Nothopleurus serratus ( Thomson, 1865 )

Santos-Silva, Antonio, Delahaye, Norbert & Pirkl, Jiří, 2023, The mysterious Aplagiognathus serratus Thomson: a new synonym in Macrotomini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae, Macrotomini), Faunitaxys (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) 11 (28), pp. 1-4 : 1-2

Nothopleurus serratus ( Thomson, 1865) , revalidated name

( Fig. 1-8)

Aplagiognathus serratus Thomson, 1865: 578 .

Mallodon gnatho LeConte, 1858: 81 (not Mallodon gnatho White, 1853 ).

Mallodon mandibularis Gemminger, 1872: 254 (not Prionus mandibularis Fabricius, 1801 ).

Nothopleurus lobigenis Bates, 1884: 235 . Syn. nov.

Nothopleurus komiyai Santos-Silva & Martins, 2005: 194 .

Remarks.

According to Thomson (1865):

“ APLAGIOGNATHUS SERRATUS . Mexicum. Long. 33 Mill. Lat. 11 ½ Mill. Bruneus, nitidus; mandibulae subhorizontales, grossè et sparsim punctate; caput valdè scabrosum; prothorax lateribus denticulatus et asper, mediocriter punctatus; elytra ferè laevia, apice bi-armata; sternum flavo-pilosum; abdomen pedesque impunctata; A. Cilipedis (Sayi) approximatus [Brown, shiny; mandibles subhorizontal, sparsely coarsely punctate; head very rough; prothorax denticulate and rough laterally [pronotum rough laterally], slightly punctate [pronotum – centrally] elytra almost smooth, apex bidentate [considering both elytra]; sternum [metaventrite] yellowish pubescent; abdomen and legs not punctate. Similar to A. cilipedis [sic, cilipes ] (Sayi) [sic, Say].]” Between the original description and Lameere (1903a), A. serratus was mentioned in a few publications, but always without details:

- Thomson (1867) – “ APLAGIOGNATHUS SERRATUS, Thomson, Syst. Ceramb. Diagnoses , p. 578, 251. Patria. Mexicum”;

- Gemminger (1872), as Mallodon serratus – “ serratus Thoms. Syst. Ceramb. 1865 . p. 578. Mexico ”;

- Thomson (1878) – “ Aplagiognathus serratus ”;

- Bates (1879) – “ Aplagiognathus serratus, Thoms. Syst. Ceramb. p. 578. Hab. MEXICO. Unknown to me.”

Lameere (1903a: 16) wrote (translated): “ serratus Thoms. , the only species only described in the genus and may be a Mallodonopsis .” Lameere (1903b: 218) suggested that A. serratus was a female of Mallodonopsis mexicana Thomson, 1861 (translated): “ Aplapiognathus is this supposed to be Aplagiognathus?serratus Thoms. (Syst. Ceramb., 1865, p. 578) , which I had believed, regarding the short description of Thomson, to consider as the present species [ Basitoxus melanopus (Linnaeus, 1767) ; currently, Archodontes melanopus ] and which is unknown for me, seems like it can't be melanopus , the head indicated as rough: it’s may be the female of Mallodonopsis mexicana .” As it is possible to see, Lameere (1903a, b) did not formalize the synonym. It was Lameere (1913) who synonymized A. serratus with M. mexicana .

The short and vague original description of A. serratus does not allow recognition of the species. Probably, some of the information by Thomson (1865) leaded Lameere (1903 a, 1903b, 1913) to misinterpret the identity of A. serratus : because the mandibles are sub-horizontal. In fact, the mandibles in A. serratus are horizontal and not sub-horizontal as in Mallodonopsis mexicana .

Recently, we had the opportunity to study the holotype of Aplagiognathus serratus through photographs (personally by the third author). We verified that it is the same as Nothopleurus lobigenis , a very different species from Mallodonopsis mexicana . It is necessary to point out that based on the original description it is absolutely impossible to know what A.serratus really was.Furthermore,in 1903, Thomson’s collection belonged to René Oberthür, who did not allow Lameere access to the collection ( Lameere 1902a: 59).

The holotype of A. serratus ( Fig. 1-7) is a male and has the following labels ( Fig. 3 & 8): white, bordered with green (handwritten) – Serratus / Thomson. Type / S. C. Ap. / Mex.; white, bordered with black (printed) – Th. / TYPE; red (print) – HOLOTYPE [this label was recently changed since the specimen had a lectotype label ( Fig. 3); white, bordered with black (printed) – MUSEUM PARIS / COLL. J. THOMSON / 1952; white (printed) – HOLOTYPE / Aplagiognathus / serratus Thomson, 1865 ; white (printed) – MNHN, Paris / EC20307. The last two labels were recently included because they were not present when the third author photographed the specimen and labels ( Fig. 3). Additionally, the holotype was remounted after the third author had taken the photographs. Do you know by whom and why?

LeConte (1858) described Mallodon gnatho from Mexico.

Gemminger (1872) provided a nomen novum for the species: “ Mallodon gnatho – Leconte (1858) ändere ich wegen M. gnatho White (1853) in mandibularis ab. [I change Mallodon gnatho LeConte (1858) to mandibularis because of M. gnatho White (1853) .] Mallodon gnatho White, 1853 is a junior synonymy of Nothopleurus subsulcatus (Dalman, 1823) .

Later, Bates (1884) described Nothopleurus lobigenis from Mexico (Oaxaca). According to Lameere (1902b) (translated): “The name by Bates [ N. lobigenis ] must be preferred to that of Gemminger, because there is a Prionus mandibularis Fabricius , which is synonymous with Stenodontes exsertus Olivier. ” Lameere (1902b) considered the genus Stenodontes Audinet- Serville, 1832 divided into six subgenera:

S. ( Stenodontes );

S. ( Mallodon ) Lacordaire, 1830;

S. ( Mallodonhoplus ) Thomson, 1861;

S. ( Physopleurus ) Lacordaire, 1869;

S. ( Nothopleurus ) Lacordaire, 1869;

S. ( Dendroblaptus ) Chevrolat, 1864.

Although Prionus mandibularis Fabricius, 1801 was in synonymy with Stenodontes (Stenodontes) exsertus (Olivier, 1795) and Mallodon mandibularis and Mallodon lobigenis were in Stenodontes (Nothopleurus) , M. mandibularis was a secondary homonym of P. mandibularis ( ICZN 1999: Article 57.4). Therefore, Lameere (1902b) was correct in considering Nothopleurus lobigenis as the valid name of the species.

Notwithstanding, Aplagiognathus serratus was not synonymized before 1913. Therefore, it was a valid name until this date and it is not possible to use ICZN Article 23.9.1 (1999) because the condition of Article 23.9.1.1 is not present. To reinforce, the condition of Article 23.9.1.2 ( ICZN 1999) is also not present. Therefore, Nothopleurus lobigenis is a junior synonymy of Nothopleurus serratus ( Thomson, 1865) .

We examined a photograph of the headof the holotype of Mallodon gnatho LeConte showing the ventral view. Therefore, we can confirm that this species is in fact the same as Nothopleurus serratus and therefore also the same as Nothopleurus lobigenis .