Onthophagus viviensis d’Orbigny, 1905

Rossini, Michele, 2021, Additional mislabeling in African Onthophagus Latreille, 1802 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae): the case of Onthophagus viviensis and Onthophagus laevatus, Zootaxa 5032 (2), pp. 262-274 : 264-266

Onthophagus viviensis d’Orbigny, 1905

Fig. 1A–H .

Onthophagus viviensis d’Orbigny, 1905: 436 ; d’Orbigny 1913: 174 (identification key); d’Orbigny 1914: 641 (catalogue); Boucomont & Gillet 1927: 203; Ferreira 1972: 775 (catalogue).

Diagnosis. The morphology of O. viviensis suggests its close relationship with O. curvicornis . The male of both species have the head margins strongly sinuate, clypeus vertically raised and widely emarginate at middle, with two blunt teeth; cephalic horns long and widely curved; pronotal protuberance elongated between horns and extending above the head in major males. Female with frontoclypeal and frontal carina; pronotal protuberance robust and transversally straight, both sides of the protuberance with two rounded knobs. However, O. viviensis can be distinguished by the reddish brown colour of the body, often with cupreous and metallic green sheen (black with blue and greenish sheen in O. curvicornis ); antennal club yellow to brown (black to dark grey in O. curvicornis ); male with head more elongate, head surface with equal punctures evenly distributed ( O. curvicornis with stronger punctures on the disc of the head, clypeus with obsolete punctures); anterior side of the pronotal protuberance of male hemielliptical to obtusely squared (conical in O. curvicornis ); anterior angles distinctly acuminate (obtuse in O. curvicornis ); elytra feebly shiny, surface finely and distinctly microreticulate (elytra shiny, weakly microreticulate in O. curvicornis ).

Description of the male. Body measurements. Large-sized species, body length 10–12 mm. Color. Head and pronotum shiny to slightly opaque, elytral and pygidial surface opaque to weakly shiny; dorsal side of the body reddish brown to bronze with cupreous and green sheen; ventral side, legs, antennomeres I–V and mouthparts dark brown to red, antennal club brown to dark brown. Head. Head margins clearly sinuate, clypeal margin vertically raised and widely emarginate at middle, with two blunt teeth. Frontoclypeal carina absent, cephalic horns very long, either reaching or surpassing dorsal side of pronotum; horns widely curved with apexes bowed forward; head surface finely punctate. Thorax. Pronotum strong and convex, lateral edges evenly curved, anterior angles broadly rounded. Anteromedial pronotal protuberance strong and hemielliptical between horns, slightly flattened dorsally and laterally delimited by two deep excavations. Pronotal punctation obsolete, slightly stronger on the protuberance; posteromedial region of pronotum slightly depressed and sericeous, with punctures similar to those on the protuberance. Elytral striae shallow, interstriae very weakly convex to flat; elytral punctation very fine, dense and evenly distributed; elytral surface finely microreticulate. Prosternum without medial tubercle, surface shallowly wrinkled, with a few straight setae at middle. Mesoventrite medially swollen and smooth, sides densely and roughly punctate. Metaventrite with an obtuse and longitudinal keel between mesocoxae, superior side of metaventrite with stronger punctures associated with long setae; disc feebly convex to flat, and finely punctate. Abdomen. Pygidium entirely bordered and flat, surface opaque to feebly bright; punctation shallow, dense and evenly distributed. Legs. Protibiae slender with four external teeth separated by small denticles; posterolateral margin of protibiae serrate; anterior margin with an acuminate, strong tooth oriented forward and slightly raised apically; apical spur of protibiae obtuse and feebly curved downward. Genitalia. Male genitalia as represented in Fig. 1F–H .

Morphological variation. The female differs from the male by the head subtrapezoidal; clypeal and genal margins continuous to barely sinuate at the clypeogenal junction; clypeal margin narrowly truncate medially; frontoclypeal carina distinct and higher at middle; frontal carina strong, straight to slightly angulate backward at middle, often both sides of the frontal carina slightly elevated. Clypeal surface finely and densely wrinkled, frontoclypeal region, genae and frons with stronger punctures than male. Dorsum of pronotum less convex; anteromedial pronotal protuberance shelf-like and transverse, laterally with two rounded knobs; punctation distinct on the pronotal protuberance and anterior angles. Protibiae stronger and larger than male, lateral teeth contiguous and not separated by denticles; anterior margin without apical tooth; apical spur more acuminate apically.

Distribution and ecology. Ecuador (erroneously described from Africa). This species is only known from the western side of the Andes, where it occurs from low to middle elevation (approximately 300–1800 m). Onthophagus viviensis is commonly collected with pig, cow, horse and human dung, even in strongly modified habitats (e.g., cacao plantations).

Remarks. d’Orbigny (1905) described O. viviensis from two female specimens found in C. Felsche’s collection and collected respectively in “ Bas-Congo: Vivi” and “ Congo français: Ogooué”. In June 2016, I visited the Coleoptera collection of the Senckenberg Museum für Tierkunde of Dresden, Germany, where I found one of the two syntypes of O. viviensis . In addition to d’Orbigny’s handwritten label “ viviensis n. sp. d’Orb.”, this specimen pins a C. Felsche original manuscript label stating “ Gabun ”. This is probably the specimen mentioned in d’Orbigny (1905) as “ Congo français: Ogooué”, which is the principal river of Gabon. Felsche and d’Orbigny’s labels, together with the exact correspondence of the external morphology of this specimen with the original description led me to consider it as one of the two syntypes of O. viviensis . Unfortunately, the second syntype of O. viviensis was not located, but to fix the zoological nomenclature of this species name, the examined type specimen in this study is designated as lectotype of O. viviensis .

After having scrutinized many natural history collections and studied most type material of New World Onthophagus , I can confirm that the lectotype of O. viviensis is a mislabeled South American specimen from a common Ecuadorian species. Therefore, the name O. viviensis is removed from African scarabaeines and considered to be valid for South American Onthophagus .

Type material examined. Lectotype here designated (♀ SMTD): viviensis , Gabun / Coll. C. Felsche, Kauff, 20, 1918 / viviensis n. sp. d’Orb. / Staatl. Museum für Tierkunde. Dresden / viviensis / Staatl. Museum für Tierkunde. Dresden / LECTOTYPE, Onthophagus viviensis d’Orbigny, 1905 , Des. M. Rossini, 2021.

Additional material examined. ECUADOR: Azuay: Pucay, Bucay, 300 m, 4.VI.1905 (1 ♂ NHRS) . Bolívar: Balsapamba (2 ♂ NHRS; 1 ♀ SMTD) . Cotopaxi: Las Pampas (4 ♂, 5 ♀ MSNG; 33 ♂, 69 ♀, MZFU) ; San Fran- cisco de Las Pampas, 1300–1500 m, II.1993 (29 ♂, 25 ♀ MZUF) ; Otonga, 1800 m, 79°00’W, 00°25’S, 9.V.1998 (6 ♂, 2 ♀ CEMT) ; 34 km E Quevado , 1100 feet (1 ♀ CMNC) . El Oro: Piñas, 1200 m., 2.IX.1997 (2 ♂, 1 ♀ CEMT) . Esmeraldas: San Marco, VIII.1954 (2 ♂ CMNC; the province is probably wrong, likely referring to San Marcos in the Cotopaxi province) ; San Mateo (6 ♂, 4 ♀ TAMU) . Guyas: Palestina, 25 km N Daule , 22–27.VII.1976 (3 ♂, 6 ♀ CMNC) ; Tandapi, 1500 m, VIII.1976 (1 ♂ CMNC) . Loja: Catamayo, II.1907 (1 ♂ NHRS) . Los Rios: Quevedo, Pichilingue, VI.1976 (4 ♂, 8 ♀ CMNC; 1 ♂ NHRS) . Manabí: 79 km NE Chone, 90 km W Santo Domingo , 300 m, 6–9.VI.1976 (20 ♂, 1 ♀ CMNC) ; 20 km N Chone , 6–9.VI.1976 (1 ♀ CMNC) . Pichincha: La Union del Toachi , Otongachi, 850 m, 21–29.VI.2009 (2 ♂, 2 ♀ MZUF) ; Valle Hermosa, Santo Domingo de Los Colorados , 350 m, 7.II.1993 (2 ♂, 2 ♀ MZUF) ; Santo Domingo , Tinalandia Resort, 00°13’S, 79°09’W, 760 m, 18–24.V.1997 (2 ♂, 2 ♀ CMNC) ; Tinalandia, 28.IX.1990 (3 ♂, 3 ♀ CMNC) ; Santo Domingo de Los Colorados , IX.1981 (81 ♂, 93 ♀ MZc; 17 ♂, 17 ♀ MSNG) ; 4 km SE Santo Domingo , 500 m, 8–22.VI.1976 (3 ♂, 2 ♀ CMNC) ; 34 km a Santo Domingo de Los Colorados , 13.16. X.1986 (1 ♂ MZc) ; 47 km S Santo Domingo, Río Palenque Station , 250 m (39 ♂, 39 ♀ CMNC; 8 ♂ MZc) ; 16 km SE Santo Domingo, Tinalandia , 16–28.VI.1975 (4 ♂, 2 ♀, CMNC) ; 15 km E Santo Domingo, Tinalandia , 23–26.II.1981 (10 ♂, 18 ♀ CMNC) . Santa Elena: Olón, 01°47’46’’S, 80°45’25’’W, 20.XII.2012, pig faeces (36 ♂, 26 ♀ CEMT) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Onthophagus viviensis. A, Dorsal habitus of the male; B, dorsal habitus of female; C, lateral habitus of the male; D, dorsal habitus of the lectotype of O. viviensis; E, original labels of the lectotype of O. viviensis; F, lateral view of the parameres; G, frontal view of the parameres; H, endophallites. LC: lamella copulatrix; A: axial; SA: subaxial; SRP: superior right peripheral; FLP: fronto-lateral peripheral; MP: medial peripheral.