Antitrogus rugulosus ( Blackburn, 1911 )

Allsopp, Peter G., 2020, Clarification of the status of the types of Australian Melolonthini (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) described before 1950, Zootaxa 4885 (4), pp. 451-486 : 458-459

Antitrogus rugulosus ( Blackburn, 1911)

Rhopaea rugulosa Blackburn, 1911: 194 .

Antitrogus rugulosus: Britton 1978: 26 .

Rhodaea rugulosa: Lea 1912 : xxxvi (in error).

Lectotype (designated by Britton 1978: 26) male: aedeagus dissected out and mounted on card | Lectotype (circular blue-ringed, typeset) | 4641 Brisbane [27.47°S, 153.03°E] (handwritten in red) T (handwritten) | Blackburn coll. 1910-236 (typeset) | RHOPAEA rugulosa, Blackb. (handwritten) | my lectotype label; in NHML .

Paralectotype female: Paralectotype (circular light-blue ringed, typeset) | 4641 Brisbane [27.47°S, 153.03°E] (handwritten in red) T (handwritten) | Blackburn coll. 1910-236 (typeset) | RHOPAEA rugulosa, Blackb. Female symbol (handwritten) | my paralectotype label; in NHML .

Blackburn (1892) saw only one male and one female [“either of the specimens before me”]. Lea (1912) noted that the ‘type’ had been sent to NHML, and Britton (1978) referred to a “ holotype ” male from Brisbane in NHML. Houston & Weir (1992) interpreted Britton’s (1978) incorrect reference to a holotype as a lectotype designation. Allsopp (1993a) and Miller & Allsopp (2000) followed this, with the addition of a female paralectotype in NHML by Allsopp (1993a). Given that Britton (1978) clearly nominated the male syntype in NHML as the holotype, I follow Houston & Weir (1992) in accepting a lectotype designation by Britton (1978) (vide Article 74.5). The female syntype in NHML is a paralectotype.

This species was synonymised under Antitrogus mussoni ( Blackburn, 1892) by Britton (1978) but reinstated by Allsopp (1993a: 198).