On the types species of the New World dung beetle genus Canthidium Erichson, 1847 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), with an annotated checklist of species
Author
Cupello, Mario
text
Zootaxa
2018
2018-03-06
4388
4
451
486
journal article
30595
10.11646/zootaxa.4388.4.1
a884362d-a9f8-4cee-8cd4-dcf59a73ede2
1175-5326
1189072
7A57C29B-6B16-445E-A8D7-750C736E6B42
Canthidium muticum
(
Boheman, 1858
)
Onthophagus muticus
Boheman, 1858
: 48
[transferred to
Canthidium
by
Harold 1867b
: 88
].
Type
locality:
Unknown (originally cited as “Insula Oahu (Honolulu)”).
Type
material:
According to
Harold (1867b)
, only one
syntype
was found (NHRS).
Distribution:
Supposedly from the island of O‘ahu, in the Hawaiian archipelago, in the middle of northen Pacific ocean. According to
Bousquet (2016)
, the material studied by
Boheman (1858)
was collected during the circumnavigation expedition of the Swedish frigate HSwMS
Eugenie
between
1851 and 1853
under command of Christian Adolf Virgin (
1797–1870
). During that voyage, the crew set foot in several locations all around the world, including South America and
Panama
, where most of the
Canthidium
species live, and in
Hawaii
, where the
C. muticum
type
series was supposedly collected at. Therefore, it is possible that some beetles collected in the Neotropics were mingled with others caught in the Hawaiian archipelago, so leading to a possible mislabelling of some specimens. It is necessary to revise the
type
series to check whether this is either an incorrect geographical report, or whether
C. muticum
is indeed a Hawaiian endemic. It is noteworthy that, along with from
C. muticum
, the only other dung beetle described by
Boheman (1858)
from Honolulu,
Canthon balteatus
, had its occurrence in the archipelago questioned earlier in the Nishida (2002) survey of the Hawaiian arthropods. According to Vulcano & Pereira (1964),
C. balteatus
is endemic to
Ecuador
. Liebherr
et al
. (2010) discussed on several cases of South American
Carabidae
allegedly described from
Hawaii
by
Boheman (1858)
.