Leptacinus batychrus (GYLLENHAL, 1827)

Assing, Volker, Schülke, Michael, Brachat, Volker & Meybohm, Heinrich, 2018, On the Staphylinidae of the Greek island Corfu (Insecta: Coleoptera), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology (Beitr. Entomol.) 68 (1), pp. 31-67 : 56

Leptacinus batychrus (GYLLENHAL, 1827)

Phacophallus corcyranus BORDONI, 2017: 225 f.; syn. nov.

In the original description of P. corcyranus , which is based on a unique male holotype from “Corfu, Dassia”, BORDONI (2017) states that the species differs from other Phacophallus species by “the narrow body, the dorsal series of the pronotum and especially for the inner sac of the aedeagus”.

First, the presence of an endemic species of Phacophallus COIFFAIT, 1956 , whose species are mostly widespread and active dispersers by flight, can be ruled out. Second, the morphological characters specified in the original description indeed do not seem to be compatible with Phacophallus . Third, and most importantly, the internal structures of the aedeagus, which are emphasized by BORDONI (2017) as being so distinctive, are identical to those of Leptacinus batychrus , a rather common species in Corfu. Since other morphological characters indicated by BORDONI (2017) are in agreement with those of L. batychrus , too, there is little doubt that the male BORDONI (2017) described as Phacophallus corcyranus is in fact L. batychrus . When dissecting the aedeagus, Bordoni evidently lost (tore off?) the parameres so that the male primary sexual characters seemed to be those of Phacophallus . In consequence, P. corcyranus is placed in synonymy with L. batychrus .