Haroldiellus Gordon and Skelley, 2007

Skelley, Paul E. & Keller, Oliver, 2022, A third species of Haroldiellus Gordon and Skelley, 2007 from Mexico and Central America (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae: Aphodiini), Insecta Mundi 2022 (916), pp. 1-11 : 2

Haroldiellus Gordon and Skelley, 2007

Haroldiellus Gordon and Skelley 2007: 269 . Type species: Aphodius sallei Harold 1863: 336 , by original designation.

Diagnosis. [Modified from Gordon and Skelley 2007, and Skelley’s website ( Skelley 2008)] Body length 4.3–5.8 mm, ovate, robust, dark brown to black. Body not fimbriate. Head with three tubercles along frontal suture, lateral ones weak, most prominent in males. Clypeus lacking teeth and setal fringe. Scutellum small, pentagonal. Elytral striae deep and coarsely punctate. Protibial dorsal surface with few punctures in an indistinct longitudinal row, lost in some species. Metatibial apical spinules short and equal in length.

Remarks. A key to genera of Aphodiini in the US is in Gordon and Skelley (2007). A key to New World genera can be found at Skelley (2008). Gordon and Skelley’s (2007) generic description was based primarily on H. sallei . Specimens of H. lansbergei and the new species were not available at that time. The protibial punctation partially used to define Haroldiellus is present only on H. sallei , not on the other species.

The tribe Aphodiini can be divided easily by genera that possess a punctate dorsal protibial surface and those that do not. However, the vast majority of those with a punctate surface are covered with scattered, more densely spaced punctures. In H. sallei and Gordonius Skelley , the protibial punctures are few, sparse and arranged in a couple more or less longitudinal, medial rows. In the New World, the body shape of those with dense protibial punctation is more elongate and flattened, while Haroldiellus and Gordonius are robust and more rounded.