Hylecoetopsis Lane, 1955 is a Synonym of Ichnea Laporte, 1836 (Coleoptera: Lymexylidae and Cleridae)

Abstract

During the preparation of a catalog of the family Lymexylidae, an implied generic synonymy was discovered which is here explicitly reported. Several early works including Lymexylidae (Dejean 1833, 1836; Gemminger and Harold 1869; Lacordaire 1857) listed Hylecoetus cylindricus Dejean, 1833 from Brazil. This is a nomen nudum according to Article 12.1 of the Code (ICZN 2012). Germer (1912: 719) subsequently validated the binomen Hylecoetus cylindricus Germer, 1912 by providing the first description of the species based on a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana sent by Sigmund Schenkling from the Deutsches Entomologisches Institut (now SDEI, Müncheberg). It should be noted that Hylecoetus is a junior subjective synonym of Elateroides Schaeffer, 1777 as established by Lacordaire (1857: 502). Recent workers have used the name Elateroides following Cuccodoro (2002), but all the works cited here appeared before this clarification and utilized the junior synonym as valid instead. The name H. cylindricus was not included in the catalog of Lymexylidae by Schenkling (1915), though he did cite Germer (1912) in other species entries. It is unclear if Schenkling inadvertently omitted this taxon or perhaps rather did not consider it to belong to the family. The species was similarly not included in the checklist by Blackwelder (1945). Lane (1955: 160) recognized the description as aberrant and erected the genus Hylecoetopsis Lane, 1955 and designated H. cylindricus as the type species. Lane commented on not having seen a primary type but recorded the type locality as Cayenne following Germer’s treatment. Wheeler (1986: 117) revised the genera of Lymexylidae and removed Hylecoetopsis, tentatively placing it in Cleridae citing “evidence to be discussed elsewhere by W. F. Barr and me”. Evidently, no such work was ever subsequently published on this placement by either Quentin D. Wheeler or William F. Barr. The most recent treatment was by Opitz (2010: 49), who synonymized H. cylindricus under Ichnea marginella (Klug, 1842) (Cleridae: Epiphloeinae). Opitz apparently did not see the type but saw a single specimen in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris identified as H. cylindricus. Opitz (2010: 1, 49, 63) consistently yet erroneously cited the author of H. cylindricus as “Germar” instead of Germer but the citation and page numbers unambiguously indicate that Germer’s nomen and 1912 study were the intended reference. Opitz made no mention of the genus Hylecoetopsis or its status. Nevertheless, the generic synonymy is implied by the synonymy of its type (and only) species, thereby making Hylecoetopsis a junior subjective synonym of Ichnea Laporte, 1836. This taxonomic journey is summarized by the synonymic table below but see Opitz (2010) for additional non-focal nomenclature of these clerids.