Pseudochelidura sinuata ( Germar, 1825 )

Cuesta-Segura, Amonio David, Jurado-Angulo, Pilar, Jiménez-Ruiz, Yolanda & García-París, Mario, 2023, Taxonomy of the Iberian species of Pseudochelidura (Dermaptera: Forficulidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 860 (1), pp. 81-115 : 107

Pseudochelidura sinuata ( Germar, 1825)

Forficula sinuata Germar, 1825: 16 . Terra typica: “Habitat in Pyrenaeis”.

Forficula dufourii Serville, 1839: 49 , pl. 1 (non F. dufouri Desmarest, 1820 ). Terra typica: “ France meridionale. Feu”.

? Forficula pyrenaea Herrich-Schäffer, 1840: 31 . Terra typica not indicated. A synonym of either Chelidura pyrenaica (Mégerlé, 1825) or P. sinuata ( Germar, 1825) ( Herrich-Schäffer 1840) .

Forficula sinuata var. macrolabia Fieber, 1853: 256 . Terra typica: not specified.

Forficula sinuata var. cyclolabia Fieber, 1853: 256 . Terra typica: not specified.

Chelidura sinuata var. opisthogona Borelli, 1905: 50 . Terra typica: “... Port-de-Gavarnie, ... massif de l’Astajou, ... environs de Gavarnie”. Harz & Kaltenbach (1976: 97) and Herrera Mesa (1999: 59) wrote the name as “ Chelidura sinuata var. opithogona ”.

Pseudochelidura minor Steinmann, 1979: 167 syn. nov. Terra typica: “Pic du Midi, Pyrennes”.

Pseudochelidura montuosa Steinmann, 1981: 189 syn. nov. Terra typica: “ Andorra ”.

Chelidura sinuata – Fischer von Waldheim 1846: 48.

Chelidura dufouri – Dohrn 1867: 342 (unavailable name).

Pseudochelidura sinuata – Verhoeff 1902: 196.

Pseudochelidura dufouri – Albouy 1984: 177 (unavailable name).

Two additional names have been included or mentioned as possible synonyms of Pseudochelidura sinuata : Chelidura vittigera Fischer von Waldheim, 1846 and Forficula paupercula Gené, 1832 . The type locality of C. vittigera “dans le Caucase” and its original description, based on a single female specimen, make us exclude the name from the synonymy of P. sinuata . The correct allocation of C. vittigera requires the examination of new specimens from the Caucasus, but according to the location it should likely be placed in the genus Chelidura as originally proposed by Fischer von Waldheim (1846).

Fontana (1999) discussed the problematic situation of F. paupercula . The name was applied to a single male specimen from the “Alpi della Savoia” ( Gené 1832) apparently lost ( Fontana 1999). Harz & Kaltenbach (1976) treated F. paupercula as an independent species within Pseudochelidura , but according to Fontana (1999) the specimens examined by Harz & Kaltenbach (1976) were not part of the type series of Gené’s F. paupercula , representing a phenotype of Pseudochelidura similar to P. minor , but not matching the original description of F. paupercula . Gené’s (1832) description of F. paupercula does not support its inclusion in the synonymy of any species of Pseudochelidura , including P. sinuata , as already mentioned by different authors that assimilated the name to Chelidura aptera (including de Bormans & Krauss 1900; Sakai 1995), however a detailed prospection of the Savoyan Alps is needed to confirm the presence of populations of Pseudochelidura in the region (considered possible by Harz & Kaltenbach 1976 and Albouy & Caussanel 1990). The results of these prospections would allow for a proper discussion of Gené’s F. paupercula .