Malachius rubidus Erichson, 1840

Švihla, Vladimír & Hájek, Jiří, 2009, Taxonomic changes in Eastern Mediterranean Malachius (Coleoptera: Malachiidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (1), pp. 217-224 : 220-221

Malachius rubidus Erichson, 1840

Malachius rubidus Erichson, 1840: 70 . Type localities: Berlin, Oesterreich [= Austria], Ungarn [= Hungary].

Malachius carnifex Erichson, 1840: 69 , syn. nov. Type locality: ‘Umgegend von Constantinopel’ [= environs of Istanbul].

Malachius fallax Strübing, 1854: 198 (synonymised by ABEILLE DE PERRIN 1891). Type locality: Posen [= Germany, Thüringen, Posen].

Malachius rubidus var. mazarakii Baeckman, 1903: 92 (synonymised by MAYOR 2007). Type locality: ‘St. Petersburger Gouvernement’ [= Russia, Sankt Petersburg region].

Malachius rubidus var. sublateralis Pic, 1912: 89 (synonymised by MAYOR 2007). Type locality: ‘ Autriche, environs de Wien’ [= Austria, environs of Wien].

Malachius rubidus var. valesiacus Pic, 1929:1 (synonymised by MAYOR 2007). Type locality:‘Sierre, dans le Valais’ [= Switzerland, Valais, Sierre].

Type material. Malachius rubidus : LECTOTYPE: J ( ZMHB) by present designation, labelled: ‘32225 [white label,

printed] // Typus [red label, printed] // Germania / Nr. 32225 [white label, handwritten] // Zool. Mus. / Berlin [white label, printed] // Hist.-Coll. ( Coleoptera ) / Nr. 33225 / Malachius rubidus Er. x / German. / Zool. Mus. Berlin

[white, black-bordered label, printed]’. PARALECTOTYPES: 6 ♀♀, ‘32225 [white label, printed] // Typus [red label,

printed] // Germania / Nr. 32225 [white label, handwritten] // Zool. Mus. / Berlin [white label, printed] // Hist.-Coll.

( Coleoptera ) / Nr. 33224 / Malachius rubidus Er. x / German. / Zool. Mus. Berlin [white, black-bordered label,

printed]’ ( ZMHB).

Malachius carnifex : LECTOTYPE: ♀ ( ZMHB) by present designation, labelled: ‘32224 [white label, printed] // Typus [red label, printed] // Const.[antinopel] Schüpp.[el] [white label, handwritten] // Zool. Mus. / Berlin [white label, printed] // Hist.-Coll. ( Coleoptera ) / Nr. 33224 / Malachius carnifex Er. x / Constantinop., Schüppel / Zool. Mus. Berlin [white, black-bordered label, printed] // SYNTYPUS / Malachius / carnifex Erichson, 1840 / labelled by MNHUB 2008 [red label, printed]’. PARALECTOTYPE: 1 ♀, ‘Constantinopel / Schüpp.[el] / Nr. 32224 [white label, handwritten] // Typus [red label, printed] // Hist.-Coll. ( Coleoptera ) / Nr. 33224 / Malachius carnifex Er. x, Constantinop., Schüppel / Zool. Mus. Berlin [white, black-bordered label, printed] // SYNTYPUS / Malachius / carnifex Erichson, 1840 / labelled by MNHUB 2008 [red label, printed]’ ( ZMHB). The number of syntypes is unknown. As available taxonomic works misinterpreted M. rubidus and M. carnifex and do not allow their unambiguous identification, we designate lectotypes of both species to fix their identity.

Additional material examined. SERBIA: Tara National Park , 17.-23.v.2006, L. Purchart lgt., 1 J ; 6.vii.1958, J. Mařan & L. Hoberlandt lgt., 1 ♀. MONTENEGRO: Žabljak – Podgorica , 1300 m a.s.l., 30.vi.1958, J. Mařan & L. Hoberlandt lgt., 2 ♀♀. Further specimens from France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Macedonia and Greece (all NMPC) .

Comments on classification. Malachius rubidus is a widespread species occurring in central and southern Europe. Type specimens of M. carnifex do not differ from female type specimens of M. rubidus , as well as from other specimens at our disposal, in any essential characters (e.g. dark brown epimera of mesothorax and dark frons and labrum) and there is no doubt about their synonymy. For the sake of stability of nomenclature, we prefer to preserve the name M. rubidus , many times used in the literature on Central European fauna, instead of M. carnifex . Moreover, the concept of M. carnifex of later authors is different and would be misleading (see below).

Distribution. Central and south-eastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland. MAYOR (2007) reports it also from the Asian part of Turkey and Syria, but we are not aware of any specimens from either country. New species for Serbia and Montenegro.