Plastocerus Schaum, 1852

Hájek, Jiří, Ivie, Michael A. & Lawrence, John F., 2020, Binhon atrum Pic - a junior synonym of Plastocerus thoracicus, with nomenclatural notes on Plastocerus (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Plastocerinae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 60 (2), pp. 391-396 : 392

Plastocerus Schaum, 1852

Plastocerus Schaum, 1852: 49 . Type species: Callirhipis angulosus Germar, 1844 (by monotypy).

Ceroplastus Heyden, 1883 in HΕΥĐΕΝ et al.(1883:111), as an unnecessary replacement name for Plastocerus Schaum, 1852 [not Plastocerus LeConte, 1853 ].

Pseudophyllocerus Reitter, 1896: 234 . Type species: Pseudophyllocerus atricolor Reitter, 1896 (by monotypy); synonymized by SർΗඐΑRƶ (1897: 64).

Cladocerus Schwarz, 1902: 200 , as an unnecessary replacement name for ‘ Plastocerus Cand. ’ [= Plastocerus sensu CΑΝĐḔƶΕ (1863); i.e. Plastocerus Schaum , not Plastocerus LeConte ].

Binhon Pic, 1922: 29 . Type species: Binhon atrum Pic, 1922 (by monotypy); syn. nov.

Comments on the classification. The genus Plastocerus was proposed by SർΗΑUΜ (1852) in his ‘ Catalogus Coleopterorum Europae ’ for Callirhipis angulosus Germar, 1824 , an enigmatic elaterid species from the Eastern Mediterranean ( Greece, Turkey, Syria and Israel – see PĿΑŦıΑ & NḖΜΕŦΗ 2011). Although Schaum’s act fully conforms with the conditions of ICZN (1999: Article 12.2.5), many subsequent authors considered the genus a nomen nudum and thus formally unavailable. Most importantly of the authors who thought Schaum’s name invalid, LΕCOΝŦΕ (1853) validated a new version of the name Plastocerus , following an identification by Schaum of a newly described Californian species, Plastocerus schaumii LeConte, 1853 , which led to a different, broader concept of the genus for many years. LΑർORĐΑıRΕ (1857) and CΑΝĐḔƶΕ (1863) correctly attributed Plastocerus to Schaum, but accepted LeConte’s broad definition to include both the Palaearctic and Nearctic species. Subsequently, apparently considering the Nearctic species as the ‘true’ Plastocerus , HΕΥĐΕΝ (1883) proposed a new genus name Ceroplastus for the Palaearctic taxon; unfortunately, as he did it again only in a catalogue and without description, several authors considered the name as unavailable. These authors (e.g. HΥඌĿOΡ 1921) incorrectly attributed the name Ceroplastus to SΕıĐĿıŦƶ (1888a,b), who gave a redescription of the taxon in the generic part of both his ‘ Fauna Baltica ’ and ‘ Fauna Transsylvanica ’.

The female of Plastocerus angulosus was described by RΕıŦŦΕR (1896) as a new genus and species: Pseudophyllocerus atricolor Reitter, 1896 ; but its synonymy was soon recognized by SർΗඐΑRƶ (1897). SർΗඐΑRƶ (1902) was the first author to explicitly state that the Palaearctic and Nearctic Plastocerus species were not congeneric. He attributed the Palaearctic taxon name to CΑΝĐḔƶΕ (1863) and thus incorrectly considered it junior to LeConte’s name, so he proposed another replacement name, Cladocerus Schwarz, 1902 . Schwarz’s name was immediately synonymised by HΕΥĐΕΝ (1902), who pointed out that his name Ceroplastus was senior – although he mentioned the later ‘ Catalogus coleopterorum Europae, Caucasi et Armeniae rossicae ’ (HΕΥĐΕΝ et al. 1891), and not the original ‘ Catalogus coleopterorum Europae et Caucasi ’ (HΕΥĐΕΝ et al. 1883). In addition, HΕΥĐΕΝ (1902) noted that Cladocerus Schwarz is a junior homonym of Cladocerus Kirsch, 1865: 68 ( Coleoptera : Lycidae ) [in fact, KıRඌർΗ (1865) described Cladoceras ; Cladocerus is its unjustified emendation by GΕΜΜıΝǤΕR & HΑROĿĐ (1869: 1633)]. For the next 70 years, Plastocerus was considered to be an American genus and Ceroplastus was the genus occurring in the Old World, until CROඐඌOΝ (1972) corrected the usage: recognizing Plastocerus Schaum , with Ceroplastus as its junior synonym, for the Mediterranean species, and replaced Plastocerus LeConte with its junior synonym Octinodes Candèze, 1863 .

SർΗΑUΜ (1852) originally placed Plastocerus in the family Cebrionidae . However, LΑർORĐΑıRΕ (1857) included Plastocerus in the family Elateridae , where, with the single sojourn to the Rhipiceridae in HΥඌĿOΡ (1921), it remained until CROඐඌOΝ (1972) placed it in its own family, Plastoceridae . Quite recently, BOർΑκ et al. (2018) and KUඌΥ et al. (2018) revised the taxonomic placement of Plastocerus using molecular analysis and downgraded its status to the subfamily Plastocerinae , back in the family Elateridae . However, the family group name Plastoceridae Crowson, 1972 is a junior homonym of Plastocerini LeConte, 1861. Although BOUർΗΑRĐ et al. (2011) called for a petition to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to suppress the LeConte name, no such petition is listed on the ICZN website, so the name is still officially invalid (https:// www.iczn.org/cases/all-cases/).