Merodon tuberculatus Rondani, 1845

Sforzi, Alessandra & Sommaggio, Daniele, 2021, Catalog of the Diptera types described by Camillo Rondani, Zootaxa 4989 (1), pp. 1-438 : 258

Merodon tuberculatus Rondani, 1845

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: 1845f: 256 (key), 259 (description).

TYPE LOCALITY: “ Galliae [= France]” ( Fabricius 1805: 239) [type locality for Merodon narcissi ( Fabricius, 1805) ].

TYPE MATERIAL: see Remarks.

CURRENT STATUS: junior synonym of Merodon equestris ( Fabricius, 1794) ( Peck 1988: 170) .

REMARKS: Rondani (1845f: 256) considered the males of Merodon narcissi ( Fabricius, 1805) and the females of Merodon constans Wiedemann, 1822 and Merodon ferrugineus ( Fabricius, 1805) as the same species but, instead of applying the Principle of Priority, he incorrectly proposed the substitute name Merodon tuberculatus . Rondani (1865c: 207) used Merodon tuberculatus as a valid species and he ( Rondani 1857: 61) reaffirmed having proposed Merodon tuberculatus to combine Merodon narcissi , Merodon constans and Merodon flavicans ( Fabricius, 1794) . Schiner (1860: 344, 1864: 108), Bezzi & Stein (1907: 121), Kertész (1910: 280), Sack (1931: 314) placed it in synonymy with Merodon equestris ( Fabricius, 1794) while Bezzi (1894: 283) considered it to be a valid species. The type material for Merodon tuberculatus will be the same as for the name it was proposed to replace, i. e., Merodon narcissi . There is no type of Merodon narcissi in the ZMUC where Fabricius’s collection is preserved ( Michelsen 2017).