Stag beetles of the genus Dorcus MacLeay in North America (Coleoptera, Lucanidae)
Author
Paulsen, M. J.
University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, United States of America
text
ZooKeys
2010
2010-01-28
34
34
199
207
journal article
10.3897/zookeys.34.292
e4793122-9b59-4473-9912-18d50e3db61c
1313–2970
576613
49601E51-1B57-4176-8A18-50B6CA622B40
Dorcus mexicanus
Examination of the
type
specimens of
D. mexicanus
revealed that they are
Dorcus parallelipipedus
(L.), a Palearctic species. The identical male genitalia (Fig. 11), protruding clypeus of males, irregularly punctate elytra, and bituberculate frons of the female provide overwhelming evidence to support this conclusion. Thus, the name
D. mexicanus
Benesh
is here reduced to a synonym of
D. parallelipipedus
(new synonymy).
Coincidentally, I encountered a second pair of
D. parallelipipedus
recently accessioned at the FMNH that bore handwritten labels indicating “
Mexico
,
Nuevo Leon
, Monterey (sic),
Aug 1976
”. The presence of a second, more recent pair of
D. parallelipipedus
from
Mexico
at first suggested that the species might be introduced there. However, on further examination I found that other handwritten locality labels of the same style from the accessioned collection were erroneous (with incorrect countries). While it is not impossible that the species is adventive in
Mexico
, it is more likely given the nomenclatural history of
Dorcus
that the common
D. parallelipipedus
has been mislabeled in these two instances.