Forum Entomologi Italiani

Anthaxia croesus?

Anthaxia (Haplanthaxia) croesus (Villers, 1789)

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Ciao
Adrian

Grazie mille, Adrian!

Dear friends,
- as I have already published in my latest work, Anthaxia (Hapl.) croesus (Villers, 1789) should correctly be identified as "Anthaxia scutellaris Gené, 1839 (A. croesus auct.)".
This species name, as is evident from the content of the quite apt description, was used by Villers to describe an entirely different species, even from a different subgenus. Unfortunately, a recent misguided decision led to the synonymization of the valid name A. scutellaris—a grave error—and also to the consolidation of older data pertaining not to a single species but to several others under this name. Based on the subjective opinions published at the time, changes were subsequently made in PalCat...
In my work on the taxa of the A. olympica subgroup, I was unable to address this issue for several reasons. First, it is currently a topic for a separate, extensive revision, and second, another specialist has taken on this task and had already begun working on it at that time.
Whether the name "croesus" will be used later or will disappear entirely remains unclear for now.

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Acmaeodera
Acmaeoderini Orbis, Buprestidae, Scarabaeidae
acmaeodera@seznam.cz
http://www.acmaeodera.cz

Well, back to the "classic" name scutellaris.
Entomological nomenclature is starting to resemble a sort of lexical yo-yo more and more every day. But rules are rules