Dorysthetus Blanchard, 1845: 218

Moore, Matthew Robert, Jameson, Mary Liz & Paucar-Cabrera, Aura, 2014, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in the anticheirine scarabs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Rutelini), Insecta Mundi 2014 (392), pp. 1-20 : 5

Dorysthetus Blanchard, 1845: 218

Dorysthetus Blanchard, 1845: 218 (genus description, no species placed in genus).

Dorysthetus Blanchard, 1851: 207 (four species placed in genus, no type species designated). Antichira Eschscholtz, 1818 [new synonym by Ohaus 1918: 51].

Dorysthetus Blanchard [new status by Soula 1998: 14, 70–71].

Type species. Macraspis chlorophana Burmeister, 1844: 358 , valid subsequent designation by Soula 1998: 71.

Remarks. The genus Dorysthetus includes about 30 species that are distributed in the Neotropics. This taxon has had a complicated taxonomic history. The name “ Dorysthaetus ” was proposed by Dejean (1833: 154), and the first species placed in the genus was “ D. rufipennis Dejean ”. This name (“ D. rufipennis Dejean ”) was never described and is a nomen nudum and unavailable. Despite this, however, “ D. rufipennis ” was synonymized with Macraspis bicolor (Olivier) by Burmeister (1844: 358). Blanchard (1845: 218) described the genus Dorysthetus , but he did not place any species in the genus. Blanchard (1851: 207) placed four species in Dorysthetus (including D. chlorophana [Burmeister]), thus marking the first time that validly described species were placed in the genus. Based on this, the authorship of Dorysthetus should be attributed to Blanchard (1845). Neither in 1845 nor in 1851 did Blanchard designate a type species for Dorysthetus . Ohaus treated Dorysthetus as a valid genus for a period of time (1905–1918) and eventually synonymized Dorysthetus with Anticheira ( Ohaus 1918: 51) .

The type species of the genera Anticheira and Dorysthetus share a complex history. Eschscholtz (1818) did not designate a type species for the new genus Anticheira . Scarabaeus virens Drury, 1773 was subsequently designated as the type species of Anticheira by Ohaus (1934b), but Eschscholtz (1818) did not originally include S. virens in the genus Anticheira . However, Cetonia smaragdula Fabricius, 1775 was originally included in Anticheira and this species was later treated as a synonym of S. virens ( Eschscholtz 1818; Ohaus 1898). ICZN Article 69.2.2 states, “If an author designates as type species a nominal species that was not originally included (or accepts another’s such designation) and if, but only if, at the same time he or she places that nominal species in synonymy with one and only one of the originally included species (as defined in Article 67.2), that act constitutes fixation of the latter species as type species of the nominal genus or subgenus.” Ohaus (1934b) simultaneously treated C. smaragdula (an originally included nominal species of Anticheira ) as a synonym of S. virens (which was not originally included in Anticheira but was subsequently designated as the type species of that genus). By applying ICZN Article 69.2.2 to this case, S. virens should be considered the type species of Anticheira .

Soula (1998: 71, 73) transferred Anticheira virens (Drury) into Dorysthetus and subsequently designated Cetonia capucina Fabricius, 1787 as the type of Anticheira . Soula (1998) also gave new valid generic-level status to Dorysthetus , which was previously treated as a synonym of Anticheira ( Ohaus 1918) . For nomenclatural stability it is necessary to transfer Anticheira virens (Drury) , new combination, back to Anticheira , because it is the senior synonym of the valid type species of that genus ( Ohaus 1934b). Two subspecies of Anticheira virens (Drury) need to be transferred into Anticheira from Dorysthetus : Anticheira virens bleuzeni (Soula) , new combination and Anticheira virens jossi (Soula) , new combination. The genus Anticheira now contains six valid species and subspecies, most of which have complicated taxonomic histories: