Platyscelis, LATREILLE, 1818

Löbl, I. & Merkl, O., 2003, On The Type Species Of Several Tenebrionid Genera And Subgenera (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 49 (3), pp. 243-253 : 245

Platyscelis and Oodescelis

Platyscelis was erected in 1818 by LATREILLE for a single species, Blaps polita STURM, 1807 . Thus Blaps polita STURM is the type species of Platyscelis . Nevertheless, the genus name was credited to LATREILLE, 1825, with as type species Tenebriohypolithos PALLAS, 1781 (misspelled as hypolithos ). This error goes back at least to SEIDLITZ (1893) who included in Platyscelis four species, Blaps rugifrons GERMAR, 1828 , Platyscelis melas FISCHER VON WALDHEIM, 1823 , Platyscelisgages FISCHER VON WALDHEIM, 1823 (currrently placed in synonymy of Blapspolita STURM), and Tenebriohypolithos PALLAS, 1781, all already placed in Platyscelis by FISCHER VON WALDHEIM in 1824. Platyscelis , and other Platyscelini, were revised by KASZAB (1940). He and subsequent workers followed SEIDLITZ (1893). The genus Platyscelis currently includes a number of species, but not its type species. Blaps polita STURM is placed in Oodescelis MOTSCHULSKY, 1845 , as its type species. Thus Oodescelis MOTSCHULSKY is a junior objective synonym of Platyscelis LATREILLE, 1818 , but not a synonym of Platyscelis sensu SEIDLITZ and subsequent authors.

The oldest available name for Platyscelis : authors, not LATREILLE, 1818 is Pleiopleura SEIDLITZ, 1893 , currently considered to be a valid subgenus of the genus formerly named as Platyscelis . The type species of Pleiopleura is Platyscelis striatus MOTSCHULSKY, 1860 . We describe Kaszaboscelis subgen. n. to include species formerly included in the subgenus Platyscelis : authors, not LATREILLE, 1818, with the type species Tenebrio hypolithos PALLAS, 1781 .