Gromphas aeruginosa, (PERTY, 1830)

Cupello, Mario, 2024, The genus Gromphas Dejean, 1836 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeinae): nomenclature, distribution, and conservation, including a contribution to the debate on electronic publications in zoology, Zoosystema 46 (2), pp. 23-59 : 35-36

ON THE TYPE SERIES OF GROMPHAS AERUGINOSA ( PERTY, 1830)

For our revision of Gromphas ( Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello 2013), Vaz-de-Mello and I could examine the lectotype of Onitis aeruginosus Perty, 1830 (i.e., G. aeruginosa ) only through photos provided by Michael Balke, the Coleoptera curator at the Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Munich, Germany (ZSMC), where the specimen has been housed since its arrival in Europe in the early 19th century ( Scherer 1983; Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello 2013). The lectotype was designated by Scherer (1983) from a series of eight syntypes, all of which I was able to locate during a three-day visit to the ZSMC in November 2019. As originally suspected by Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello (2013), Scherer (1983), like Perty (1830) before him, mistakenly took every major specimen (i.e., those with well-developed cephalic and pronotal horns) for males and every minor one for females. His information that the type series was composed of four males and four females was consequently bound to be incorrect; in fact, there are three males (including the lectotype, as correctly sexed by Scherer) and five females. Their labels are transcribed below (italics for handwriting, slashes for line breaks). As Scherer (1983) already noted, none of the former syntypes bears original labels in Perty’s handwriting, those having been replaced by printed labels by later curators ( Scherer 1983).

As explained by Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello (2013), the geographical provenance pointed out by Perty (1830) for O. aeruginosus , the then Brazilian provinces and now states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, is certainly wrong, as the species is exclusively Amazonian. The provenance indicated on the labels of the type specimens, ‘Brasilien’ or ‘Brasilia’, is not of great help either for it is already widely known (and, indeed, stated in the work itself) that Perty’s (1830) book was based on material collected exclusively in Brazil during Johann Baptist von Spix and Karl Friedrich Philip von Martius’ expedition across the country (1817-1820). But where exactly in Brazil did the naturalists find the species? Studying the itinerary of Spix and Martius’ journey, especially the list of places visited by them in the Amazon, can at least limit the possibilities. In addition to other areas of Brazil, the two naturalists visited together numerous Amazonian localities along the Amazon River, from its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean upstream to Benjamin Constant, on the border of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, as well as along the lower Madeira River ( Spix & Martius 1823 - 1831; Papavero 1971). They also explored separately the lower c. 420 km of the Amazon’s main left tributary, the Rio Negro , from Manaus to Barcelos (Spix), and the entire Brazilian extension of another mighty left tributary, the Japurá (Martius). Gromphas aeruginosa is abundant in many of these places ( Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello 2013, 2015), and the type series, and particularly relevant for the type locality, the lectotype, can have been collected in any of them. Following Recommendation 76A.2 of the Code, I correct Perty’s erroneous type locality statement (‘ Habitat in mediterraneis Prov. S. Pauli et Minarum ’) to ‘ Brazil: the Amazon rainforest, somewhere visited by Spix and Martius along the Amazon River, the Japurá, the lower Madeira, or the Rio Negro’.

TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Lectotype • ♂; ZSMC; designated by Scherer (1983: 298): green disk, ‘Brasilien’, ‘Type von / gromphas / aeruginosa / Perty ’ [Hans Kulzer’s handwriting], ‘Type’, ‘alte / Sammlung’, ‘HOLOTYPUS / Onitis Perty / aeruginosus / det. Dr.G.Scherer 1981’ [Scherer’s handwriting], ‘ Gromphas / aeruginosus / (Perty) / det. G.Scherer, 198 1 ’ [Scherer’s handwriting] .

Paralectotypes • ♂; ZSMC: green disk, ‘Brasilien’, ‘a te / Samm ung’ [sic; ‘l’ in both ‘Alte’ and ‘Sammlung’ faded], ‘ Lecto- / PARATYPUS / Onitis / aeruginosus / Perty / Dr.G.Scherer, 198 1 ’ [Scherer’s handwriting] • ♂; ZSMC: ‘ Lecto- / PARATYPUS / Onitis / aeruginosus / Perty / Dr. G.Scherer, 198 1 ’ [Scherer’s handwriting] • ♂, ZSMC: green disk, ‘Brasilien’, ‘alte / Sammlung’, ‘ Lecto- / PARATYPUS / Onitis / aeruginosus / Perty / Dr.G.Scherer, 198 1 ’ [Scherer’s handwriting] • ♂; ZSMC: green disk bordered in black, ‘ Brasilia ’ [unknown handwriting], ‘alte / Sammlung’, ‘ Lecto- / PARATYPUS / Onitis / aeruginosus / Perty / Dr.G.Scherer, 198 1 ’ [Scherer’s handwriting] • ♂, ZSMC: green disk bordered in black, ‘alte / Sammlung’, ‘ Lecto- / PARATYPUS / Onitis / aeruginosus / Perty / Dr.G.Scherer, 198 1 ’ [Scherer’s handwriting] • ♂; ZSMC: green disk, ‘Brasilien’, ‘alte / Sammlung’, ‘ Lecto- / PARATYPUS / Onitis / aeruginosus / Perty / Dr.G.Scherer, 198 1 ’ [Scherer’s handwriting] • ♂; ZSMC: ‘ 9. / Brasilia / O. ♂ ♀ / aerugino- / sus / P.’ [unknown handwriting; same style as Max Gemminger’s labels as shown in Scherer (1983)], ‘ Lecto- / PARATYPUS / Onitis / aeruginosus / Perty / Dr.G.Scherer, 198 1 ’ [Scherer’s handwriting] .

ADDITIONAL NON-TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Bolivia. Cochabamba • 1 ♂; [genitalia dissected], 1 ♀; Carrasco, Puerto Villarroel, Valle Sacta; 17°07’S, 64°45’W; 230 m; 9.V.2000; M. Aliaga leg.; human faeces trap; Amazon Forest ; TAMU .

Santa Cruz • 1 ♂; 1♀; Andrés Ibáñez, Lomas de Arena ; 17°55.360’S, 63°09.637’W; 413 m; 5.XII.2008; W. D. Edmonds and T. Vidaurre leg.; human faeces; forest remnant; TAMU • 3 ♂, 3 ♀; Ichilo, Buena Vista ; 380 m; XI.1971; F. Steinbach leg.; TAMU • 1 ♂; Ichilo, Buena Vista ; 17°27’49”S, 63°35’58”W; 360 m; no date; W. D. Edmonds leg.; horse dung; pasture; TAMU .

Brazil. Acre • 1 ♀; Cruzeiro do Sul ; VI.1952; J. Correia leg.; TAMU • 1 ♂, 3 ♀; same data as for the preceding; ex Alvarenga collection; DZUP • 1 ♀; Cruzeiro do Sul ; IX.1952; J. Correia leg.; ex Alvarenga collection; DZUP • 3 ♂; Rio Branco ; 15-20.XI.1961; F. M. Oliveira leg.; DZUP .

Amazonas • 2 ♂, 1 ♀; Benjamin Constant; IX.1960; L. G. Pereira leg.; DZUP • 2 ♂ [genitalia dissected], 3 ♀; Benjamin Constant; XI.1962; A. Silva leg.; TAMU • 2♂, 2♀; Borba, ‘ Guajará’ (see IackXimenes et al. [2005: 60] for a discussion on the dubious identity of this locality recorded on labels of Parko specimens); VII.1943; A. Parko leg.; ex Alvarenga collection; DZUP • 4 ♂, 5 ♀; Careiro, Janauacá; XII.1988; J. Dellone leg; DZUP • 2 ♂, 3♀; Tabatinga; VII.1956; M. Alvarenga leg; DZUP .

Pará • 1 ♂ [genitalia dissected]; Óbidos ; XI.1954; J. Brazilino leg; ex Alvarenga collection; DZUP • 3 ♀; Óbidos ; VIII.1963; no collector; DZUP • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Óbidos ; 4. V.2002; Reinhard F. leg.; CAPC. Rondônia • 1 ♂; Porto Velho ; XII.1955; M. Alvarenga leg.; ex Alvarenga collection; DZUP • 1♂, 1♀; Porto Velho, Madeira River (‘ Amazonas / P. Velho – Rio / Madeira. ’); XII.1938; no collector; ex F. Justus Júnior collection; DZUP .

Peru. Loreto • 2 ♂; Maynas, Iquitos ; 106 m; 1-15.V.1948; C. Bolívar leg.; at light; TAMU .

San Martín • 1 ♀; Juanjuí; 10.III.2010; M.Tafur Novda (?) leg.; CAPC • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Juanjuí, ‘zona sur’; 7.VIII.2007; no collector; CAPC .

Ucayali • 1 ♀; Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa ; 200 m; 22.VIII.1963; J. Schunke L. leg.; under pig dung; TAMU • 1♂, 1 ♀; Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa; 200 m; 15.IX.1963; J. Schunke L. leg.; under pig dung; TAMU • 1 ♂; Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa ; 200 m; 17.IX.1963; J. Schunke L. leg.; TAMU • 1 ♂, 3 ♀; Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa; 200 m; 17.IX.1963; J. Schunke L. leg.; under pig dung; TAMU • 1♂; Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa ; 200 m; 18.IX.1963; J. Schunke L. leg.; under cow dung; TAMU • 1 ♀; Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa ; 200 m; 20.IX.1963; J. Schunke L. leg.; under cow dung; TAMU • 2 ♀; Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa ; 200 m; 21.IX.1963; J. Schunke L. leg.; under cow dung; in meadow; TAMU • 2 ♀; Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa, Pueblo Aguaytia ; V.2009; no collector; CAPC • 4 ♂, 5 ♀; Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa, San Lorenzo ; 17-20.VII.1992; no collector; TAMU .

Erroneous data Brazil. Minas Gerais • 2 ♂; Manhumirim (‘NA-NHUMIRIM’ [sic]); 30.III.1937; Zellior leg.; DZUP .