It was recently proposed that Fornasinius insignis ab. funereus Burgeon, 1937 be raised from the synonymy with Fornasinius fornasini Bertoloni, 1853 and recognized as a good species (Tauzin, 2017). Regrettably, this proposition was based on the misidentification of Burgeon’s taxon and the overlooking of type material. Analysis of the holotype of F. funereus unquestionably indicates that this taxon is a color variety of F. russus (Kolbe, 1884), and not a good species.