Hemicolpus cubicus ( Lacordaire, 1866 )

Hespenheide, Henry A., 2018, Hemicolpus Heller, 1895 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Conoderinae): A Reconsideration and Description of New Species from Mexico and Central America, The Coleopterists Bulletin 72 (1), pp. 119-125 : 120

Hemicolpus cubicus ( Lacordaire, 1866)

Hemigaster cubicus Lacordaire 1866: 155 Hemicolpus cubicus (Lacordaire) ; Heller 1895: 57

Lacordaire (1866) described a new genus and species from a specimen from “Minas Geraes,” Brazil, sent to him by Jekel. In his review of the Zygopinae (now Conoderinae ), Heller (1895) pointed out that Lacordaire’ s name for the genus was preoccupied and renamed it Hemicolpus . Of the type species, H. cubicus , he wrote “Diese Art liegt mir nun in einem Stück, und da mit Lacordaires Handshrift versehen, höchst warscheinlich in Typus vor.” (Translation by J. Prena: “This species is available to me as a singleton and, because it bears Lacordaire’ s handwriting, very likely as [syn]type.”) This specimen is presumably the one in Heller’ s collection at the Senckenberg Museum, Dresden. However, the Dresden specimen is labeled from S[~ ao] Paulo and cannot be a syntype, despite Heller’ s comment. Moreover, Lacordaire describes H. cubicus as being glabrous, and the Dresden specimen is rather densely covered with scales. A largely glabrous specimen in the Natural History Museum, London, labeled as “Bates/Braz.,” has been determined as H. cubicus , probably by Hustache, who may have seen Lacordaire’ s type. However, Lacordaire describes H. cubicus as being “ferrugineus” (the determiner writes of H. cubicus , “espèce decrité fauve,” or tan, but adds “prob. un peu immat[ure]”), whereas the London specimen is black with a few white setae along the elytral suture behind the scutellum and at the apex. At this time, I have not been able to locate the Lacordaire type of H. cubicus or material of Jekel to examine. I therefore provisionally accept Hustache’ s placement of his species H. abdominalis as being congeneric with Lacordaire’ s species, despite the one mesosternal character mentioned that differs from H. cubicus , as well as from the species described here as new.