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Issue: Vol. 5763 No. 4: 5 Mar. 2026
Type: Article
Published: 2026-03-05
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5763.4.4
Page range: 529-540
Abstract views: 74
PDF downloaded: 5

Taxonomic mystery solved: the identity of Melolontha pexa Zubkov, 1833 and the genus Adoretops Kraatz, 1883 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae)

Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences; Institute of Entomology; Branišovská 31; CZ-370 05 České Budějovice; Czech Republic
Mendel University in Brno; Department of Zoology; Fisheries and Hydrobiology; Zemědělská 1; CZ-613 00 Brno; Czech Republic
Federal Research Centre; the Southern Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Chekhov St. 41; Rostov-on-Don; 344006; Russia
Coleoptera karelin Caspian Sea nomenclature taxonomy

Abstract

The identity of Melolontha pexa Zubkov, 1833 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Rhizotrogini) is clarified by the designation of a neotype. Melolontha pexa is transferred to the genus Holochelus Reitter, 1889 as Holochelus (Eriotrogus) pexus (Zubkov, 1833), new combination and proposed a senior subjective synonym of H. (Eriotrogus) aschhabadensis (Nonveiller, 1965) and H. (Holochelus) heptapotamicus Nikolajev, 2009. Although M. pexa Zubkov, 1833 is a primary junior homonym of Melolontha pexa Germar, 1823, its validity must be preserved according to the Article 23.9.5 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) and the case must be brought to the commission for a ruling. The type species of the genus Adoretops Kraatz, 1883 is designated as Demodema bonariensis Bruch, 1909, which was misidentified as Melolontha pexa Zubkov, 1833 in the original designation. This results in Adoretops becoming a new subjective junior synonym of Plectris LePeletier & Audinet-Serville, 1828 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Macrodactylini). The history of the beetle material collected by G.S. Karelin between 1827 and 1836 in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea is summarized and the collaboration of Karelin and Zubkov is discussed.

 

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How to Cite

Bezděk, A., Bezděk, J. & Shokhin, I.V. (2026) Taxonomic mystery solved: the identity of Melolontha pexa Zubkov, 1833 and the genus Adoretops Kraatz, 1883 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae). Zootaxa, 5763 (4), 529–540. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5763.4.4