Alpagut Kıyak, 1995

Fent, Meral, Kment, Petr, Çamur-Elipek, Belgin & Kirgiz, Timur, 2011, Annotated catalogue of Enicocephalomorpha, Dipsocoromorpha, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha, and Leptopodomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of Turkey, with new records 2856, Zootaxa 2856 (1), pp. 1-84 : 9-10

Alpagut Kıyak, 1995

= Harpago Linnavuori, 1951 (preoccupied)

= Raunocoris Baena & Alonso-Zarazaga, 2009 (syn. Péricart 2010: 286)

Comment. Harpago Linnavuori, 1951 was described as a subgenus of Cryptostemma Herrich-Schaeffer, 1835 . It was raised to genus rank by Pluot-Sigwalt & Péricart (2003).

Nomenclature. The name Harpago Linnavuori, 1951 is a junior homonym of Harpago Mörch, 1852 ( Mollusca: Gastropoda) (see Baena & Alonso-Zarazaga 2009). Kıyak (1995) proposed a replacement name, Alpagut Kıyak, 1995 , for Harpago Linnavuori, 1951 . Unfortunately, Kıyak (1995) did not contact Rauno Linnavuori to aware him about the homonymy as is required by the Code of ethics (§3, ICZN 1999: 124). Moreover, he published this nomenclatorial act in a journal not indexed in the Zoological Record, Nomenclator Zoologicus, or a similar reference database. For these reasons, his action was overlooked by all other authors, including the Palaearctic Catalogue ( Kerzhner 1995b) and the monograph by Heiss & Péricart (2007). Baena & Alonso-Zarazaga (2009) correctly recognized and reviewed the homonymy of Harpago Linnavuori, 1951 , but overlooked Kıyak’s (1995) action; they unnecesarily proposed Raunocoris Baena & Alonso-Zarazaga, 2009 . Despite the unethical aspect of Kıyak’s action, Alpagut is the oldest available name for Harpago Linnavuori, 1951 , and Raunocoris must be regarded as its junior synonym. The synonymy of Raunocoris with Alpagut was finally established by Péricart (2010), as well as one new combination: Alpagut castaneovitreus ( Linnavuori, 1951) .

Kıyak (1995) did not explain the etymology of Alpagut nor explained its gender. In Turkish, alpagut is a noun meaning warrior, brave, hero, spartan; ‘alpagut’ is a title attributed to princes and brave-hearted individuals of anciet times of Turkish people. As Turkish language does not recognize grammatical gender, and because Alpagut was established as a subgenus of Cryptostemma , i.e., without combination with any species name, we cannot apply the Articles 30.2.1. and 30.2.3. of the ICZN (1999). For these reasons, the gender of Alpagut is arbitrarily established as masculine by application of the Article 30.2.4: ‘If no gender was specified or indicated, the name is to be treated as masculine, except that, if the name ends in – a the gender is feminine, and if it ends in – um, - on, or – u the gender is neuter’ ( ICZN 1999). Also Péricart (2010) used the name Alpagut as masculine though without any comment.

The genus Alpagut currently includes three species, two of them combined here with that generic name for the first time:

Alpagut castaneovitreus ( Linnavuori, 1951)

Alpagut maroccanus (Wagner, 1960) comb. nov.

Alpagut medius (Rey, 1888) comb. nov.

Alpagut castaneovitreus ( Linnavuori, 1951) comb. nov.

Asian Turkey. Linnavuori (1951, as Cryptostemma (Harpago) castaneovitreus , types), Hoberlandt (1956, as Dipsocoris (Harpago) castaneovitreum ), Kerzhner (1995b, as Cryptostemma castaneovitreum ), Streito & Péricart (2005, as Harpago castaneovitreum ), Önder et al. (2006, as Cryptostemma castaneovitreum ), Heiss & Péricart (2007, as Harpago castaneovitreum ).

Turkey (not distinguished). Linnavuori (1958, as Cryptostemma (Harpago) castaneovitreus ).

General distribution. Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine (Crimea), Anatolia ( Kerzhner 1995 b, Heiss & Péricart 2007). The record of Cryptostemma (Harpago) medium Rey, 1888 from Hungary by Torma (2005) very probably belongs to this species as well.

Comment. Péricart (2002) synonymized Cryptostemma (Harpago) castaneovitreum with C. (H.) medium but this opinion was rejected by Streito & Péricart (2005), who redescribed Harpago medium and restored H. castaneovitreum as a distinct species (see also Heiss & Péricart (2007)).

Identification. Streito & Péricart (2005), Heiss & Péricart (2007).