Hidden species within the genus Ocys Stephens: the widespread species O. harpaloides (Audinet-Serville) and O. tachysoides (Antoine) (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Bembidiini)
Author
Maddison, David R.
Author
Anderson, Roy
text
Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift
2016
63
2
287
301
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.63.10748
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.63.10748
1860-1324-2-287
C09ADD81A914416A93388525B0E35BB0
Ocys harpaloides (Audinet-Serville, 1821)
Figs 2A; 3A; 6A, B; 7A, B; 8A; 9A, B; 10A, B; 11A, B
Bembidion harpaloides
Audinet-Serville, 1821:78. Lectotype male, here designated, in the Dufour collection of the MNHN, examined (see Nomenclatural notes, below), with two labels:
"5244"
[handwritten], "LECTOTYPE
Bembidion harpaloides
Audinet-Serville 1821
designated 2016 D.R. Maddison and R. Anderson" [partly handwritten, with red lines around the border]. Type locality: Clavados, Bretagne, France.
Tachis rufescens
Guerin-Meneville
, 1823:123. Type specimens lost (see below). Type locality as specified in the original description: an island on the Seine River (presumably
Ile
Seguin or
Ile
Saint-Germain), Meudon, France. Neotype male, here designated, in the MNHN, labeled "JUVISY Aval RD 4-VI-45 M. DEWAILLY" [partly handwritten], "
Ocys harpaloides
Serv. M. Dewailly det." [partly handwritten], "NEOTYPE
Tachis rufescens
Guerin-Meneville
designated 2016 D.R. Maddison & R. Anderson" [partly handwritten]. This specimen is from Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne, France, which is 18km SE of Meudon; it was formerly housed in the collection of Mr. Dominique Echaroux.
Ocys melanocephalus
Stephens, 1828:10. Lectotype male, here designated, in BMNH, examined, with six labels: "BRITISH ISLES J. Stephens Coll. BM 1853- 46", "
Ocys melanocephalum
" [handwritten],
"♂"
, "
harpaloides
det Netolitzky" [handwritten],
"NHMUK010363535"
[with matrix barcode], "LECTOTYPE
Ocys melanocephalus
Stephens designated 2016 D.R. Maddison and R. Anderson" [partly handwritten, with red lines around the border]. Type locality: British Isles.
Bembidium dubium
Wollaston, 1857:23. Holotype female, in BMNH, examined. Type locality: Madeira. Junior primary homonym of
Bembidium dubium
Heer, 1838. Synonymy tentative, based primarily on the colour of the type.
Nomenclatural notes.
Interpretation of
Audinet-Serville's
name rests in part on discovery of his specimens, as his description is not sufficient to distinguish between the two species. Audinet-Serville notes that his specimen or specimens of
Bembidion harpaloides
are from "M. de
Brebisson"
, presumably the botanist Louis Alphonse de
Brebisson
.
Audinet-Serville's
Coleoptera
specimens were acquired by
Leon
Jean Marie Dufour (Thierry Deuve, pers. comm.), whose collection was incorporated into the
Museum
National
d'Histoire
Naturelle in Paris. In March 2016, David H. Kavanaugh searched for several hours for the type series of
Bembidion harpaloides
Audinet-Serville in
Dufour's
collection at the MNHN, with help from Azadeh Taghavian. The following notes are in part from Kavanaugh (pers. comm.).
Dufour's
collection is well-organized, and in the section containing bembidiines, there is only one box with
Ocys
. It contains four pins with
Ocys
specimens. These are housed under the heading "
Bembidion (Tachys) rufescens
", a name in use around that time for this complex (e.g.,
Dejean 1831
). In that region of the box, there are no additional pin holes, suggesting that there have been no specimens of
Ocys
removed from
Dufour's
collection. The four pins contain a total of eight specimens: the first two pins contain one specimen each, the third pin houses five specimens, each on a separate card, and the last pin houses a single specimen. The last specimen can be excluded from consideration, as its label contains a locality (
"Carcassonne"
, in southern France) that differs from the locality stated by Audinet-Serville. The other three pins each have one or two labels: the first specimen has a label that apparently contains the number 249; the second the number 5244, and the remaining pin has two labels, one with a small amount of indecipherable text, the other with the number 124. All of the
Ocys
in
Dufour's
collection belong to this species, as determined by colour pattern and microsculpture. In addition, the first two are males, and dissection revealed genitalia that match genitalic type A (i.e., as in Fig. 6A, B). The labels on the three pins are in different handwriting, and the pins themselves differ in structure. Thus, it appears as if the three came from different sources, and likely only one of them represents authentic Audinet-Serville material. According to Antoine Mantilleri (Thierry Deuve, pers. comm.), the handwriting on the first specimen is likely that of Dufour. This suggests that the first specimen is not an authentic Audinet-Serville specimen, but rather an original Dufour specimen; however, it is possible that Dufour added a label to the specimen after having acquired
Audinet-Serville's
collection. The writer of the other labels is not known. We could discover no information about
Audinet-Serville's
handwriting, other than a single example of his signature, and thus we do not know if any of the labels might have been written by him, or whether they may have been added by later researchers. Thus, it is not clear which specimen on the three candidate pins is
Audinet-Serville's
, and it likely will never be determined with certainty. We consider the value in stabilizing the name more important than the uncertainty of the choice. As all of these specimens belong to the same species, as the specimen on the second pin is a male in sufficient condition and with undamaged genitalia, and as there is hint that the specimen on the first pin is not an Audinet-Serville specimen, we have chosen the second specimen as the lectotype of
Bembidion harpaloides
Audinet-Serville.
The collection of
Felix
Edouard
Guerin-Meneville
was incorporated into the Chaudoir collection at the MNHN (
Cambefort 2006
) in the Chaudoir magasin. David Kavanaugh and Azadeh Taghavian searched for types of
Tachis rufescens
Guerin-Meneville
in the Chaudoir magasin. They found numerous
Ocys
, but every one could be eliminated as
Guerin-Meneville
specimens through consideration of the labels, as all specimens had a mechanically printed label (against other
Guerin-Meneville
specimens), and the labels specified a locality, collector, or collection that did not coincide
with
those of the
Ocys
examined by
Guerin-Meneville
(Kavanaugh, pers. comm.). The
Guerin-Meneville
specimens of
Ocys
are thus lost. In the interests of stabilizing the nomenclature, we sought a neotype for
Tachis rufescens
. Within the MNHN, there are specimens from three localities around Paris (Vaires, Chelles, and Chalifert). All of these specimens belong to the following species,
Ocys tachysoides
(Thierry Deuve, pers. comm.); we have confirmed this for the specimens from Vaires by examination of male genitalia. However, the
lack
of
Ocys harpaloides
in the twentieth-century specimens in the MNHN does not necessarily mean that the species was absent from Paris in 1823: in the 123 years that passed between the description of
Tachis rufescens
and the collection of the Viares specimens in 1946, the habitats around Paris may have changed. The possibility that
Ocys harpaloides
lived in Paris in the 1820s is made more likely by the presence, in the collection of Mr. Dominique Echaroux, of two series of specimens of
Ocys harpaloides
from just outside of Paris: one specimen from Bouray-sur-Juine and seven from Juvisy-sur-Orge. The latter is only 18km SE of the type locality of
Tachis rufescens
. Thus, both species have lived in the general Paris area, and a specimen of either species could be designated as a neotype. However, designation of the Vaires specimen, for example, would lead to
Ocys rufescens
as the name of the following species, with
Ocys tachysoides
as a junior synonym. This would change the name used for the following species in the Iberian Peninsula and Africa, where it is known as
Ocys tachysoides
(per
Toribio 2013
). In the interests of stability, we choose as neotype of
Tachis rufescens
one of the Juvisy-sur-Orge males; with this designation,
Tachis rufescens
is maintained as synonym of
Ocys harpaloides
.
In the BMNH, under
"melanocephalum"
, are seven specimens (four males, three females) in the J. Stephens collection, all with the label "British Isles J. Stephens Coll. BM. 1853 - 46". We consider this to be the type series of
Ocys melanocephalus
Stephens. Three of the males in this series were dissected, and genitalia examined; they all match genitalic type A (i.e., as in Fig. 6A, D). We have chosen one of these specimens as the lectotype.
In the Wollaston collection of the BMNH, in
Insecta
Maderensia, Drawer 2, is a single teneral female, without a determination label. This specimen is presumed to be the holotype of
Bembidium dubium
Wollaston, 1854. Its colour suggests that it belongs to this species. However, the species membership of the type is of no nomenclatural importance, as the name is a junior primary homonym of
Bembidium dubium
Heer, 1838, itself a junior synonym of
Bemidion assimile
(Gyllenhal, 1810).
An additional name (
Carabus tempestivus
Panzer, 1799) is listed as a synonym of
Ocys harpaloides
by some authors (e.g. Stephens, 1828). However, this name is a synonym of
Trechus quadristriatus
(Schrank, 1781), as documented by
Erichson (1837)
.
Diagnosis.
Body length 4.2-6.1 mm (
Toribio 2013
and our observations; average length of males 5.0 mm (n=5), of females 5.51 mm (n=5)). Head and pronotum a clear orange-brown; anterior and central part of elytra of the same colour, but sides and posterior region of elytra dark brown (Fig. 3), and with the epipleural gutter and suture yellow-brown. Microsculpture of elytral disc more transverse, with more close-set parallel lines and fewer meshes (Fig. 7A, B); density of microsculpture lines 25-26 per 0.1 mm (n=4 males). Hind margin of pronotum in most specimens straighter than in
Ocys tachysoides
, such that the hind margin is directed more or less laterally near the hind angles (Fig. 10A), occasionally with a slight emargination laterally (Fig. 10B). Elytra more parallel-sided, greatest width behind middle. Basal margin at shoulder slightly arcuate with a forward-directed concavity (Fig. 11A, B). Elytral striae 2 through 4 less marked in the apical third. Aedeagus with ventral margin bend slightly downward toward apex (Fig. 6A, B); apex more rounded. Anterior edge of central sclerite complex of internal sac more rounded; brush sclerite larger; dorsal membranes of internal sac darker. Gonocoxite relatively long (Fig. 8A), GCR=0.64-0.69 (average 0.67, n=5); spermathecal margin (opposite the efferent duct of the spermathecal gland) curved (Fig. 8A, B; n=5), with tip pointed toward duct of gland.
Figure 10. Hind margin of pronotum. A, B,
Ocys harpaloides
(A: North Slob, Wexford, Ireland, voucher DNA2759, B: Halve Maan, Oostende, Belgium, voucher DNA2853). C, D.
Ocys tachysoides
(B: Belvoir Forest, Belfast, Northern Ireland, voucher DNA2763, D: Murlough NNR, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, voucher DNA2899). Scale bar 0.1 mm.
Figure 11. Left shoulder. A, B,
Ocys harpaloides
(A: North Slob, Wexford, Ireland, voucher DNA2759, B: Bos Ter Rijst, Schorisse, Belgium, voucher DNA2937) C, D.
Ocys tachysoides
(B: River Schelde, De Kramp, Moerzeke, Belgium, voucher DNA2936, D: Murlough NNR, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, voucher DNA2899). Scale bar 0.1 mm.
Geographic distribution
(Fig. 12). In Africa, from Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. In Europe from Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Examination of specimens in additional collections will likely show it to be more widely distributed.
Figure 12. Distribution map of
Ocys harpaloides
and
Ocys tachysoides
. Only records of which we are confident are included. In addition to specimens we have examined, and those from
Toribio (2013)
, Antoine (1956), and Sciaky (2009), we have included three publically available records from the Barcode of Life Database (http://www.boldsystems.org), corresponding to BOLD records GBCOU8213-14, GBCOU8667-14, and FBCOH116-12, as well as specimens identified by Luca Toledano and Paolo Bonavita in their collections (CTVR and PB, respectively) based upon images and diagnoses we provided to them.
Specimens
examined.
In addition to type specimens, and those listed in Table 1, we examined specimens from Morocco:
Tetouan
(BMNH); Algeria (BMNH); France: Carcassone (MNHN), Bouray-sur-Juine (DE); Spain: San Roque (BMNH), Beuda, Girona (OSAC), and Sant Carles de Peralta (RAC).