Balsameda pulverulenta ( Burmeister, 1842 )

Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2014, A Review Of The Neotropical Genera Badelina Thomson, 1880, Balsameda Thomson, 1880, Guatemalica Neervoort Van De Poll, 1886, And Heterocotinis Martínez, 1948 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Gymnetini), The Coleopterists Bulletin 68 (2), pp. 241-262 : 252-253

Balsameda pulverulenta ( Burmeister, 1842) ( Figs. 22–25 )

Cotinis pulverulenta Burmeister 1842: 262 (original combination). Lectotype female at MLUH, examined. Type locality: “ Guatim ” ( Guatemala).

Cotinis gracilis Sharp 1877: 137 (synonym). Type locality: “ Honduras.”

Gymnetis auropicta Nonfried 1891: 269 (synonym). Type locality: “ Honduras centr”.

Description. Length 13.2–20.0 mm; width across humeri 6.8–11.5 mm. Color on dorsum velutinous reddish brown or opaque dark green or both mixed together; top of head, venter, and legs with cupreous reflections. Setae and scales creamy white. Head: Frons and basal half of clypeus with long, thick scales arising from large, dense punctures. Frons in both sexes with short, blunt keel projecting forward, apex of keel slightly free in large specimens, apex blunt and fused with clypeus in small specimens. Clypeus in dorsal view subquadrate, concave; both sexes with deep depression before apex of frontal keel. Clypeal apex strongly reflexed into broadly subrectangular, subtruncate tooth. Interocular width 5.0 transverse eye diameters. Ocular canthus nearly smooth, at most with 1–2 punctures. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club distinctly longer than antennomeres 2–7 in both sexes. Pronotum: Surface in males with large, moderately dense to dense punctures; punctures with large, flat, oval to teardrop-shaped scales; surface sculpturing usually concealed by velutinous covering. Sides with slender marginal bead, bead usually reaching anterior and posterior angles. Surface in females with scales sparse to absent. Elytra: Surface punctatestriate, punctures dense, moderate in size, with scales; most punctures concealed by velutinous covering; females with scales sparse to nearly absent. Sutural and 2 discal costae in both sexes elevated, discal costae meeting at prominent apical umbone. Lateral margin in both sexes lacking dense fringe of short setae, at most with sparse setae. Apices at suture obtusely rounded. Pygidium: Surface in both sexes concentrically strigose, with small, dense, elongate scales. In lateral view, profile in both sexes nearly flat to weakly convex. Venter: Metasternites with large, dense, setigerous punctures; setae long, slender, mixed with elongate scales. Mesometasternal process, in lateral view, short, subparallel to ventral axis of body ( Fig. 23 ), apex broadly rounded in ventral view. Abdominal ventrites 1–5 in both sexes with large, dense punctures either side of nearly impunctate midline, punctures with both long and short scales. Legs: Protibia weakly tridentate in both sexes, occasionally basal 2 teeth obsolete in males. Parameres ( Figs. 24–25 ): In caudal view, apices narrowly pointed, widely separated, curving towards one another; in lateral view, ventral surface with short, subacute projection.

Distribution. Balsameda pulverulenta is known from southern Mexico to Honduras.

Locality Records. 107 specimens from BCRC, CASC, CNCI, DBTC, JEWC, LACM, MAMC, MLUH, MNHN, and USNM. BELIZE (2). TOLEDO (2): Columbia Forest Station. GUATEMALA (19). PETÉN (17): Chuntuqui, Parque Nacional Tikal. NO DATA (2). HONDURAS (3). COMAYAGUA (2): El Taladro. NO DATA (1). MEXICO (83). CHIAPAS (77): Bonampak, El Aguacero, El Sumidero Canyon, Muste, Tuxtla Gutiérrez. GUERRERO (1): Zumpango del Rio. QUINTANA ROO (1): Cancun. VERACRUZ (2): No Data. YUCATÁN (2): Chichén Itzá, Piste .

Temporal Distribution. April (1), May (14), June (74), July (11), August (1), September (1).

Diagnosis. Balsameda pulverulenta is distinguished by the thick, short, dense, scale-like setae on the frons and basal half of the clypeus; the clypeal apex has a reflexed, subrectangular, truncate tooth; a nearly smooth ocular canthus with, at most, 1–4 punctures; and a pronotum with scales generally distributed. The parameres ( Figs. 24–25 ) are distinctive because, in caudal view, the apices are narrowly pointed, widely divergent, and curve towards one another; in lateral view, there is a short, subacute projection on the ventral surface.

Nomenclature. The male type of C. gracilis (protibia without teeth) is simply a small specimen of B. pulverulenta , which Sharp apparently knew only by the description of the female (protibia with three teeth). Similarly, Nonfried (1891) described his single specimen of G. auropicta without any knowledge or comparative material of Burmeister’ s C. pulverulenta . These early descriptions of new species lacked images, were usually not very detailed, and were frequently in different languages, thus leading to multiple names for the same species.

Natural History. Nothing is known of the life history of these beetles. I have collected adults on the flowers of Acacia Miller (Fabaceae) species in southern Mexico.

Figures

Figs. 22–25. Balsameda pulverulenta. 22) Habitus; 23) Mesometasternal process, lateral view; 24–25) Parameres.