Tomosomus Motschulsky, 1855

Motschulsky (1855: 18).

Type species: Tomosomus subtestaceus Motschulsky, 1855 [monotypy].

Tomosomus — Motschulsky (1855: 18), original description, in Anthicidae; Chandler (2010: 730) checklist of world Anthicidae genera, erroneously attributed to Anthicini Latreille, 1819.

Type material examined (Figs 1–2). See species redescription.

Nomenclature. Motschulsky (1855) introduced the genus Tomosomus and the species T. subtestaceus in Anthicidae without subfamily placement in one of his letters to Ménétries published in the journal Études Entomologiques from the material collected in “Obispo”, Panama. The genus and species names were provided with a short comparative statement (or an uninformative descriptive comment), presence of which in the combination with a species name justifies the recognition of the names as available (ICZN 1999). In his letters Motschulsky introduced several new genus-rank names of Coleoptera which previously were considered inadequate due to the uninformativeness of these descriptions (see Chandler 1999, 2013 for some examples). Tomosomus, published in the combination with the species name T. subtestaceus, met the criteria for publication by providing a minimal comparative statement.

Tomosomus is only mentioned in one publication since the original description (Chandler 2010). This genus has never been revised.