Tragosoma parvicolle Casey, 1899

Laplante, Serge, 2017, Description of a new Nearctic species of Tragosoma Audinet-Serville (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae), with species validations, new synonymies and a lectotype designation, Insecta Mundi 2017 (578), pp. 1-17 : 8-9

Tragosoma parvicolle Casey, 1899 and T. sodale Casey, 1899

Casey (1899) described (as T. parvicollis and T. sodalis ) these two species in a key to the species of Tragosoma but no specimens labeled as syntypes could be found for either name in Casey’s collection in NMNH. According to S. Lingafelter (pers. comm.), there have never been any specimens so labeled in the Smithsonian collections. Neither is there an entry in the typewritten catalogue of the Thomas Lincoln Casey collection bequeathed to the NMNH, prepared in 1933 and 1934 under the supervision of L.L. Buchanan. Yet, two syntypes of Pemphus opacus Casey (Carabidae) , described in the same article, are in Casey’s collection and recorded in the catalogue under number 46011. Lingafelter et al. (2014: 361) listed both (as T. sodalis and T. parvicollis ) in their Appendix 5 among the primary types that probably belong to the NMNH but are presumed lost or wrongly deposited in another institution. The two names have also not been used in the literature for almost 80 years. Except for records of the two species from New Mexico by Knauss (1904: 156), I found no other citations for them in the literature until the 1980s. It is noteworthy that Casey himself, when revisiting the taxonomy of Tragosoma in 1924, did not mention the two names as if he had forgotten that he had described them 25 years earlier. Linsley (1962) also ignored these taxa in his treatment of Tragosoma for North America. The names finally reappeared in the literature as junior synonyms of “ T. depsarius ” in a checklist of Cerambycidae ( Chemsak and Linsley 1982: 8) .

Casey (1899: 98-99) wrote about T. parvicolle : “Length 24.8 mm.; width 8.0 mm. Utah (southwestern) — Mr. Weidt.” Casey (1924: 226) provided almost the same information about T. repens : “Length (♂) 24.5 mm.; width 8.0 mm. Utah (southwestern).—Weidt.” Incidentally, in his 1924 paper, Casey added after the description of T. repens “This species has been named in my collection for many years but evidently I neglected to publish it.” Casey described the prothorax of T. parvicolle as being “very broadly and feebly rounded at sides, with the process slender, abrupt and spiculiform”, and that of T. repens as having “the lateral spine triangular, sharp and median, the sides before and behind it feebly oblique.” An examination of the holotype of T. repens (NMNH) showed that it matches both descriptions and I conclude that Casey forgot that he described T. parvicolle in 1899 and described T. repens 25 years later, in 1924, from the same specimen. Casey (1899: 99) did not designate a holotype or specify on how many specimens he based his description of T. parvicolle but, for the same reason mentioned above for T. repens ( ICZN 1999, Art. 72.4.1.1 and 73.1.2), the specimen should be considered as the holotype by monotypy. I added a red label to the specimen reading: “ Holotype / Tragosoma parvicolle / Casey, 1899 / teste S. Laplante 2017.” The specimen is thus the holotype of both T. parvicolle and T. repens . Tragosoma parvicolle is therefore a senior objective synonym of T. repens , which consequently makes T. parvicolle , new synonym, a junior synonym of T. harrisii .

About T. sodale, Casey wrote “Length 26.0-28.0 mm., width 9.6 mm. Colorado.” Therefore, it can be inferred that he had at least two syntypes from Colorado. Three specimens labeled “Col.” have been found in Casey’s collection (NMNH) among the nine specimens placed under T. harrisii . One of them, a male measuring 30 mm long and 10 mm wide, labeled “harrisi - 7” cannot be regarded as a syntype because of its body size. The second specimen, a female measuring 28 mm long and 9.6 mm wide, is labeled: [1, small, white, rectangular label]: “Boulder / Co. Col.” [p] // [2, small, white, rectangular label]: “CASEY / bequest / 1925” [p] // [3, white rectangular label]: “Casey determ. [p] / harrisi - 8 [hw]”. The third specimen, a male measuring 27.5 mm long and 9.7 mm wide, is labeled: [1, small, white, rectangular label]: “Col.” [p] // [2, small, white, rectangular label]: “ ♂ ” [hw] // [3, small, white, rectangular label]: “CASEY / bequest / 1925” [p] // [4, white, rectangular label]: “Casey determ. [p] / harrisi - 9 [hw]”. Since these last two specimens match the original description of T. sodale , including the body measurements within a fraction of a millimeter, they are probably original type material of the taxon. I therefore consider that they represent at least part of the syntypes of T. sodale that were eventually misplaced among specimens of T. harrisii in Casey’s collection. Considering that these syntypes are not labeled as such, and were considered to be lost for a long time, I designate the male specimen “harrisi - 9” as the lectotype. I added a red label to it reading: “ Lectotype / Tragosoma sodale / Casey, 1899 / des. S. Laplante 2017”. I added a yellow label to the female specimen “harrisii – 8” with the following: “ Paralectotype / Tragosoma sodale / Casey, 1899 / des. S. Laplante 2017.” I found them conspecific with the specimens of T. harrisii examined, so T. sodale , new synonym, is placed in synonymy under T. harrisii .