Purpuricenus Dejean, 1821

Purpuricenus Dejean, 1821 View in CoL

Purpuricenus Dejean, 1821: 105 View in CoL .

Purpuricenus ( Basiatropansexus) Özdikmen, 2025m: 2789 ; Larazev (2025): 391 (syn.).

Remarks. Özdikmen ( 2025m) divided Purpuricenus into two subgenera and reported: “Humeral calli always covered with distinctly light coloration, this light coloration sometimes as a continuation of a light colored large basal area of elytra (species group A), or sometimes humeral calli covered with light coloration completely as a continuation of a light ground color of elytra even if the basal part of elytra more or less covered with dark coloration from scutellum to near humerus (species group B), or sometimes humeral calli covered with light coloration in only one of the sexes, while they covered with dark coloration in the other sex (species group C) in the first group [ Purpuricenus ( Purpuricenus) Dejean, 1821: 105 ];” and “Humeral calli always covered with distinctly dark coloration completely in both sexes as a continuation of a dark colored large or significantly large basal area of elytra (species group A), or sometimes elytra with a narrow dark colored basal line extends from scutellum to humerus in both sexes, this basal line usually more obvious in females than males (species group B) in second group.”

According to Bryan Eya (personal communication): “There indeed are differences between the Palearctic and Nearctic Purpuricenus ; however, this author’s proposal for subgenera and grouping is based on photographs and humeral coloration of the elytra only.” We agree with these statements. Therefore, since no morphological feature other than the color pattern—a specific rather than a generic feature—supports the establishment of a subgenus, the only viable option is to consider Purpuricenus ( Basiatropansexus) as a junior synonym of Purpuricenus , as recently established by Lazarev (2025). Whether Purpuricenus includes more than one genus or subgenus remains an open question. However, morphological and/or molecular features will be necessary to assess this.