Korynetes Herbst, 1792

Bartlett, Justin S., 2023, Clarification of ambiguous genus records for Australian Cleridae (Coleoptera: Cleroidea), Zootaxa 5383 (3), pp. 375-382 : 379

Genus Korynetes Herbst

Korynetes abdominalis (Fabricius) : Schenkling (1906: 319) recorded this Indian species from Australia. Two specimens determined by Schenkling to be K. abdominalis , one labelled ‘Nov Holl., Coll. Kraatz’, the other ‘Austral. Mus. Hambg., Coll. Schenkling’, were located by the author in SDEI, where Schenkling’s collection resides. These specimens, likely to be those on which Schenkling’s published record was based, are in fact Thallis janthina Erichson ( Erotylidae : Erotylinae : Dacnini ), an Australian erotylid ( Fig. 3 ).

Distribution: India ( Corporaal 1950a).

Status: Korynetes abdominalis is non-native and absent in Australia.

Korynetes coeruleus (De Geer) : Corynetes unicolor Chevrolat, 1876 ( Fig. 4 ), described from ‘Australie’, was synonymised with Korynetes coeruleus (De Geer) by Schenkling (1903b: 16). The Australian type locality is likely erroneous because no other Australian specimens of K. coeruleus are known, plus the likelihood of the only known detected or intercepted specimen ending up in a European museum must be low. This species was listed as cosmopolitan by Schenkling (1903a: 118), and only tentatively considered cosmopolitan by Corporaal (1950a: 308). No subsequently collected specimens from Australia were found in any Australian or European institutional collection visited by the author (see Table 1 ).

Distribution: Northern and southern Europe, Russia, Japan, Taiwan ( Löbl et al. 2007); possibly also Africa (see notes on Korynetes in Opitz 2011).

Status: Korynetes caeruleus is non-native and absent in Australia.

Korynetes duboulayi (Pic) : Lebasiella duboulayi Pic, 1950 , described from a specimen labelled ‘Swan River, Du Boulay’ (MNHN) ( Fig. 5 ), was transferred to Korynetes by Corporaal (1950b: 61), before being synonymised with the Chilean species Solervicensia ovata (Spinola) by Solervicens (2001) who speculated that the type was labelled ‘Swan River’ in error.

Status: See Solervicensia ovata below.

Korynetes nigrosignatus Pic , new synonym: Type material of this species, described by Pic (1941) from ‘Australie’, was not located during two separate visits by the author to the MNHN, Paris, where the majority of Maurice Pic’s type material resides. Pic’s (1941) statement “Peut se placer pres de ovatus Spinola” (placed near ovata Spinola ), plus his description of K. nigrosignatus , which conforms very well to a couple of the known forms of S. ovata (see Solervicens 2001: fig. 54, forms 1 and 29), and his subsequent description of Lebasiella duboulayi , a known synonym of Solervicensia ovata (see above), however, provide strong reason to consider K. nigrosignatus conspecific with S. ovata . I therefore formally propose synonymy of Korynetes nigrosignatus Pic, 1941 new synonym with Solervicensia ovata ( Spinola, 1849) .

Status: See Solervicensia ovata below.

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. (1) Syntype specimen of Chalciclerus pantomelas Boisduval (MNHN); (2) specimen of Balcus violaceus (Fabricius) erroneously labelled as a type specimen of Chalciclerus pantomelas Boisduval (MNHN); (3) specimen of Thallis janthina Erichson (Erotylidae) (SDEI) misidentified by Sigmund Schenkling as Korynetes abdominalis (Fabricius); (4) syntype specimen of Corynetes unicolor Chevrolat, 1876 (MNHN), a synonym of Korynetes coeruleus (De Geer); (5) syntype specimen of Labasiella duboulayi Pic, 1950 (MNHN), a synonym of Solervicensia ovata (Spinola); (6) syntype specimen of Elasmocerus picticollis Blackburn, 1901 (NHML), a synonym of Monophylla terminata (Say).