Peronaspis claviger

Peronaspis claviger (Faust, 1894) Fig. 1 C, D Corigetus claviger Faust, 1894: 56. Taurostomus claviger (Faust, 1894): Marshall 1944: 86. Peronaspis claviger (Faust, 1894): Nasreddinov 1974: 665. Viridistylus robustus Colonnelli & Paladini, 2019: 190, syn. nov. Material examined. TURKMENISTAN • 1 ♂; “ Kushka ”; “ ex coll. G. L. Suvorov ”; ZIN • 1 ♂; “ Transc. Wuste Kara-Kum ”; “ Corigetus claviger Rost ”; ZIN. TAJIKISTAN • 1 ♀; Aivadzh – Shaartuz; sand desert; 15 May 1961; I. M. Kerzhner leg.; ZIN • 1 ♂; Aivadzh near Shaartuz, 24 Apr. 1959; L. Mikitova leg.; ZIN • 1 ♂; Khozreti-Sho Range: 10 km from Muminabad, 16 Jun. 1966; I. K. Lopatin leg.; ZIN • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Sarkoron; meadow; 18 Jun. 1958; I. K. Lopatin leg.; ZIN • 1 ♂, 1 ♀ Kabadian, 15 Apr. 1928; Novitskii leg.; ZIN • 1 ♂; Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve, Apr. 1966; O. L. Kryzhanovskij leg.; ZIN • 1 ♀; Dzharkurgan, desert, spiny plants, 2 May 1986; Pekin leg.; ZIN • 1 ♂ “ Бух. [ара] Тоби-Дора, № 132, Вильберг ” [Buchara, Tobi-Dora, № 132, Vilberg leg.]; ZIN. Notes. Recently, Colonnelli and Paladini (2019) described the genus Viridistylus in the tribe Mesostyloidini. The authors noted that the mandibular process is almost straight and forms an angle of about 30 degrees with the sides of the rostrum, but the authors say nothing about the genal process. After examination of the description and image of the beetle provided in the paper, we hypothesized that it was actually a species of Peronaspis. To verify this, we compared the image with two syntypes of Peronaspis claviger and other material of this species in the ZIN collection. Peronaspis claviger is a Middle Asian species of the tribe Cyphicerini, notable for its highly unusual structure of the pterygia bearing a genal process (Faust 1894; Marshall 1944), and females with the left mandible bearing rather long deciduous process, and ventral parts of the pterygia strongly spiniform, projecting anterolaterally. Marshall (1944) examined Corigetus claviger Faust, with its large genal process, and erected for it the genus Taurostomus. Later, Nasreddinov (1974) compared Taurostomus claviger with Peronaspis bucharica and discovered their close relationship, concluding that Taurostomus is a junior synonym of Peronaspis. We suggest that the attribution of Viridistylus robustus was based on a misinterpretation of the genal process as the permanent mandibular process (pedicel) characteristic of Mesostyloidini (Thompson 1992). Viridistylus robustus has the genal process and is conspecific with Peronaspis claviger (Faust, 1894), sharing all morphological characters with the latter.