Helops californicus Mannerheim, 1843

Nabozhenko, Maxim, Nikitsky, Nikolay & Aalbu, Rolf, 2016, Contributions to the knowledge of North American tenebrionids of the subtribe Cylindrinotina (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Helopini), Zootaxa 4136 (1), pp. 155-164 : 157-158

Nalassus (s. str.) californicus ( Mannerheim, 1843) , comb. n.

( Figs. 1–3 )

californicus Mannerheim 1843: 287 (Helops) ; Horn 1870: 394 ( Helops ); Allard 1876: 19 ( Omalus ); Allard 1877: 37, 158 ( Omaleis ); Seidlitz 1896: 695 ( Helops ); Cifuentes-Ruiz et al. 2014: 194, figs. 5E, 6C, F ( Odocnemis ), fig. 2B ( Helops ). = carolina Manee 1924: ( Helops ). The name was synonymized by Steiner (2009).

Type material. Lectotype (♂), designated here, with labels: “ Nalassus californicus Californ. Esch. ”, “ type ”, square with symbol “♂” and green circle. Lectotype is deposited in ZMMU in collection of V. Motshulsky.

Other studied material (prepared for genitalia): 2♂♂ and 2♀♀ with press labels: “California Leconte” ( ZIN).

Comments. Victor Motshulsky changed many original labels of other entomologists to his own labels for uniformity in the collection. For example, green label was mark North America. Additionally, sometimes he changed the generic names according to his understanding of beetle classification. Motshulsky always carefully labeled specimens from the type series as “ type ”. So, the name “ Nalassus californicus ” (the genus Nalassus was described only in 1854) was pinned later by Motschulsky to the type specimen of M. Mannerheim, who described the species under name “ Helops californicus Eschscholtz ”.

Nalassus californicus is similar to the Palaearctic species N. genei (Gené, 1839) , N. plebejus (Küster, 1850) , and N. pekinensis (Fairmaire, 1888) of the nominative subgenus, which are also macropterous and lack a brush of setae on the first male abdominal ventrite. Sometimes posterior ventral grooves of head are poorly developed and unclear (figs. 1C, D).

Distribution. USA: California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada; Canada: British Columbia.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Nalassus californicus, head, SEM. A—ventral side with well expressed ventral posterior grooves; B—the same, right ventral posterior groove; C—ventral side with poorly expressed ventral posterior grooves; D—the same, right ventral groove. Arrow shows ventral posterior grooves.

FIGURE 2. Nalassus californicus. A—lectotype, male; B—upper label; C—lower labels.

FIGURE 3. Nalassus californicus, genital structures. A—aedeagus ventrally; B—aedeagus laterally; C—male inner sternite VIII; D—gastral spicula; E—female genital tubes. g—the spemathecal accessory gland; s—spermatheca; bds—basal duct of spermatheca; o—oviduct; v—vagina. Scale bars 1 mm.