Drusilla (Drusilla) erichsoni ( PEYRON, 1857 )

Assing, Volker, 2016, On some Lomechusini of the Palaearctic and Oriental regions (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 66 (1), pp. 13-111 : 77

Drusilla (Drusilla) erichsoni ( PEYRON, 1857)

Myrmedonia erichsoni PEYRON, 1857: 635 f.

Myrmedonia aptera PEYRON, 1858: 417 ; syn. nov.

Comment: HLAVÁČ et al. (2011) list Drusilla erichsoni ( PEYRON, 1857) as a species incertae sedis and D. aptera ( PEYRON, 1858) as a “nomen dubium?”. As can be inferred from an earlier revision of the West Palaearctic species of Drusilla , D. erichsoni undoubtedly belongs to the nominal subgenus ( ASSING 2005b).

Drusilla erichsoni was originally described based on material from the environs of Montpellier; the species is endemic to southeastern France ( ASSING 2005b). In the original description of D. aptera, PEYRON (1858) states that the species is “assez commune” in the environs of “Tarsous” (southern Anatolia) and that he also saw one male from “Montpellier, Près de port Juvénal”. Thus, there is no doubt that the description of D. aptera refers to at least two species. The whereabouts of Peyron´s type material is unknown ( ASSING 2005b). In order to dispose of the doubtful name D. aptera , the male from the environs of Montpellier, where D. erichsoni is the only species matching the original description, is designated as the lectotype and D. aptera is placed in synonymy with D. erichsoni .