The Canadian Ent~~s&o'gist - - Vol. 100 Ottawa, Canada, October 1 29 1968 No. 10 NOTES ON BRUCHIDAE OF AMERICA NORWFMEXICO WITH A LIST OF WORLD GEI^~^^~'~^ L. J. BOTTIMER' Entomology Research Institute, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa Abstract Can. Ent. 100: 1009-1049 (1968) This paper contains notes affecting the classification of the Bruchidae of United States and Canada, a list of all species found north of AfIexico, and a list of World genera and their type-species. The Mexican Merobrzichzis vacillator (Sharp) is added to the fauna of this area. Transferred from our list to that of Latin America are: Acanthoscelides ca1ifornicu.r (Boheman), Megacerus ez~genie new name for Brucbus micornis Boheman nec Erichson, and Mimosestes innotatits (Pic.). The following are synonynlizecl: Spernwpl~gzis (Zabrotes) se~fiicinctzisHorn (1894) with Zabrotes snbfasciatzis (Bohenlan 1833) ; Brzicbus siibserripes Fall (1910) with Acanthoscelides compressicornis (Schaeffer 1907); Litl~raeus electus Bridwell (1952) with Litbraens elegans (Blanchard 1851); Brzicbus a/lioguttatus Motschoulsky (1874) with Meibomeus in-iisculiis (Say 1831) ; Britcbzis bivzilneratus Horn ( 1873) with Brzicbus abbreviates, inadvertently validated by Say = Sennius abbreviates (Say 1824); Br-nc/~zisnigrinus Horn (1873), B. nictitans Motschoulsliy (1874), and B. depresses Fall (1912) with Sennius cmentatits (Horn 1873) ; Br-nchus pytboniciis Pic (191 3) with Stator midialis (Schaeffer 1907) ; and Brzicl7zis bigzittatus Fabricius (1801) = Bruclms bignttellzis Schocnherr (1833) with Callosobr-ncbus chinensis (Linnaeus 1758). Original spellings of the specific names of two species are revived: Megacerus pygidatis (Mot~~h~~l~liy)nec pygidialis Pic, and Megacms discoidus (Say) nec discoidens: authors. Knichus lividus J. E. LeContc 1824 is placed in our list as an unrccogni~cdspecies. Thirty-five new combinations are proposed. Introduction The main objects of the present paper arc to tabulate the species of Bruchidac <nown to occur in the United States and Canada, assigning each to its proper genus and giving synonymy when necessary, and to list the genera of the World including details on type-species dcsignatibns. Few, if any, families in Coleoptera can show such nomenclatorial chaos as can the bruchids, with Briichns, Laria, and Mylabris all involved in the family name. Bridwcll 112s been practically universally followed in his use of ~mclz~s and Bruchidae, and the writer follows this practice. The validity of the generic name Ainblycems Thunberg cannot be determined by the writer. This problem, as well as that involving the use of Bmchzis, can be solved only through rulings of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Since examination of types has not been possible, no efforts have been made to determine the synonymy of Acanthoscelides obtectzis (Say), Amblycerus robimac (Fabricius) , Brz~c/~idiz~sz~nicolor (Olivier) , Bruc/ms brachialis Fihraeus, B. pisom (Linnaeus) , nor B. r~~fi7;1atzz~sBoheman. The Motschonlsky Bruchids from "Amer. bor." A4otschoulsky (1874) presented an extensive treatise of World Bruchidae, including descriptions of more than 120 new species, 10 of these supposedly from 'Research Associate. 1010 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST October 1968 the United States. Motschoulsky had previously journeyed to the United States and to Panama to collect insects, and portions of his travels were published in three letters (A4otschoulslcy 1854, 1855, 1856). The first letter told of his arrival in New York in early October 1853 and of his travels west to Niagara Falls, Buffalo, and Cleveland, then southwest to Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, Nashville, and Cairo. He collected extensively along this route, but he reported on only one bruchid. This was taken in the vicinity of the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and recorded as follows (Motschoulsky 1854, p. 12): "Dans les fortts qui environment ces souterrains, je ramassai les fruits de 1'Acacia i sucre, clont Ics semences contenaient un beau Bmclxts gris d'une tres grande taille." Although undetermined, this bruchid and its host plant could only have been robiniae Fabricius from the pods of the honey locust, Gleditsia tricauthos. This can be assumed to be the source of his examples of "Sp. robi~~iae"to which he later compared three new species of Spe'i71zoplmgr1s described from Latin America ( A~lotschoulsky 1874, pp. 248, 249). Ill Motschoulsky's second letter, he related Ills experiences on the Isthmus of Panama during most of March 1854. The third letter, for the period April to July 1854, covered his travels from Louisi:~n;i to the nort11c:ist. Among the lo&lities mcntionecl arc New Orlciins, Mobilc, Montgomery, Atl;int:i, the Carolinas, Washington, Philadelphia, and Boston. I-Jc continued his collecting, :mil visited many of the entomologists of the time. J. L. LcConte is mentioned in particular as having named manv of the insects collected in the southeastern States. Motschoulsk~no doubt also obtained material through exchanges and as gifts. Of the 10 Motschoulsky species of Bruchidae with which we are concerned, 4 are recorded from ~alifornia,and 6 are listed as from "Am. bor." or "Amer. bor." with an additional "'Mobile" and "N. Orl." for two species, the only ones with specific locations. It is quite hli-ely tliat Motschoulsl~y obtainid the California material from LeConte, but that he collected the others along the routes indicated above, with the possible exception of varicornis. Bridwell (1938b, p. 5) listed varicornis Motscl~oulsl~yas a synonym of obtectus Say, and this appears to be correct. The present writer places albognttis and ~zictita'nsin synonymy with mscz~lusSay and cruentatw Horn, respectively, from description. ~irectcomparisons are desired before making decisions regarding the status of the remaining seven Motschoulsky species. Notes on the Classification of Bruchidae Bridwell (1932) defined the family Bruchidae so as to exclude the Old World genera Rhaebus Fischer (1824) and Bmchela Dejean (1821) (Urodon Schoenherr 182 3). Following perhaps most of the earlier writers, he considered Rhaebz~sFischer to be more closely associated with Chrysomelidae than with Bruchidae. Bridwell, however, included in Bruchidae the genus Eubaptus Lacordaire ( 1845), also considered by writers as chrysomeloid in character. He suggested that Bruchela and certain allied genera be placed in a family closely related to Anthribidae. The subfamily Pachymerinae was defined by Bridwell (1929c, p. 142) for the palm bruchids and allies. Amblycerinae, Eubaptinae, and Kytorhinae were proposed as new by Bridwell (1932, p. 103), who used Bruchinae as the fifth subfamily in Bruchidae. Volume 100 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 1011 In their treatment of Russian Bruchidae, Lulcjanovitsch and Ter-Minassian (1957) also used the subfamilies Pachymerinae, Bruchinae, Kytorrhininae (sic), and Amblycerinae, but included Rhaebinaefor the genus Rhaebus. AMBLYCERINAE Bridwell Amblycerinae Bridwell 1932 : 103. Five genera were included in this subfamily when it was first proposed, but later, Bridwell (1946, p. 56) placed one of them in svnonymv. The four remain- ing genera are: Pygospermophagus Pic ( 1917) (misspelled Pygiospermophagus by Bridwell (1932, p. 106)) including a single South African species; Spemw- phagz~s Schoenherr ( 18 3 3) (Euspermophaps Zacher ( 1930) ) which includes essentially all other Old World forms; Zabrotes Horn (1885b) to which 11 American species can be assigned; and Amblycerz~sThunberg (18 15) under which more than 70 New World species and varieties have been listed by Blackwelder (1946), although some of these should be referred to 'iabrotes. ^Spermophagus Schoenherr Spennopbagns Schoenherr 1833: 102. Type-species: Spermopbagns titivilitnis Bolleman (1833). Type by original designation. Euspermopl~agz~sZacher 1930: 237. Type-species: Mylabris sericea Geoffrey 1785: 112. Type by original designation. Spernicitophagns Gistel 1856: 375. Emendation of Spermophagfis Schoenherr. Type-species: Sper~noplmpistitivilitius Boheman 1833: 106. Type by monotypy.. -. Although titiv'il'it'i'iis Boheman has remained unrecognized since its description, Spermopl~a,q'iisSchoenherr was used for nearly 100 years for practically all of the bruchids that now come under the subf;iniil~. Horn (1885b, p. 156)considered the North American rob'm'iae Fabricius as a representative of Sperwoplmgzis and described a linlf dozen ambl~cerinesfrom the United States in his new genus Zabrotcs. Sharp (m5, p. 492) accepted Zabrotes only as 3 section of Spenno- ph~sinchiding "the European S. cardii'i and other astern forms" in addition to the New World species assigned to it. He continued with "I think it possible from the description of S. titlvil'itiiis that it may prove to be structurally more similar to Dr. Horn's Zabrotes than to ~pemopl.;a~usrobiniae." In his citalogue of Bruchidae, Pic (1913a) listed all species of this group under Sper?vop/mgr/s, treating Zabrotes as a subgenus including only the few species described by Horn and Sharp. In his extensive work after that date, Pic continued to use Spernw- phagus for these bruchids except for the one species he assigned to his genus Pygosf~enuopl~~~gm-.Zacher (1930, p. 237), following Horn in considering robiniae Fabricius as typical of Spennoplmgzts, accepted 'Labrotes as a valid American genus, and proposed Ez~spermophagnsfor the Zabrotes-like Old World forms. Bridwell (1930) changed this by proposing the use of Amblycerz~s Thunberg (18 15) for robi~iaeFabricius and its relatives,