Taumacera deusta Thunberg, 1814

Bezděk, Jan, 2019, Annotated review of Cryptocephalinae (Clytrini), Synetinae and part of Galerucinae (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) described by Carl Peter Thunberg, European Journal of Taxonomy 499, pp. 1-42 : 35-36

Taumacera deusta Thunberg, 1814

Fig. 18

Taumacera deusta Thunberg, 1814: 48 (original description).

Oedicerus apicipennis Baly, 1879: 110 (original description).

Nacrea apicipennis Baly, 1886: 29 (original description).

Type localities

Taumacera deusta : “Goda-Hopps Udden” [= Cap. Bon. Spei; patria falsa]. Oedicerus apicipennis : “ India ”. Nacrea apicipennis : “ India ” [probably erroneous, see Comments].

Material examined

Holotype INDONESIA • ♂; probably Java (see Comments); “Uppsala Univ. Zool. Mus. / Thunbergsaml. nr. 12377 / Taumacera deusta / Cap. TYP [r, p] // deusta . / Cap. [box label, w, h]”; UUZM.

Additional material Oedicerus apicipennis : probably same type specimen as for Nacrea apicipennis (for details see Bezděk 2019).

INDONESIA • ♂, holotype of Nacrea apicipennis ; probably Java (see Comments); “Type [white round label with red collar, p] // India or. [w, h] // Nacrea / apicipennis / Baly / India [w, p] // Baly Coll. [w, p]”; BMNH .

Comments

Thunberg (1814) described Taumacera deusta from “Goda-Hopps Udden” (= Cap. Bon. Spei). Weise (1922) already regarded this type locality as erroneous and correctly synonymized Oedicerus apicipennis Baly, 1879 and Nacrea apicipennis Baly, 1886 (both described from “ India ”) with Taumacera deusta . Based on the paper by Weise (1922), Maulik (1936) and Wilcox (1973) reported India in the distribution of Taumacera deusta . Reid (1999) mentioned that it probably does not occur in India. Based on its currently known distribution, it seems evident that Thunberg collected the holotype during his two visits to Java in the years 1775 and 1777, and later mislabelled it. Taumacera deusta is known also from Bali ( Bezděk 2019).

Taumacera deusta is the type species of the species-rich genus Taumacera Thunberg, 1814 (currently ca 70 species, predominantly distributed in the Oriental region). An additional ca 20 African species currently classified in Taumacera are not congeneric and will be transferred elsewhere in the future. The genus concept was recently revised by Bezděk (2019).

Figures

Fig. 18. Taumacera deusta Thunberg, 1814, holotype, ♂, 7.5 mm, UUZM. A. Dorsal view. B. Lateral view. C. Frontal view. D. Label. E. Box label 1. F. Box label 2.