To be or not to be a synonym - revision of the Donaciaclavareaui-fukiensis complex (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Donaciinae).

Elisabeth Geiser

doi:10.3897/zookeys.856.32388

Abstract

The East Palaearctic species Donaciaclavareaui Jacobson, 1906 and Donaciafukiensis Goecke, 1944 have been confused for decades. Finally, D.fukiensis was synonymized with D.clavareaui by Askevold (1990) but he could not examine the type series of D.fukiensis because it was stored in an inaccessible collection. Cong and Yu (1997) re-established D.fukiensis as a distinct species, also without direct access to the type series. The synonymization by Askevold (1990) was applied in the identification key of Palaearctic Chrysomelidae (Warchalowski 2010) and the Catalogue of Palaearctic Chrysomelidae (Silfverberg 2010). Because the type series of D.fukiensis is now accessible, it has been possible to proof that D.fukiensis is a distinct species, and a lectotype has been established from the series of seven syntypes. Donaciakweilina Chen, 1966 and D.mediohirsuta Chen, 1966, which were split from the mixture of D.clavareaui and D.fukiensis, are now also synonymized with D.clavareaui, because their characters are the same or within the variation range of the characters of D.clavareaui. Furthermore, a distribution map is provided with the reliable records known to date.

Highlights

The East Palaearctic species of Donacia clavareaui Jacobson, 1906, D. fukiensis Goecke, 1944, D. kweilina Chen, 1966, and D. mediohirsuta Chen, 1966 all have in common that their pronotum is pubescent while their elytra are glabrous
In the identification key of Gressitt and Kimoto (1961) only D. fukiensis was considered to occur in China, which resulted in further identification errors
In the 1940s Goecke, a world-renowned Donaciinae specialist, examined specimens of D. clavareaui in the collection of the Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn (Germany). He recognized that the specimens from Fujian were different in some characters which are typical for species limitation in Donacia

Summary

Introduction

The East Palaearctic species of Donacia clavareaui Jacobson, 1906, D. fukiensis Goecke, 1944, D. kweilina Chen, 1966, and D. mediohirsuta Chen, 1966 all have in common that their pronotum is pubescent while their elytra are glabrous. Cong and Yu (1997) re-established D. fukiensis as a distinct species, but in the main comprehensive books on Palaearctic Chrysomelidae (Warchalowski 2010, Silfverberg 2010) D. fukiensis is still considered to be synonymous with D. clavareaui. These problems arose because the syntype series was neither accessible to Askevold nor to Cong and Yu. Today, the type series of D. fukiensis is stored at the Natural History Museum in Basel and it has been possible at last to examine it

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Conclusion