Scopaeus dilutus Motschulsky, 1858

Motschulsky (1858: 642) described Scopaeus dilutus from ‘Indes orientales’. Old records for Indonesia [Sunda Islands (Bernhauer & Schubert 1912: 247); Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi (Fauvel 1903: 153)] are doubtful. Cameron’s records for Indonesia [ Sumatera Utara: Arnhemia; Sumatera Barat: Bukittingi, Fort de Kock (Cameron 1930: 346); Sumatra, Java, New Guinee (Cameron 1931: 177)] are based on misidentifications, because his illustration of the abdomen (Cameron 1931: 177) proves that ‘his’ S. dilutus in fact represents the common, Oriental S. testaceus Motschulsky, which indeed is distributed in Java and Sumatra, but absent from New Guinea [see Frisch (2003: 672 – 674) and species chapter for S. testaceus above]. The false records for Indonesia were adopted by Biswas & Biswas (1995: 282) and Scheerpeltz (1933: 1266).