Anisotoma obsoleta Majka & Langor 2008, revalidated name

Anisotoma obsoleta (Horn, 1880) – revalidated name

[syn. nov. Anisotoma horni Wheeler, 1979]

NEW BRUNSWICK: Charlotte Co.: St. George, 5.VII.1963, R.C. Clarke, window trap, (1, CFNL); Kent Co.: Kouchibouguac National Park, 16.IX.1977, A. Smetana, (1, CNC); Kouchibouguac National Park, 7.VI.1977, J.R. Vockeroth, (1, CNC). NEWFOUNDLAND: Baie Verte, 7.IX.1988, P. Dixon, malaise trap, (1, CFNL). NOVA SCOTIA: One hundred and sixty-five specimens from Colchester, Guysborough, Halifax, Inverness, Queens, Victoria, and Yarmouth counties were examined. The earliest record is from 1970 (Colchester Co.: Glenholm, 3.VI.1970, P. Doleman, (1, NSMC)).

Anisotoma obsoleta is newly recorded from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (Fig. 8). It was listed as occurring in New Brunswick by Peck (1991). Adults have been found between April and December in stumps and forest litter. Slime mold hosts include Stemonitis axifera, S. fusca, S. splendens, Fuligo septica, and Comatricha nigra (Wheeler 1979). In Nova Scotia, it was collected in red spruce, hemlock, red maple/red oak/ birch, and mixed coastal forests.

Wheeler (1979) proposed the name Anisotoma horni for A. obsoleta (Horn) [described by Horn (1880) in the genus Leiodes and later transferred to Anisotoma by Brown (1937b)] in the belief that the name was preoccupied by “ Leiodes obsoletus ” (Melsheimer, 1844). Melsheimer (1844), however, described the species as Pallodes obsoletus [which was later transferred to Neocyrtusa by Brown (1937a) and then to Anogdus by Daffner (1988)]. Pallodes Melsheimer, 1844, was in turn preoccupied by Pallodes Erichson 1843, a genus in the Nitidulidae. Consequently, the two names were not then, and are not now, in the same genus, hence there is no need for a replacement name. Therefore the original name, Anisotoma obsoleta (Horn), must be reinstated as per Article 59.4 of the Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999). Consequently Anisotoma horni Wheeler is designated as a synonym of A. obsoleta.