Tetracha - Megacephala - BugGuide.Net

Tetracha revised...

The genus Tetracha has just been revised (Naviaux R. 2007. Tetracha (Coleoptera, Cicindelidae). Memoires of the Societe Entomologique de France #7, 197 pp.).

The four North American species are treated as follows:
-Tetracha (s. str.) virginica
-Tetracha (s. str.) carolina
-Tetracha (s. str.) floridana stat. nov. - peninsular Florida (no longer ssp. of carolina)
-Tetracha (Neotetracha subg. nov.) impressa - lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas (= "affinis" of previous authors).

I know folks don't like these generic shifts, but the publication of a formal revision of the taxon as a genus (with description of a new subgenus) suggests we should give it the same status. If that's not enough (though it should be, I think), it was also accorded generic status in the recent Neotropical checklist by Cassola & Pearson (2001) prior to Pearson's U.S. field guide (2005). This seems to place a preponderance of recent authoritative opinion firmly in the "Tetracha camp."

… Ted C. MacRae, 24 January, 2008 - 10:17am

sounds reasonable to me

In the Guide it would be easy to reverse the current situation by listing Megacephala as a synonym of Tetracha, and changing the names of the affected species.

Would it be okay if we copied the classification info you've listed above and pasted it into the relevant Info pages? I think it would be preferable to put it there than leave it here where it might get "lost" over time.

… Robin McLeod, 26 January, 2008 - 11:48am

Good idea...

...I agree it's probably best to paste a copy of the classification directly on the info page. One small correction, though - Megacephala is still a valid genus for Old World species, so I wouldn't list it as a synonym of Tetracha. Instead, I would note that Tetracha has at times been treated as a subgenus of Megacephala.

… Ted C. MacRae, 26 January, 2008 - 2:42pm

OK, done

I have been following this discussion and have changed Megacephala here to Tetracha, referencing this discussion, and showing the revision of Naviaux. We only have carolina and virginica here--I listed Megacephala carolina and Megacephala virginica as synonyms in those guide pages, and also noted the split of floridana from carolina, but we have no images of that taxon from Florida, so no new guide is needed at this point.

… Cotinis, 27 January, 2008 - 1:41am

Ted, Thanks for the valuable update.

That work by Roger Naviaux was eagerly anticipated by Ron Huber, myself and other Nearctic tiger beetle workers. It should put to rest the nomenclature controversy. I would like to obtain a copy of this monograph. Online PDF version? In English?

… Peter W. Messer, 24 January, 2008 - 1:15pm

Online PDF I wish!

As far as I can tell it is available only by hard copy purchase. Kabourek has it for 65 Euro.

… Ted C. MacRae, 24 January, 2008 - 5:25pm

Megacephala (Tetracha)

The current "opinion" among carabidologists and tiger beetle specialists worldwide appears well in favor of subgenus Tetracha in genus Megacephala. A few tiger beetle specialists in USA make a case for genus Tetracha. When sufficient disagreement about nomenclature exists, I generally choose the majority opinion and then try to maximize information on my species determination labels. Here I would include the subgenus "Tetracha" on my label as in the specific example "Megacephala (Tetracha) virginica (Linnaeus)"

… Peter W. Messer, 12 July, 2007 - 6:32pm

Note added to guide page

I added a note to this effect, more or less accurately, I hope, on the guide page for Megacephala.

… Cotinis, 12 July, 2007 - 8:02pm

Will note in guide

Oh, very interesting! I don't know about the taxonomic issues, but will copy a note to the guide page for the genus Megacephala and list Tetracha as a synonym. I had seen that genus listed in very old references, such as Brimley (1). It is amusing to see modern taxonomy reverting to that of the 19th, or even 18th, centuries.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

… Cotinis, 15 January, 2006 - 9:06am

Guide looks good...

The guide page looks good. Thanks for your help!

… Christopher C Wirth, 15 January, 2006 - 7:40pm