Paragus coadunatus Rondani, 1847

Sforzi, Alessandra & Sommaggio, Daniele, 2021, Catalog of the Diptera types described by Camillo Rondani, Zootaxa 4989 (1), pp. 1-438 : 261

Paragus coadunatus Rondani, 1847

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: 1847d: 346.

TYPE LOCALITY: “ Österreich [ Austria]” and “ südliches Frankreich [South France]” ( Meigen 1822: 182) [type localities of Paragus haemorrhous Meigen ] .

TYPE MATERIAL: see Remarks.

CURRENT STATUS: valid species ( Peck 1988: 78); Paragus coadunatus Rondani, 1847 is a junior synonym of Paragus haemorrhous Meigen, 1822 ( Evenhuis & Pape 2020); while Paragus coadunatus sensu Goeldlin de Tiefenau (1976: 85) is the same as Paragus mundus Wollaston, 1858 (this work). See Remarks.

REMARKS: Rondani (1847d: 346) considered the males of Paragus haemorrhous Meigen 1822 and the females of Paragus obscurus Meigen 1822 as the same species but instead of applying the Principle of Priority, incorrectly proposed the new species name Paragus coadunatus . In his Syrphidae Prodromus Rondani (1857: 190) used the name Paragus coadunatus to combine Paragus haemorrhous , Paragus obscurus , Paragus aeneus Meigen, 1822 , Paragus trianguliferus Zetterstedt, 1838 and Paragus tibialis Zetterstedt, 1838 . Rondani (1877a: 60) included Paragus coadunatus as a valid species in a list of pest insects and their natural enemies, explicitly referring to its description in the Prodromus . Paragus coadunatus was considered as a synonym of Paragus tibialis by Schiner (1864: 111), Verrall (1901: 20), Bezzi & Stein (1907: 3), Kertész (1910: 4), Efflatoun (1922: 23) and Sack (1929: 137), as a variety of Paragus tibialis by Schiner (1868: 369), and as a valid species by Bezzi (1892: 87, 1894: 278). The type material for Paragus coadunatus will be the same as for the name it was proposed to replace, i. e., Paragus haemorrhous . The holotype of this latter species is preserved in the MNHN (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle 2020).

Under the name Paragus coadunatus , there are six males and four females in the MZUF (two males are from Malta), one male and one female in the MSNC, and one male and one female (all are non-types) in the MZUB. Goeldlin de Tiefenau (1976: 85) incorrectly considered the MZUF specimens as the types of Paragus coadunatus and concluded that the two specimens from Malta differed from all the other known species of Paragus Latreille, 1804 and incorrectly, reinstated Paragus coadunatus as a valid species. Recent literature ( Peck 1988: 78, Belcari et al. 1995a: 10, Vujić et al. 1998: 70, Rojo et al. 2006, Vujić et al. 2008: 535) applies the name Paragus coadunatus to the taxon concept described by Goeldlin de Tiefenau (1976).

Wollaston (1858: 115) described Paragus mundus from specimens collected in Madeira and Porto Santo islands but his description is too short to distinguish it from the other species of the genus. Osten-Sacken (1884: 33), Kertész (1910: 5) and Bezzi & Stein (1907: 3) considered this nominal species as valid, Becker (1908: 193) considered it as a junior synonym of Paragus tibialis ( Fallén, 1817) and Peck (1988: 83) as a doubtful species of Paragus . Smit et al. (2004: 60) supposed that Paragus mundus is a junior synonym of Paragus coadunatus sensu Goeldlin de Tiefenau (1976) because all the Paragus specimens collected in Madeira island belong to this nominal species ( Gomes & Báez 1990, Smit et al. 1999). We examined the terminalia of the types for P. mundus in the NHMUK (five males and four females) and confirmed that Paragus coadunatus Rondani sensu Goeldlin de Tiefenau (1976) is the same taxon as Paragus mundus . Therefore, we propose Paragus mundus as a valid name for Paragus coadunatus sensu Goeldlin de Tiefenau (1976) and subsequent authors (e.g. Belcari et al. 1995a: 10, Vujić et al. 1998: 70, Rojo et al. 2006, Vujić et al. 2008: 535, Burgio et al. 2015: 157). In order to promote nomenclatural stability, we here designate a lectotype male for Paragus mundus Wollaston, 1858 . The type series preserved in the NHMUK consists of five males and four females: 1 ♂, lectotype (in good condition, glued to a cardboard stage) ( NHMUK: general collection): syntype / Madeira: T.V. Wollaston B.N. 1855–7 / lectotype Sforzi & Sommaggio des. 2017 ; 3 ♂♂, paralectotypes (all glued to a cardboard; one with terminalia dissected and stored in glycerine in a microvial pinned below the abdomen; the other two missing antenna, one missing right mid-leg) ( NHMUK: general collection): syntype / Madeira: T.V. Wollaston B.N. 1855–7 / paralectotype Sforzi & Sommaggio des., 2017 ; 1 ♂, paralectotype (double-mounted: fastened by a micro pin to a polyethylene foam block on a standard insect pin; missing antenna and hind left-leg; with terminalia dissected and stored in glycerine in a microvial pinned below the abdomen and missing left hind-leg) ( NHMUK: general collection): syntype / Madeira: T.V. Wollaston B.N. 1855–7 / paralectotype Sforzi & Sommaggio des., 2017 ; 3 ♀♀, paralectotypes (one abdomen missing) ( NHMUK: general collection): syntype / Madeira: T.V. Wollaston B.N. 1855–7 / paralectotype Sforzi & Sommaggio des., 2017 ; 1 ♀, paralectotype (missing antenna, hind leftleg, abdomen partially eaten by dermestids) ( NHMUK: general collection): syntype / Madeira: T.V. Wollaston B.N. 1855–7 / paralectotype Sforzi & Sommaggio des., 2017 / Paragus mundus Wollaston .