Eleodes subnitens sinuata Blaisdell, 1909

Johnston, M. Andrew, 2015, A Checklist and New Species ofEleodesEschscholtz (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Pertaining to the SubgenusPromusLeconte, with a Key to United States Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 69 (1), pp. 11-19 : 11-19

Eleodes subnitens sinuata Blaisdell, 1909 ( Fig. 2 )

Thomas (2005) reviewed and illuminated the many nomenclatural problems created by Papp’ s (1961) checklist, which validated many of Blaisdell’ s infrasubspecific ‘ formae ’ as avail- able species-level names. Blaisdell himself never intended to formalize these designations, rather they were meant to aid entomologists in discussing natural variation within a single species. One such case is E. subnitens sinuata .

Blaisdell’ s (1909) original description references two male specimens from Prescott, Arizona as having “the pronotum widest at the middle, and the sides are feebly sinuate before the basal angles, the base appearing narrower than normal”. He also noted that some females tend to show similar variation, as opposed to the forma typica, which has the pronotum appearing to be widest at the base. Unfortunately , the specimens referred to by Blaisdell are not identifiable as present in the California Academy of Sciences insect collection, where his vouchers have been deposited. However , the California Academy does have a single specimen with Blaisdell’ s determination label of “ Eleodes (Promus) sinuata Blaisdell ”, with a collection date of 17 July 1921, 12 years after the publication of his monograph. This specimen is from Texas and belongs to what is now known as Eeleodes knullorum Triplehorn, 1971 . Therefore it is most plausible that Blaisdell recognized the California Academy specimen as a member of a then-undescribed species and presumably applied a manuscript name to it, which was never published .

It is possible that the specimens and habitus that Blaisdell referred to as ‘ forma sinuata’ are conspecific with a herein newly named and described species (see below), in that this newly recognized and validated entity has been long confused with Eleodes subnitens LeConte and shares with it the presence of a posteriorly sinuate pronotum. The two species are often found in sympatry, generally in mid-elevation oak-juniper forests; indeed, the two species are found together both in the vicinity of Prescott, Arizona and throughout southeastern Arizona. However, the male tarsal setation of the new entity is distinctive and is not a feature that Blaisdell was likely to miss. Blaisdell (1909) concludes his E. subnitens diagnosis with: “the males have only the basal joint of the anterior tarsi pubescent beneath, which distinguishes it from all other members of the subgenus, except insularis ”. This sentence immediately precedes his forma descriptions. It should also be noted that, while the sinuate shape of the pronotum is the most superficially striking feature to diagnose E. subnitens as separate from the new species, it is not always reliable. Some specimens of E. subnitens are known to have remarkably sinuate pronota.

In light of the above, I conclude that E. subnitens sinuata Blaisdell as specified in Blaisdell (1909) does not refer to the herein newly described species, but rather to a form within E. subnitens , which is often easily recognizable by its parallelsided pronotum, though there is variation in its lateral curvature. Based on an examination of large series of specimens, I conclude that the sinuate form discussed by Blaisdell falls well within the natural variation of the species and does not represent a diagnosable subspecies. Eleodes subnitens sinuata Blaisdell, 1909 is hereby placed as a junior subjective synonym of Eleodes subnitens LeConte, 1851 .

Type Material. A neotype female ( Fig. 2 ), deposited in CASC, is hereby designated for E. subnitens sinuata . Two labels, first “ USA:AZ, Yavapai Co 12km /SW Prescott, headlamping/ 34.4576° -112.5199° 5700ft / 23-VIII-2014 M.A. Johnston ”, second red paper “ Neotype / Eleodes subnitens sinuata / Blaisdell, 1909 ” .

Figures

Fig. 2. Eleodes subnitens sinuata. A) Neotype female, lateral habitus, scale bar = 1 cm, B) Dorsal habitus.