6 

 north of Mexico, thoroughly describing the genus Ischyrus 



and one new species. 



The most recent paper of importance to the genus 

 Ischyrus Lacordaire is Alvarenga (1965) . Following current 

 nomenclatural rules, Alvarenga realized that Crotch (1873b) 

 had incorrectly applied the name Ischyrus and selected an 

 invalid type species. Alvarenga made some major changes in 

 the standing of the names Ischyrus and Megischyrus, which 

 are discussed in the following section. 



Before the present study, there were 65 valid species 

 placed in the genus Ischyrus Lacordaire. This study 

 addresses 26 of these, synonymizes 9, and describes 16 new 

 species. This brings the total to 72 species. (See 

 Appendix A for a list of all specific names used in 

 association with Ischyrus and their current status.) 



Nomenclatural Status 



The early nomenclature of this genus is typical for 

 many taxa, with names being proposed and ignored. The name 

 Ischyrus Chevrolat in Dejean (1836) is a nomen nudum (name 

 without description) and was not valid in the opinion of 

 some early workers. Thus, the first use of the name to be 

 accompanied by a description was the valid name. Crotch 

 (1873b) undoubtedly had this in mind when he raised 

 Lacordaire' s divisions to full generic status. Crotch 

 proposed the name Megischyrus for Lacordaire' s first 

 division, designating Erotylus undatus Olivier as the type 

 species. Crotch retained the name Ischyrus for the second 



