About the validity of Pachychila freyi Koch, 1944, P. denticollis Grimm, 1987 and the synonymies proposed by Viñolas & Cartagena (2005) in Fauna de Tenebriónidos (Argania Editio) (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Pimeliinae)

Abstract

Pachychila freyi Koch, 1944, misidentified as Pachychila incrassata Rosenhauer, 1856 by Viñolas & Cartagena (2005), and P. denticollis Grimm, 1987 are two valid species from Almería, Spain, arbitrarily treated as junior synonyms respectively of Pachychila glabella (Herbst, 1799) and of P. germari Solier, 1835. They differ clearly from Pachychila glabella and P. germari and from all other described species of this genus, by several morphological external and internal characters, ignored by the authors, who failed to study types. Moreover, the insect treated as “Pachychila germari Solier” by Viñolas & Cartagena (2005), exhibits significant genitalia differences compared to Pachychila germari from North Africa, and in reality belongs to Pachychila bifida Rosenhauer, 1856, another valid species of the Iberian fauna.