Onthophagus gracilipes Boucomont, 1914

Tarasov, Sergey I., 2010, Seven new synonyms within the genus Onthophagus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from the Oriental Region, Zootaxa 2566, pp. 45-48 : 46

Onthophagus gracilipes Boucomont, 1914

Onthophagus gracilipes Boucomont, 1914: 219 (type locality: Carin Cheba [ Myanmar]) Onthophagus (Digithonthophagus) laosensis Frey, 1971: 95 syn.n. (type locality: Laos, Sala Nam Chan Chin)

Type material examined. Lectotype of O. gracilipes ( MNHN) here designated, male bearing the following labels:

1. White: Carin Cheba [printed] 500–1000m [handwritten] L. Fea [printed] XII-87 [handwritten]

2. White, printed: Mus. Civ. Genova

3. White, printed: MUSÉUM PARIS 1936 COLL. BOUCOMONT

4. Red, printed: Typus

5. White: Boucomont det. 191 [printed] 4 onthoph. gracilipes n.sp. ♂

6. Orange printed: Lectotypus Onthophagus gracilipes Boucomont, 1914 S. Tarasov design. 2009

Also, 1Ψ paralectotype of O. gracilipes ( MNHN), bearing labels identical to lectotype with the exception of the first label “Carin Ghecu 1300–1400m L. Fea II–III.88 ”. The lectotype is designated in order to preserve the stability of zoological nomenclature according to the article 74.7 ( ICZN 1999).

Holotype of O. laosensis (NHB), female bearing the following labels:

1. White, handwritten: Laos: Sala Nam Chan Chin

2. White printed: VITALIS 1919–1920

3. White: Onthophagus (Digitonthophagus) n.sp. Ψ [handwritten] Dr. V. Balthasar det. [handwritten] 60. [printed]

4. Red, printed: TYPE

5. White: TYPE Ψ [handwritten] Onthophagus [printed] Digitonthophagus laosensis n.sp. [handwritten] det.G.Frey, 196 [printed]

6. Orange: HOLOTYPE Onthophagus laosensis Frey, 1971 [handwritten] S. Tarasov det. 2009 [printed]

7. White: Onthophagus gracilipes Bouc. [handwritten] S. Tarasov det. 2009 [printed]

Remarks. It seems that Frey (1971) did not thoroughly examine the description of O. gracilipes and did not see the type series of the former. In the original description he compares O. laosensis with O. troniceki Balthasar, 1933 . The type series of Frey’s O. laosensis includes only a female holotype, however that was not an obstacle for identification because the type series of O. gracilipes includes a female. I synonymize these two names because the type series of O. laosensis and O. parvidens are conspecific based on their same principle diagnostic character states of external morphology: the unique color pattern of the elytra and body, the unique groundplan of head, and the identical pattern of pronotum punctation. Additionally I have examined large material of O. gracilipes from other localities in Indochina and these also match the two series of both names in the characters detailed above.