A lectotype is designated for Dermestes pardalis Billberg, 1808 (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) based on the only
known type specimen preserved in the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden. The designation is made to
resolve longstanding taxonomic confusion surrounding the identity of the species and its distinction from Dermestes
hankae Háva, 1999. Examination of type and non-type material from multiple collections shows that the diagnostic
characters previously used to separate D. hankae fall within the variation observed in D. pardalis. There is also no
difference between any of the aedeagi examined here and the aedeagus of D. hankae holotype, but none of them
resembles the illustration provided by Háva in the original description of D. hankae. Consequently, D. hankae is proposed
as a junior synonym of D. pardalis. A new species resembling D. pardalis is described as Dermestes havai sp. nov. |