Vol. 105, No. 5, November&December, 1994 299 TWO NEW SYNONYMIES: ALABAMEUBRIA, BROWN, A JUNIOR SYNONYM OF DICRANOPSELAPHUS AND ALABAMEUBRIA A SYNONYM OF STARKI, DICRANOPSELAPHUS VARIEGATUS (COLEOPTERA: PSEPHENIDAE) 1 , Cheryl B.Barr2,PaulJ.Spangler3 ABJTRACT: Twosynonymies are proposed: Alabameubria Brown (1980), ajuniorsynonymof Dicranopselaphus Guerin-Meneville (1861); and Alabameubria starki Brown (1980), ajunior synonymofDicranopselaphusvariegatusHorn(1880).Lectotypeandparalectotypedesignations aremade forHorn'stwosyntypesofD. variegatus. Several years ago we became aware ofa problem in synonymy involving the eubriid names Dicranopselaphus variegatus Horn (1880) and Alabameu- briastarkiBrown (1980). Weplanned toproposethe synonymies in arevision ofDicranopselaphusGuerin-Meneville (1861), which we have in preparation. However, we report the following synonymies now in order to have the cor- rect name, Dicranopselaphus variegatus Horn (1880), available for use in the forthcoming edition (3rd) ofAn Introduction to the Aquatic Insects ofNorth America edited by Merritt and Cummins. GenusDicranopselaphus Guerin-Meneville DicranopselaphusGuerin-Meneville, 1861:531. Alabameubria Brown, 1980:188; typespecies:AlabameubriastarkiBrown, by original designa- NEWSYNONYMY. tion. Dicranopselaphus variegatus Horn DicranopselaphusvariegatusHorn, 1880:97;lectotypedesignatedbelow. AlabameubriastarkiBrown, 1980:188. NEWSYNONYMY The following is a brief account of the circumstances that led to our conclusions that Alabameubria Brown is a synonym of Dicranopselaphus Guerin-Meneville and Alabameubria starki Brown is synonymous with Dicranopselaphus variegatus. ReceivedOctober7, 1994. AcceptedOctober 14, 1994. Essig MuseumofEntomology, CollegeofNatural Resources, UniversityofCalifornia, Berke- ley,California94720. Department of Entomology, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. 20560. ENT. NEWS 105(4): 299-302, September&October 1994 300 ENTOMOLOGICALNEWS One distinctive larval specimen ofa false water penny (eubriine) was col- lected in Alabama by B.P. Stark in 1973 and sent to H.P. Brown. For several years after the discovery of the unique larva, Brown and others periodically sought additional larvae and possible associated adults and asecond larvawas collected at a different site in Alabama by T. King and C.D. Guthrie in 1978. In 1980, Brown published his descriptions ofthe genusAlabameubria and the typespecies,A. starkibasedon the twolarvae. On May 20&21, 1988, wevis- ited the type locality ofA. starki at the confluence ofMill Creek and the trib- utaryMurphyCreek, whichisabout 1 km southwestofBlountSprings, Blount County, Alabama. Barr collected five adult specimens of Dicranopselaphus variegatus by beating riparian vegetation overhanging thecreek, and Spangler found three live, mature, dry, eubriine larvae attached above the water line to the vertical sides of rocks in shallow water at the stream edge. Spangler also m found a fourth larva on a rock about 1-1.5 from the margin ofMill Creek. To this time, no adult specimens that would be those ofA. starki have been collected. Although we were not successful in our attempt to rear our larvae to the adult stage, we are confident they represent the larva of Dicranopselaphus variegatus - by association and elimination of the known larva of Ectopria. The larvae we identify as Dicranopselaphus variegatus are congeneric and conspecific with the holotype and paratype of Alabameubria starki, which becomes ajunior synonym ofDicranopselaphus. The larvae we identify as the eubriine Dicranopselaphus variegatus are distinct from the larva ofEctopria, the only othereubriine genus we collected at the site. For illustrations of the larva of Ectopria see Brown, 1991, Fig. 34.413. In orderto verify the identification ofouradult specimens as Dicranopse- laphus variegatus Horn, we borrowed Horn's two male syntypes from the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University: one specimen is labeled: Md/LectoTYPE 3277 /Dicranopselaphus variegatus Horn; the other is labeled: 111. / Para-Type 3277. We do not find the lectotype and paratype designations validated by publication and believe the labels were added to the specimens, provisionally, by S. Henshaw as was his custom. We here desig- nate the specimen from Maryland as the lectotype (as it was previously labeled) and the one from Illinois as the lectoparatype and have added appro- priate labels to each. The genitaliaofthe lectotype wasdamaged slightly before weextracted it; the apex ofthe right paramere and a small piece ofthe median lobe are miss- ing. In all other aspects, the genitalia ofthe lectotype is identical to the geni- & talia(Figs 1 2, by Y.T. Sohn) ofone ofourspecimens from Blount Springs, Alabama. The lectotype is glued to a point and the cleared dissection is in glycerine in a microvial attached to the pin. Ouradultspecimens from BlountSprings, Alabama, are virtually identical externally to the type specimens. Vol. 105, No. 5, November& December, 1994 301 0.2 mm Figs. 1 &2.-Dicranopselaphus variegatus Horn, Cf genitalia: 1, Ventral view;2,Lateral view. 302 ENTOMOLOGICALNEWS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Wethankthefollowingindividualsfortheirassistancewiththisarticle: ScottShawforlend- ingHorn'stypematerial; HarleyP. Brown, RichardC.Froeschner,WilliamShepard,andPhyllis Spanglerfortheirreviews;and YoungT. Sohn forthepen and inkillustrations. LITERATURECITED Brown, H. P. 1980. A new genus and species of water beetle from Alabama (Psephenidae: Eubriinae). TransactionsoftheAmerican Microscopical Society99:187-192. . 1991. Psephenidae, pages 395-397. InF.W. Stehr,editor, Immature Insects. 2:975 pages. Kendall/Hunt;Dubuque, Iowa. Guerin-Meneville,F.E. 1861. Monographic du nouveau genreDicranopselaphusetdescription dequelques autres insectes coleopteres appartenant aussi a lafamilledes Dascillides. Revue etMagasindeZoologie PureetAppliquee 13:531-547. Horn, G.H. 1880. Synopsis ofthe Dascyllidaeofthe United States. Transactions ofthe Ameri- canEntomological Society8:76-114.