Talk:Phortus
Synonymy with Graphops[edit]
Phortus is sometimes stated to be a synonym of Graphops (with P. creticus as a synonym of G. curtipennis), such as in the following references:
- Arnett, R.H. & Thomas, M.C. 2002. American Beetles. Vol. 2. Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. 861 pp. ISBN 0-8493-0954-9.
- Riley, E.G., Clark, S.M. & Seeno, T.N. 2003. Catalog of the leaf beetles of America north of Mexico (Coleoptera: Megalopididae, Orsodacnidae and Chrysomelidae, excluding Bruchinae). Coleopterists Society, Special Publication No. 1. Sacramento, CA. 290 pp. ISBN 978-0-9726087-1-8. BHL. Internet Archive. Reference page.
As far as I've been able to find out, this proposed synonymy comes from
- Daccordi, M. 1977. Coleotteri Crisomelidi dell’Isola di Creta e descrizione di una nuova specie del genere Pachnephorus Redtenbacher (Coleoptera-Chrysomelidae). Bollettino del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona 4: 81–93.
which is available on Google Books but only in Snippet View form (link). An explanation is provided for the synonymy but I've not been able to see it all for myself (though I do get the impression it mostly talks about difficulties finding the type of P. creticus; also note that Graphops is incorrectly spelled as "Graphos").
Knowing the above, it's weird that the Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera volume 6 would continue to include Phortus as a valid genus, when the American catalogs do otherwise. For this I have no explanation yet. (Though, the genus is apparently considered valid in {{Seeno & Wilcox, 1982}} as well.) Monster Iestyn (talk) 08:53, 23 November 2020 (UTC)
- I can confirm now that Daccordi's 1977 article does indeed place Phortus creticus in synonymy with Graphops curtipennis, having obtained the article for myself. It removes Phortus creticus from the Eumolpinae fauna of Crete altogether, and suggests that the locality "Crete" could in fact refer instead to places in North America of the same name. Monster Iestyn (talk) 14:34, 30 July 2021 (UTC)