Anthaxia (Cratomerus) reticollis Quedenfeldt, 1886

Bílý, Svatopluk, 2015, On the species of the genus Anthaxia Eschscholtz, 1829 described by A. Théry from Angola in 1947 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Anthaxiini), Zootaxa 4028 (2), pp. 246-256 : 247

Anthaxia (Cratomerus) reticollis Quedenfeldt, 1886

( Figs. 1–5 )

Anthaxia reticollis Quedenfeldt, 1886: 3 . Type locality: [ Angola] Malange.

Anthaxia reticollis: Théry, 1937: 238 (correct spelling); 1947: 133 (taxonomy); Ferreira, 1965: 851 (catalogue).

Anthaxia recticollis (sic!): Kerremans, 1892: 126 (catalogue); 1903: 177 (monograph); Obenberger, 1928: 212 (taxonomy); 1930: 544 (catalogue).

Anthaxia (Cratomerus) reticollis: Bílý, 1997: 34 , 109 (catalogue); Bellamy, 2008: 1460 (catalogue).

Anthaxia (Cratomerus) coelestis Théry, 1947: 134 , Fig. 30, syn. nov. Type locality: Angola, Bimbi.

Anthaxia (Cratomerus) coelestis: Ferreira, 1965: 851 (catalogue); Bílý, 1997: 18, 59 (catalogue); 1999: 230 (catalogue); Bellamy, 2008: 1370 (catalogue).

Type specimens studied. A. reticollis . Most probably holotype by monotypy (female, MNHN): “[ Angola] Malange” A.coelestis . Syntypes (male and female, LCDF, Figs. 1, 2 )): male: “Bimbi, oct. 1932 [p] // Angola Miss. sc. suisse 1932–1933 [p] // Anthaxia coelestis Théry ♂ [h] TYPE [red, p]”; female: “Bimbi [h] // Anthaxia coelestis Théry ♀ [h] TYPE [red, p]”.

In the collection of MNHN I found a specimen labelled “Malange” which is most probably the Quedenfeldt´s type specimen of A. reticollis . This species is rather widely distributed and it has recently been commonly collected in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Having studied the type specimes of Anthaxia (C.) coelestis and A. reticollis I failed to find any substantial differences and I propose that A. coelestis Théry, 1947 to be conspecific with A. reticollis Quedenfeldt, 1886 and a junior synonym. Since the quality of the image of the possible holotype of A. (C.) reticollis ( MNHN) is very poor, I decided to use the image of the specimen from Zambia which was compared with the holotype ( Fig. 3 ).

Distribution. Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Anthaxia (Cratomerus) coelestis Théry, 1947. 1 — A. (C.) coelestis, female syntype, 6.0 mm; 2 — the same, male syntype, 5.5 mm; 3 — A. (C.) reticollis Quedenfeldt, 1886 (Zambia, specimen compared with holotype), 5.6 mm; 4 — A. (C.) coelestis, original labelling of female syntype; 5 — the same, male syntype.