This taxon has a long history... following the authors who gave it a specific or subspecific status. Things have gone from one side to the other a couple of times. S. tenuicornis marginatus (White, 1853) is usually separated from the typical ssp. by it's origin. The first described, marginatus marginatus (White, 1850) is a mexican species, the ssp. marginatus concerns specimen from Guatemala and Honduras. My personal opinion is that both of them are the same. These two subspecies are artificial and at this day I did not notice any serious base which would justify them. Mallaspini show high variations in their morphology and colours. I have seen specimen from Mexico having a "marginatus-look" better than Honduras-items, with contrasting elytral board & suture...
Yes Pierre I agree with you. However if S.tenuicornis marginatus is localised in Guatemala and Honduras, S.tenuicornis tenuicornis is cited from Mexico and Guatemala / Honduras. But in that case the location is not enough to make a separation between these species. Here a specimen from Veracruz:
Hi Ben, just to add another photo of that nice Scatopyrodes tenuicornis female. Labelled Honduras, S. Pedro Su'a (cannot read more data on this old label). It comes from a quite old collection.
Mexico, Scatopyrodes tenuicornis marginatus
Posted - 06/02/2017 : 08:48:55
