Catopocerus politus Motschulsky, 1870

Peck, Stewart B. & Cook, Joyce, 2011, Systematics, distributions and bionomics of the Catopocerini (eyeless soil fungivore beetles) of North America (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Catopocerinae) 3077, Zootaxa 3077 (1), pp. 1-118 : 13

Catopocerus politus Motschulsky, 1870

Catopocerus politus Motschulsky 1870: 351 ; Portevin 1922: 2 (synonomy with Catopocerus cryptophagoides Mannerheim , this is an error); Hatch 1928: 72.

Catopocerus ulkei Brown 1933: 215 . Holotype in CNCI. Type locality: District of Colombia. Peck 1975: 383. New synonymy.

Pinodytes cryptophagides Mannerheim (in part), Horn 1880: 249; 1892: 46; Hamilton 1894: 16; Blatchley 1910: 277. All misidentifications.

Type material. The type specimen was not found in the Motschulsky collection in the Zoology Museum, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation, by searches by SBP (2003) or by Dr. N. B. Nikitsky of the the Zoology Museum (2003, in litt.). Type locality: "North America". Specific locality and collector not mentioned. Type assumed to have been collected by Motschulsky himself (1870: 351; “Je l’ai découvert dans l’Amerique du Nord.”). He was never in Alaska or California to collect there (contrary to what was assumed in the past), but he was in the eastern United States (from southeastern Pennsylvania and the District of Colombia to Alabama) in 1853-1854 ( Motschulsky 1856, Bousquet 1997). Neotype here designated for the purpose of obtaining stability of application of the name, holotype female specimen in CNCI bearing the following labels: Catopocerus ulkei Brown, 1933 , no. 3538; and our red neotype label. Type locality: District of Columbia, USA.

Material examined. No new material has become available.

Distribution. United States. District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia; distributed over a maximum airline distance of 650 km.