Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) anderseni Waterhouse, 1890

Deschodt, Christian M., Davis, Adrian L. V. & Scholtz, Clarke H., 2015, Status changes, new synonymies, key and descriptions of seven new species in the subgenus Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) Balthasar 1965 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), Zootaxa 3931 (4), pp. 505-527 : 524

Scarabaeus (Scarabaeolus) anderseni Waterhouse, 1890

Although the locality label with the type specimen ( Fig. 11 ) reads as “Lake Ngami” [20°30’S 22°45’E], the type locality was cited as “Lake Nyassa” [11°45’S 34°30’E] ( Waterhouse 1890). The reasons for this error are unknown to us. The type was collected by Karl Johan Andersson, a naturalist and explorer who never went near Lake Nyassa (Péringuey 1901) but who did undertake an expedition from Walvis Bay that reached Lake Ngami in 1853 (Andersson 1875). In a listing of collectors (Johnston 1903), we were unable to locate any information on the “Andersen” for whom the species was apparently named, neither to confirm his identity nor to determine if he sampled at Lake Nyassa [Lake Malawi].

Figures

FIGURE 11. Photographs of the type of S. (S.) anderseni with its labels.