Malthinus obscurus Grimmer, 1841

Fanti, Fabrizio, 2018, On the three species of Cantharidae described by Grimmer, Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 18 (2), pp. 135-137 : 136

Malthinus obscurus Grimmer, 1841

Malthinus obscurus Grimmer, 1841: 36 (15 as nomen nudum). Locus typicus: “ Steiermark ”. Nomen dubium.

Grimmer 1846: 22, 88; Kelch 1846: 23 (attributed to Ullrich); Bach 1852: 74 (as Malthinus obscurus Grimmer in litt.); Sherborn 1922 -32: 4490; Burakowski et al. 1985: 312 (as species dubia).

COMMENTS AND NOTE. Meuth (1913) informs us that Grimmer collected in a circle of 2 x 2 square miles around Graz in Austria. Then, the species was reported by Kelch (1846) for Upper Silesia - area of Racibórz, and again for Silesia by Bach (1852). The small size and coloration make one think of a Malthodes , and therefore indeterminable without seeing the type or having a diagnosis on male terminalia. Bach (1852) redescribes the species on material determined by Grimmer himself, but unfortunately also his collection, once conserved at the Zoological Museum Marburg / Philipps-University Marburg, is now completely untraceable ( Horn et al. 1990; Bousquet 2016; Groll 2017; Lothar Beck personal communication). Therefore, the status of nomen dubium attributed by Burakowski et al. (1985), is here confirmed.