and Capiomont (1874: 322), Petri (1907: 126), and Winkler (1932: 1506) repeated the same misspelling. A third misspelling, “ centaurae ”, was made by Angelov (1978: 159). A fourth subsequent misspelling “ centaurea ” was used by Fremuth (1982: 245) and Lodos et al. (1978: 75). All above subsequent alternative spellings are here rejected. The valid name is Larinus centaurii ( Olivier, 1807) as truly spelled by Schoenherr (1835: 139) and Gültekin (2006).

Capiomont (1874) stated that the types of L. centaurii (Olivier) were in the Chevrolat collection (SMNH), and gave short morphological remarks above these specimens. The senior author of this note visited the SMNH in 2010, and examined the specimens under the name “ Larinus centaurei Oliv., 83, 4, p. 378, f 21, f. 296, seti. 199, Persia, Bagdad” in the Chevrolat collection. There were six specimens representing two different species: a female of L. grisescens bearing the label “ Syria ”, a teneral male of the true L. centaurii labelled “Chev. centaurea (Ol.)", a male of L. grisescens with the labels “adin”, “ Larinus tenuicorpus Chev., longirostris Sch. III. P. 124, var. major ”, a male and a female of L. grisescens labelled “ Syria ”, a female of L. grisescens with the label “Chev. centaurei, bounivieri Stier.”. As seen above, none of these specimens is typical. Thus Capiomont (1874) clearly misidentified the true L. centaurii with Larinus grisescens Gyllenhal, 1835 , and his redescription mislead all subsequent authors.

In the Schoenherr collection at SMNH, under the name “ Ungulatus , Schh.”, there is a female of Larinus centaurii , bearing the handwritten label “Elisabethgrad, D. Steven”, (Elisabethgrad is now Kirovohrad in Ukraine). This sample is a syntype because Gyllenhal (1835) included it in his description mentioning it as the probable other sex of the other(s) type specimen(s), which are said to be in the Faldermann collection (Gyllenhal, 1835: 93). Having the Faldermann collection split among several institutes and museums such as the Zoological Institute of Kiev, the Zoological Institute of St. Petersburg and the Zoological Museum of Moscow ( Horn et al. 1990), the other types could not be traced, and based on the above female syntype the following new synonymy become evident: Larinus centaurii ( Olivier, 1807) [= L. ungulatus Gyllenhal, 1835 , syn. nov.].

Capiomont (1874) also gave a short redescription of Larinus ungulatus Gyllenhal, 1835 and placed the name of L. centaureae Becker, 1864 under synonymy of L. ungulatus . This is correct because Becker (1864: 483) used the name of Larinus centaureae without giving a description of it, so this is evidently a nomen nudum. Petri (1907), considering the Capiomont L. ungulatus as different from the species described under this name by Gyllenhal, and from the true L. centaurii , replaced L. ungulatus sensu Capiomont with L. beckeri , but this replacement name is unnecessary because Capiomont (1874) quoted Schoenherr (1835) writing “ Larinus ungulatus Gyll. in Sch., 133” in his redescription. Thus, another new synonymy must be established: Larinus centaurii ( Olivier, 1807) [= L. centaureae Becker, 1864 nom. nud. = L. beckeri Petri, 1907 , syn. nov.].

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Lectotypes. 1 – 2, Larinus centaurii (Olivier, 1807); 3 – 4, Larinus cuniculus (Olivier, 1807).

FIGURES 17 – 20. Labels of lectotypes. 17. Larinus centaurii (Olivier, 1807); 18. Larinus cuniculus (Olivier, 1807); 19. Larinus gravidus (Olivier, 1807); 20. Larinus carthami (Olivier, 1807).