As part of a revision and investigations into the Neotropical ground beetle genus Plochionus Dejean, 1821, it was necessary to stabilize the type material. This genus is of interest for its species' predatory associations with tent-forming caterpillars. The type specimens of Plochionus pallens (Fabricius, 1775) were until this investigation considered lost. Whilst investigating the Sir Joseph Banks Coleoptera collection in the Natural History Museum, an example of Carabus pallensFabricius, 1775 was discovered.Another specimen was also known inWilliamHunter's collection at the HunterianMuseumof Zoology, thus making available a syntype series for further research. Typically, Fabricius did not state the number of specimens on which he based his description, but here we assume these two specimens to be the extant total available for lectotype designation. Here we designate the lectotype and paralectotype of Carabus pallens. Lebia bonfilsii Audinet-Serville, 1821 is the type species of Plochionus by monotypy, but the name is a junior synonym of C. pallens. Plochionus pallens has a worldwide distribution. Formerly, it was thought to have been transported by ballast fromEurope to North America. Based onmuseum specimen label data, this species is predatory on other insects (Lepidoptera) transported by trade in commercial foodstuffs.