Silbermann’s “Revue entomologique”: Publication Dates for Nomenclatural Purposes and Bibliographic Notes (Insecta, mainly Coleoptera)

Abstract

The rare yet entomologically important scientific journal "Revue entomologique" was published in French language in five volumes during the first half of the nineteenth century. We provide some bibliographic notes which reveal, for example, the motivation and goals of the editor, Gustave Silbermann. He wanted to contribute to an exchange of entomological knowledge between French and German scientists, in particular by translating German articles into French and to inform his readers of new German and French entomological literature. The work deals with many taxa, mainly beetles, yet also moths, cicadas and other insects. The journal contains taxonomic notes and species descriptions for which correct dating is essential. Evidence inside the books indicates the partly wrong assignment of the publication dates printed on the title pages from 1833 to 1837. We found one depository holding the originally assembled and unbound fascicles of the first two volumes. Despite the month of publication being absent on all wrappers, their original composition allowed the detailed reconstruction of publication dates, as well as of unpaginated species descriptions. We analysed the work, attributed page numbers to single or merged fascicles and provided publication dates for all 30 fascicles, which were shown to have been published from 1833 to 1840. We also traced the enigmatic reference for the description of a longhorn beetle (Molorchus ulmi Chevrolat, 1838) and were able to demonstrate that its supposed association with the "Revue entomologique" is erroneous.

On the nomenclatural status of type genera in Coleoptera (Insecta)

“…The following works included important information for dating the references: Alonso-Zarazaga and Lyal (1999) , Bellamy (2003) , Bousquet (1993 , 2012 , 2016 , 2017a , 2018 ), Bousquet and Bouchard (2017) , Bousquet and Davies (2021) , F.M. Brown (1964a , 1964b ), Cowan (1969) , Dawson (1958) , Duncan (1937) , Evenhuis (1994 , 1997a - c , 2002 , 2003a - b , 2008 , 2012 , 2014 , 2015a, 2015b, 2019 ), Fox (1913) , Griffin (1932) , von Hayek (1989) , Horn and Schenkling (1928–1929), Houston and Weir (1992) , ICZN (1958b , 1999a ), Kappel (1896) , Kerzhner (1984) , Lefèvre (1885 , 1895 ), Merkl et al (2008) , Nagel and Schmidlin (2014) , Oshanin (1910) , Peavot (1913) , Poggi (2010) , Raphael (1970) , Sclater (1893) , Sherborn (1922, 1934 , 1937), Silfverberg (1971) , G. Wheeler (1912) , and Zerche (1987) .…”

World catalogue of the genus-group names in Elateridae (Insecta, Coleoptera). Part I: Agrypninae, Campyloxeninae, Hemiopinae, Lissominae, Oestodinae, Parablacinae, Physodactylinae, Pityobiinae, Subprotelaterinae, Tetralobinae

“…Misspellings, unavailable names, and corrected stem formations are followed by colon ":". Dates of publications and exact bibliographic references (especially problematic ones, often not cited uniformly by researchers) are taken from the following comprehensive general works: Evenhuis (1997), Cate et al (2007), Bouchard et al (2011), Bousquet andBouchard (2013, 2017), Nagel and Schmidlin (2014), and Bousquet (2016).…”

Litteratura Coleopterologica (1758–1900): a guide to selected books related to the taxonomy of Coleoptera with publication dates and notes

“…The first 72 pages of this work were also issued in Revue Entomologique 5: 41–110 [DP: 21 November 1838 ( Nagel and Schmidlin 2014 : 97)]. Pages 73–78, entitled “ Du Necydalis major de Linné, Molorchus abbreviatus de Fabricius ,” were not issued previously and contained the original description of Molorchus ulmi Chevrolat ( Nagel and Schmidlin 2014 : 99; see also Guérin-Méneville 1839 ).…”