Malthinus flaveolus (Herbst, 1786) Cantharis flaveola Herbst, 1786: 171. Necydalis punctata Geoffroy, 1785: 174 (homonym). Telephorus minimus A.G. Olivier, 1790: no 26: 17. Cantharis immunis Marsham, 1802: 374. Cantharis collaris Latreille, 1806: 262. Cantharis flava Latreille, 1806: 262. Malthinus robustus Motschulsky, 1853: 4, syn. n. Malthinus subfuscus Pic, 1906: 24. Malthinus griseipennis Pic, 1913: 97. Notes. The type of Malthinus robustus Motschulsky, 1853, as of all the other types of Cantharidae from the territory of Russia and adjacent countries appears to have been lost. However, the description of M. robustus is quite clear (the species is placed in the group with ‘espèces à bout des élytres couleur de souffre’): “De la taille et couleurs du M. flaveolus, mais avec un corselet encore plus étroit, à cotés et angles postérieurs presque droits, sans sinuosités latérales; ligne médiane remplacée par une large foveole à la base, tâches très peu marquées. Stries des élytres effacées. Articles des antennes plus larges. Russ. mer.” [Motschulsky, 1853: 4]. This description of a Malthinus from ‘southern Russia’ perfectly fits to M. flaveolus (Herbst, 1786), the most common representative of the genus in the area. Motschulsky does compare his taxon to M. flaveolus, but, in the same paper, he notes that in M. flaveolus pronotal sides are almost parallel and elytral striae are very distinct, which is characteristic not of M. flaveolus, but of M. facialis Thomson, 1864 [Ganglbauer, 1911]. Therefore, Malthinus robustus Motschulsky, 1853, syn. n. is proposed to be regarded as a junior synonym of Malthinus flaveolus (Herbst, 1786).

Published as part of Kazantsev, S. V., 2021, New species of Malthodes Kiesenwetter, 1852 from the Caucasus, with taxonomic notes on Malthininae (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) of Russia, pp. 285-291 in Caucasian Entomological Bulletin (Caucas. entomol. bull.) (Caucas. entomol. bull.) 17 (2) on page 286, DOI: 10.23885/181433262021172-285291, http://zenodo.org/record/13274191