Nitops pallipennis Say

Nitops pallipennis (Say)

Cercus pallipennis Say 1823: 194.

After examination of the remaining specimens from the Say and Harris collections at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, no appropriate specimens were located for lectotype designation. A male specimen from the LeConte and Horn collection (MCZ), collected from near the original type locality of “eastern Colorado, near the Rocky Mountains”, was chosen as a suitable replacement. The specimen represents the typical phenotype for the species from the original type locality. Future revisionary work in this genus may result in additional closely related cryptic taxa discovered elsewhere across the current widespread range of N. pallipennis. Labels for the newly designated specimen are as follows: “Col” “Horn Coll/H3673” “MCZ ENT/00596673”. Red label added reads as follows: “ Neotype / Cercus pallipennis / Say, 1823 / Designated by Powell & Cline 2016”.

The authors would like to thank Max Barclay (NHM), Roger Booth (NHM), Rachel Hawkins (MCZ), Charyn Micheli (USNM), Philip Perkins (MCZ), and Floyd Shockley (USNM) for access to valuable historic material. The authors also appreciate the advice of Eugenio Nearns on taxonomic procedure. Lastly Jennifer Zaspel, Philip Perkins, Matthew Gimmel, and one anonymous reviewer are thanked for input that improved the manuscript. This work was supported in part by an Ernst Mayr Travel Grant awarded to G. Powell.