Badelina Thomson, 1880

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 : 243

Badelina Thomson, 1880

Badelina Thomson 1880: 268 . Type species: Gymnetis aterrima Gory and Percheron 1833: 343 , by monotypy.

Thomson (1880) established Badelina in five brief lines and assigned to it Gymnetis aterrima Gory and Percheron, 1833 . He suggested that there ought to be nine species belonging to this genus but did not indicate which species. Interestingly, he did not include Gymnetis pygidialis Thomson that he had described two years earlier that is now in the genus Badelina . Both Schoch (1895) and Schenkling (1921) listed B. aterrima as the only species in the genus. Schürhoff (1937) transferred G. pygidialis to Badelina . Badelina has never been comprehensively reviewed.

Description. Scarabaeidae , Cetoniinae , Gymnetini . Form: Elongate, rhomboidal, robust, sides slightly tapering from humeri towards apex of elytra, dorsum nearly flat. Length 22–29 mm. Color black or dark reddish brown with small, black spots, velutinous dorsally, an enamel grey or yellowish brown ventrally. Head: Subrectangular, longer than wide. Clypeal apex subtruncate to truncate, slightly reflexed. Frons and clypeus flat. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club distinctly longer than antennomeres 2–7. Pronotum: Subtrapezoidal, widest near base, gradually convergent to anterior angles, basomedian lobe strongly produced pos- teriorly, lobe covering all but tip of scutellum. Sides with slender marginal bead, anterior and basal margins lacking bead. Elytra: Widest at base, posthumeral emargination distinct. Bead present on lateral margins. Pygidium: Surface with transverse, vermiform strigae, setigerous, setae short and dense. Venter: Mesometasternal process, in lateral view, protuberant, subparallel to ventral axis of body ( Figs. 2 , 6 ); in ventral view, apex rounded. Abdominal ventrites 1–5 in both sexes nearly smooth in central third, lateral thirds with sparse, moderately large, crescentshaped punctures. Legs: Protibia slender, weakly tridentate in both sexes. Metatibia at apex with 3 subacute lobes and with 2 long, slender (males) or bluntly rounded spurs (females). Parameres ( Figs. 3–4 , 7–8 ): Form subrectangular in caudal view; apices broadly lanceolate, curving inwards, and with subapical, stout, spine-like tooth on lateral edge.

Diagnosis. Species of Badelina are distinguished from most other genera of New World Gymnetini by a large and robust body, truncate clypeal apex, frons unarmed, and a mesometasternal process that is, in lateral view, projecting forwards subparallel to the ventral axis of the body and with a rounded apex. The mesometasternal process of species of Gymnetis McLeay is, in lateral view, large, subrectangular, and projecting strongly downwards from the ventral axis of the body. Species of Amithao Thomson , Desicasta Thomson , Guatemalica , and Hadrosticta Kraatz have a distinctly emarginate clypeal apex.

The sex of Badelina specimens can be determined using external characters. The abdominal sternites in males are completely enamel grey or yellowish brown, whereas in the females sternites 1–5 are grey or yellowish brown laterally and variably shiny black in the central third. The two apical spurs on the metatibia are acute in males but usually bluntly rounded in females. In lateral view, the concavity of the abdomen is not so different between males and females as is the case in many other gymnetines, since in both sexes of Badelina the abdomen may be weakly concave or only slightly more so in males.

Distribution. Two species of Badelina are known from Brazil and Paraguay.

Natural History. Like most other cetoniines, species of Badelina are probably diurnal. Ohaus (1900) reported that young larvae of larger Gymnetis species (including G. aterrima ) live in detritus in the earth near rotten tree stumps, and larger larvae are found inside the rotten stumps. Nothing else is known of their life history. The larval stages remain undescribed.

Figures

Figs. 1–4. Badelina aterrima. 1) Habitus; 2) Mesometasternal process, lateral view; 3–4) Parameres.

Figs. 5–8. Badelina pygidialis. 5) Habitus; 6) Mesometasternal process, lateral view; 7–8) Parameres.