Pachytodes erratica (Dalman, 1817)
Pachytodes erraticus (Dalman, 1817)
The gender of the genus Pachytodes is debated and most authors regard it
as masculine and therefore use the species epithet in the form
"erraticus". However, I argue here that the gender is feminine, because Pic (1891)
when introducing the genus for the first time writes: "La première
division [here Pic refers to Julodia] ne comprend en France qu´une
espèce, la plus ancienne connue, ou la 6-maculata de Linné, la seconde
[and here Pic refers to his new "division" Pachytodes] en prend deux,
les cerambyciformis Sc. et erratica Dalm.". Thus, Pic attributes two
species to his new genus and uses the feminine form for the two names,
which implies that he regarded his new genus name Pachytodes as feminine
as well. I therefore regard Pachytodes erratica as the valid name for
the present species.
|
