Merodon bulborum Rondani, 1845

Sforzi, Alessandra & Sommaggio, Daniele, 2021, Catalog of the Diptera types described by Camillo Rondani, Zootaxa 4989 (1), pp. 1-438 : 255

Merodon bulborum Rondani, 1845

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

TYPE LOCALITY: “ in Italia [ Italy]” ( Fabricius 1794: 292) [type locality for Merodon equestris ( Fabricius, 1794) ].

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 equestris ( Fabricius, 1794) and Merodon transversalis Wiedemann, 1822 and the females of Merodon nobilis Meigen, 1822 as belonging to the same species but, instead of applying the Principle of Priority, incorrectly proposed the substitute name Merodon bulborum . He continued to reaffirm having proposed Merodon bulborum to combine Merodon equestris , Merodon transversalis and Merodon nobilis ( Rondani 1857: 62, 1865a: 130). Merodon bulborum was considered as a synonym of M. equestris Fabricius, 1794 by Schiner (1860: 344, 1864: 108), Bezzi & Stein (1907: 116), Kertész (1910: 273), Sack (1931: 314) and Peck (1988: 170), and as a variety of Merodon equestris by Bezzi (1900a: 89), Villeneuve (1903: 115) and Séguy (1961: 179), but never as a valid species. The type material for Merodon bulborum Rondani, 1845 will be the same as for the name it was proposed to replace, i. e., Merodon equestris Fabricius, 1794 . The type material of this latter species is preserved in the ZMUC ( Michelsen 2017: 8). Under the name Merodon bulborum there is one male in the MZUF and one specimen of undetermined sex (non-types) in the MSNC.