Correction of the misidentifications and confusion surrounding Ochodaeus grandiceps Fairmaire, 1897 (Coleoptera: Ochodaeidae), and the description of a new species of ochodaeid from Cuba
Author
Paulsen, M. J.
text
Insecta Mundi
2014
2014-08-29
2014
369
1
6
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.5179307
1942-1354
5179307
1BC176E9-DD01-4279-8CCE-BFAC23948502
The true
Ochodaeus grandiceps
Fairmaire
Fairmaire (1897)
clearly and carefully described
Ochodaeus grandiceps
, with a
type
locality of
Sichuan
,
China
. He stated that the specimen was remarkable for its large head and produced clypeus with two distinct tubercles; he also described the dark spots on the elytra and base of the pronotum (
Fairmaire 1897
). Because the MNHN
type
specimen matches the description perfectly there is no doubt that it is the
type
(
Fig. 1
). These characters together with the trapezoidal interlocking mechanism of the propygidium identify it as a representative of the Asian genus
Nothochodaeus
Nikolajev, 2005
. The species must be transferred to that genus, resulting in the
new combination
N. grandiceps
(Fairmaire)
.
Further complicating matters,
Nikolajev (2009)
based a new genus,
Mimochodaeus
,
on what was purported to be
O. grandiceps
Fairmaire
from
Sichuan
. The species illustrated, however, is not
O. grandiceps
, and it is not immediately clear which species is actually depicted. After receiving images of the
holotype
of
O. grandiceps
from me, Nikolajev (in litt.) has indicated that he will publish a correction concerning
Mimochodaeus
in the near future.