206 Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 48(3) September 1 99 1 Case 2671 J.C. Megerle's (1801-1805) auction catalogues of insects: proposed suppression, with conservation of the specific names of Saperda alboguttata Megerle, 1803 (now in Apomecynd) (Coleoptera) and Hippobosca variegata Megerle, 1803 (Diptera) I.M. Kerzhner Zoological Institute, Academy of Sciences, Leningrad 199034, U.S.S.R. Abstract. It is proposed that the extremely rare and usually neglected publications by Megerle (1801-1805) entitled Catalogus Insectorum and Appendix ad catalogum insectorum be ruled to be unavailable. Despite this, the conservation is recommended of two specific names, those of Apomecyna alboguttata (Megerle, 1803) (Coleoptera, cerambycidae) and Hippobosca variegata Megerle, 1803 (Diptera, hippoboscidae). 1. Johann Carl Megerle (1765-1840; from 1803 Megerle von Miihlfeld) worked as collection curator in the Wiener Hofmuseum (now the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna). He organized an 'Auctionsinstitut' (1798-1806) for selHng by auction naturalia, especially insects. Eleven catalogues of insects (and some other arthropods) published by Megerle for these auctions are known (SchenkHng, 1935). 2. The only known complete set of these catalogues is in the entomological library of the Eberswalde branch of the German Institute for Plant Protection (former library of the Deutsches Entomologisches Institut). Photocopies of this Eberswalde set are in the library of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., and another (kindly sent by Dr H.J. Miiller) is in the Zoological Institute, Leningrad. 3. Megerle's catalogues contain about 290 new specific names and at least three new generic names, most of them in Coleoptera (see Table on following page), which are formally available. They also contain a number of misspelled names; one such mis-spelling (Jasus for lassus Fabricius, 1 803) was placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names (Opinion 612, 1961). 4. In the catalogues the names of European species are printed in normal type and those of exotic species in italics. About 50 new species are European; their distribution is not indicated, except for species from Russia. The new exotic species are from Bengal, U.S.A. (Georgia), Australia ('Nova Hollandia'), etc., but for many of them the distri-bution is not given. Megerle (abbreviated to 'M.') is indicated as author of most new taxa, but some names are credited by him to Preyssler, Schreibers, Hellwig, Ziegler and others. 5. All the diagnoses are short, often in abbreviated words. Some examples are: 'parva', 'min. bifronti', 'med. inter arvens. et sylvestr.', 'Med. nig. flav. vari. AH, aqu. post. mac. fuse. per. lin. flav. divis. et flav. nervos.', and 'F. 51 P' (which means Fabricius, Entomologia Systematica: Tenthredo species 51, var. P). Some of Megerle's type specimens are in the Vienna Museum (Thompson, 1988), and others may be found
Case 2671. J.c. Megerle's 1801-1805 Auction Catalogues Of Insects Proposed Suppression With Conservation Of The Specific Names Of Saperda alboguttata Megerle 1803 Now In Apomecyna Coleoptera And Hippobosca variegata Megerle 1803 Diptera
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