S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 52. (Budapest, 1992)

specimen selected by Blair (labelled: "Type" "Fatu Hiva, Marquesas, on banana, Jan. 1925, St. George Expend., G L. Collenette" "Brit.Mus. 1925-488" "Cyphogastra bedoci Théry det. K. G. Blair" "Cyphogastra bedoci Théry ab.obsoleta Blair type" - in the collection of the British Museum) as the holotype. Further six specimens in the collection of the British Museum (all labelled: "Oomoa Valley, low levels, August 1930" "Fatu Hiva, Marquesas Is." "On Terminalia catappa" "Le Bronnec Collector" "Pacific Entomological Survey"; one of them bearing the additional label "Cotype"), as well as the one received by me ("Fatu Hiva, Marquesas, Natives state: "feeds on banana", Jan 1925, St. George Expedn., C. L. Collenette" "Brit.Mus. 1925-488" "Ex B. M. N. H. Duplicate") become paratypes. The identity of C. bedoci Théry poses no problem: I have not seen the type (the 31 mm long specimen marked "paratype" in the British Museum does not belong to the type series, the species having been described from single male, 25 mm, in the collection of its author), but Théry's (1926) description is perfectly sufficient to confirm the correctness of the common usage. C. taitina Kerremans and C. similis Kerremans remain a mystery. Kerremans' (1919) original descriptions offer no point of difference from, respectively, C. obsoleta Holynski and C. bedoci Théry - had they been described from the Marquesas, I would not hesitate to consider them synonymous with the latter two! But the possibility of existence on Tahiti of species closely related to those of the Marquesas can not be fully excluded, so at least three hypotheses seem conceivable: 1. C. taitina Kerremans is Tahitian - specifically distinct - representative of C. obsoleta Holynski, C.similis Kerremans is that of C.bedoci Théry; 2. The geographical distribution of C. obsoleta Holynski and C. bedoci Théry is not limited to the Marquesas: both occur also on Tahiti, from where they were described as C. taitina Kerremans and C.similis Kerremans; 3. The specimens, from which Kerremans (1919) described C. taitina Kerremans and C. similis Kerremans were mislabelled - in reality they come from Marquesas and belong to what I refer to as C. obsoleta Holynski and C. bedoci Théry. Only the study of the type-material can provide a proof, but there is some "circumstantial evidence" against the first two hypotheses: a) Kerremans' (1919) descriptions are rather detailed, so that their perfect agreement with the features of C. obsoleta Holynski and C. bedoci Théry makes the existence of not mentioned distinguishing characters improbable; b) to my knowledge, no other specimens of Cyphogastra Deyrolle have ever been reported from Tahiti, in spite of its being undoubtedly one of the best known places in Oceania; c) evident mislabellings in old collections (and that of Kerremans - at least the part now in the British Museum - makes no exception) are by no means rare. Thus most probably C. taitina Kerremans is synonymous with C. obsoleta Holynski, and C. similis Kerremans with C. bedoci Théry, in both cases the Kerremans' (1919) names having priority. The above considerations point to the following synonymy: Guamia Théry, 1930 Bull.Soc.Sci.Nat. Maroc 10:50; type-species (by present designation): Cyphogastra auripennis Saunders. Cyphogastra auripennis Saunders, 1867, Tr.Ent.Soc.Lond. (3), 5, 6:432 = Cyphogastra picata Kerremans, 1892, Ann.Soc.Ent.Fr. 61:23 = Cyphogastra latro Kerremans, 1910, Mon.Bupr. 4:173 ^.Cyphogastra guamensis Kerremans, 1911, Ann.Soc.Ent.Belg. 55:294