Flaviellus consentaneus ( LeConte, 1850 ), 2020

Flaviellus consentaneus ( LeConte, 1850) View in CoL , new combination

Aphodius consentaneus LeConte 1850: 225 .

Aphodius (Nobius) consentaneus (LeConte) : Schmidt 1913: 147.

Melinopterus consentaneus (LeConte) : Gordon and Skelley 2007: 323.

Aphodius (Melinopterus) consentaneus (LeConte) : Krell 2010: 16.

Taxonomic Placement. Flaviellus consentaneus is a rarely collected species that is widespread in northcentral USA and the adjacent Canadian prairie provinces. It has characteristics that make taxonomic placement difficult. Gordon and Skelley (2007) remarked on this difficulty, compared it with Flaviellus subtruncatus (LeConte, 1878) , and tentatively placed it in Melinopterus because it lacked some characteristics of more typical Flaviellus species. With questions regarding generic placement of the new species, we re-evaluated generic characters and placement of F. consentaneus . Table 1 View Table 1 provides the key characters used to classify F. consentaneus and the new species.

Distribution. Gordon and Skelley (2007) cited this species from various localities in southern areas of the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and from North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota in the USA. They also cited “Northwest Territories: Abernethy” as a locality but Abernethy is in southern Saskatchewan—this record may have been based on specimens collected prior to 1905, when Saskatchewan was still considered to be part of the Northwest Territories. The records of this species from the states of Kansas, Missouri, and New Mexico in the USA are dubious and should be disregarded (see commentary in Gordon and Skelley 2007). The type locality for this species is the shores of Lake Superior, and the lectotype was either collected by J. L. LeConte during his 1848 expedition or acquired by LeConte from other collectors ( LeConte (1850) stated that specimens from multiple sources originating from around Lake Superior were used for his descriptions).