Geotrupes hoffmannseggi Fairmaire, 1856

Bezděk, Aleš, Hájek, Jiří & Ascr, Biology Centre, 2009, Catalogue of type specimens of beetles (Coleoptera) deposited in the National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 49 (1), pp. 297-332 : 300-301

Geotrupes hoffmannseggi Fairmaire, 1856

Geotrupes hoffmannseggi Fairmaire, 1856: 530 .

Two syntypes are deposited in NMPC (ex coll. Nickerl):

SYNTYPE (J): ‘ Geotrupes / Hoffmannseggi [Fairmaire’s hw] // Fairmaire / coll. Dohrn [hw] // Hoffmanseggi Fairm. / Marocco [hw, pink label, black margin]’.

SYNTYPE (♀): ‘ Maroc [hw] // Fairmaire / coll. Dohrn [hw]’.

Current status. Ceratophyus hoffmannseggi ( Fairmaire, 1856) , see, e.g., ZUNINO (1973).

Remark. The discovery of Fairmaire’s syntypes at NMP is surprising. Nevertheless, there is no doubt about the authenticity of these specimens. The identification label is written by Fairmaire himself. Moreover, it is evident from the primary description that Fairmaire examined both sexes when he described G. hoffmannseggi . ZUNINO (1973) unsuccessfully looked for types of this species at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturele, Paris, France, where the majority of Fairmaire’s types was deposited. He concluded that the types were lost and designated a neotype. Our rediscovery of the original syntypes of G. hoffmannseggi set the neotype aside.