Phanaeus vicinus var. argentinus Martínez, 1944 : 187

Maldaner, Maria E., Cupello, Mario, Ferreira, Daniela C. & Vaz-De-Mello, Fernando Z., 2017, Type specimens and names assigned to Coprophanaeus (Megaphanaeus) d’Olsoufieff, 1924, the largest New World dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Phanaeini), Zootaxa 4272 (1), pp. 83-102 : 98

Phanaeus vicinus var. argentinus Martínez, 1944: 187 . Available name.

Type specimen: Holotype: male (‘ Argentina / Prov. / La Rioja’, ‘ Phanaus (Meg.) / vicinus . var. / argentinus / n. / ♂ / A.Martinez-det.19 44 ’ ‘ HOLOTIPO ♂ ’ ‘MACN-En 845’ ‘ FICHADO ’), genital capsule dissected and glued to a paper card, MACN ( Figure 6 C-D).

Type locality: Argentina: La Rioja.

Nomenclatural history: The name ‘ argentinus ’ was used by Martínez (1944) in the description of an Argentinian variety of Phanaeus vicinus . According to Article 45.6.4 of the Code, species-group names published before 1961 in the category of variety are deemed to be subspecific (in opposition of being infrasubspecific) and, hence, available. In his catalogue of the Argentinian dung beetles, Martínez (1959) listed ‘ var. argentinus ’ among the references of P. vicinus in a dubious way regarding whether he was considering them as synonyms. In the same way, Martínez & Pereira (1967) did not explicitly discuss the validity of ‘ var. argentinus ’, but, as they synonymized P. vicinus and P. bonariensis listing ‘ var. argentinus ’ among the references to the latter name, it is clear that they considered these three names as referring to a single species taxon. The holotype of Phanaeus vicinus argentinus , the only specimen on which Martínez (1944) based his description, was found by us in the MACN ( Figure 6 C).

Figures

FIGURE 6. (A – B) Phanaeus vicinus holotype and labels. (C-D) Phanaeus vicinus var. argentinus holotype and labels.