Abstract
The type material of the species belonging to the genus Tauroceras Hope,1840 and Tauroceropedus Pic, 1913 is studied and all the known taxa are revised. Tenebriocornutum Fabricius, 1775 (genus Tauroceras) is redescribed on the basis of type materialdiscovered in the Hunterian collection (1718–1783) of the Museum of Zoology, Universityof Glasgow, Scotland. The strange locus typicus “Smyrna” is found not to be Izmir inTurkey, but more probably a locality in the old scotish colony of Florida. Lectotypes aredesignated for the following taxa: Tenebrio aries Dalman, 1823, Tenebrio angulatum Perty,1830, Tauroceras angulatum Pic, 1913, syn. nov. and T. angulatum var. nitidus Pic, 1913,syn. nov. Six new species are described: Tauroceras evasprecherae sp. nov. from Brazil,T. girardi sp. nov. from Central America, T. barclayi sp. nov. from Jamaica, T. tichyi sp.nov. from Ecuador, T. noelmali sp. nov. from Colombia and Bolivia, T. lucifer sp. nov. fromBrazil, Colombia and Ecuador. The genus Tauroceropedus Pic, 1913 syn. nov. is consideredas a junior synonym of Tauroceras Hope, 1840. The formerly unknown male of Tauroceras(= Tauroceropedus) rugosicollis (Pic, 1913) comb. nov. is described from French Guyana.Figures and keys to identify all species are given. The genus Tauroceras is maintained withinthe tribe Centronopini in the subfamily Tenebrioninae, sensu Doyen (1980)