44 Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclalure 52(1) March 1995 Case 2918 Aspidiphorus Ziegler in Dejean, 1821 (Insecta, Coleoptera): proposed conservarion as the correct original spelling, and aspidiphoridae Kiesenwetter, 1877 (1859): proposed placement on the Official List Joseph V. McHugh Department of Entomology. Comstock Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-0999. U.S.A. Abstract. The purpose of this application is to conserve the universally accepted spelling Aspidiphorus Ziegler in Dejean. 1821 for a genus of 12 nominal species of small beetles which feed on slime moulds and have a broad distribution in the Old World. It is also proposed that the name aspidiphoridae Kiesenwetter, 1877 (1859) should be placed on the Official List as the valid name for the family group that includes both Aspidiphorus and Sphindus Megerle in Dejean, 1821. 1. In the 1821 edition of his catalog, Dejean included two new genera with authorship attributed as follows: Arpidiphorus Ziegler (p. 47) and Sphindus Megerle (p. 102). He placed the single nominal species Nitidula orbiculata Gyllenhal, 1808 (p. 242) in Arpidipliorus. and included N. dubia Gyllenhal. 1808 (p. 243) as the only species in Sphindus. Dejean cited 'Sphindus gyllenliaU Dej." in conjunction with dubia. It is not clear whether gyllenhali was a manuscript name of Dejean's or an unnecessary replacement name for dubia: it has not been used again. Nitidula orbiculata and N. dubia are the type species by monotypy of Arpidiphorus and Sphindus respectively. The two new genera were unaccompanied by any description, diagnosis or illustration, but the requirements of availability under Article 12b(5) of the Code are met because the included nominal species can be identified by the citation of their authors. 2. Sturm (1826, pp. 16. 98) used the spelling Aspidiphorus for Arpidiphorus, attributing the genus to Ziegler and including Nitidula orbiculata Gyllenhal. Latreille (1829, p. 508) also used Aspidiphorus. attributed to Ziegler and Dejean. He included N. orbiculata and placed the genus in his suprageneric group "Dermestes'. 3. The original name Arpidiphorus was apparently an error for Aspidiphorus, which has been used regularly in the literature after Latreille (1829) with either Dejean, Latreille or Ziegler cited as author. The changed spelling was used by Dejean himself in the subsequent edition (1837) of his catalog where it too was attributed to Ziegler, not Sturm or Latreille. Etymological considerations also suggest that a misspelling occurred in the original publication. There is no meaning for the stem 'arpid-' in the classical languages whereas 'aspid-' (= shield), when combined with "phorus" (= bearer), is perfectly fitting given the form of these beetles. No internal evidence from Dejean's (1821) catalog has been found, however, to support the assumption that a lapsus calami or printer's error occurred. There have been four exceptions to the usage of Aspidiphorus in over 170 years: (1) the unjustified emendation Aspidophorus Agassiz, 1846 (p. 36); (2) the incorrect spelling
Case 2918. ASPIDIPHORUS ZIEGLER IN DEJEAN, 1821 (INSECTA, COLEOPTERA): PROPOSED CONSERVATION AS THE CORRECT ORIGINAL SPELLING, AND ASPIDIPHORIDAE KIESENWETTER, 1 877 (1859): PROPOSED PLACEMENT ON THE OFFICIAL LIST
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