© Zoological Institute, St.Petersburg, 2005 The type specimen of Aphodius corallifer W. Koshantschikov (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) A.V. Frolov Frolov, A.V. 2005. The type specimen of Aphodius corallifer W. Koshantschikov (Coleo- ptera: Scarabaeidae). Zoosystematica Rossica, 14(1): 104. Aphodius (Aphodius) corallifer W. Koshantschikov is known from a single type deposit- ed at Zoological Institute, St.Petersburg. The specimen shares characters of A. calichromus and A. elegans and is possibly a hybrid. A.V. Frolov, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St.Petersburg 199034, Russia. E-mail: [email protected] Aphodius (Aphodius) corallifer was described by Koshan- References tschikov (1913) from a single male from Ningpo in East- ern China [Ningbo: 29°52´30´´N 121°32´31´´E, Zhejiang Koshantschikov, W. 1913. Fünfter Beitrag zur Kenntnis Province]. No other specimens of this species are known, der Aphodiini. Horae Soc. entomol. Ross., 13: 257- although 10 specimens in the Natural History Museum, 265. London, may belong to this species (Jason Mate, pers. Kral, D. 1997. A review of Chinese Aphodius species. comm.). The species was omitted from the key in recent Part 5: subgenus Aphodius. Acta zool. Bohem., 61: review of Chinese Aphodius of the subgenus Aphodius 199-217. (Kral, 1997), probably because of the brief original de- scription and poor illustrations. The type of A. corallifer Received 29 September 2005 is deposited at Zoological Institute, St.Petersburg. Al- though the labels (Fig. 5) do not include the word “type”, there is little doubt that the specimen is the holotype, be- cause its characters and the locality data coincide well with the description. This species is similar to A. cali- chromus Balthasar in the colour of the body, shape of the clypeus (Fig. 2) and parameres (Fig. 3), but differs in having 3 longer clypeal tubercles (Fig. 1), distinctly sin- uate posterior angles of pronotum, deep fossa on anterior part of pronutum, obtuse spur of anterior tibia (Fig. 4), and larger size (10 mm, whereas specimens of A. cali- chromus are 6.5-8.5 mm long). The anterior protoracic fossa is characteristic of A. elegans Allibert, which is also larger (9-14 mm). Since some characters of the type spec- imen of A. corallifer are shared with A. elegans and A. calichromus and some other appear to be intermediate between the two species, it is possible that the specimen is a hybrid. Extensive sampling or laboratory experiments are needed to clarify the status of this form. Acknowledgements This work was supported by grant no. 04-04-49109 from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The collection of Zoological Institute, St.Petersburg, is sup- ported by the Russian Federal Agency for Science and Innovations (state contract no. 02.452.12.7111). Figs 1-5. Aphodius corallifer W. Koshantschikov, holo- type (not to scale). 1, head and pronotum in lateral view; 2, head and pronotum in dorsal view; 3, parameres in dorsal and lateral view; 4, anterior tibia and tarsus; 5, specimen labels.