Balsameda adspersa ( Sharp, 1877 )

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 : 248-249

Balsameda adspersa ( Sharp, 1877) ( Figs. 10–13 )

Cotinis adspersa Sharp 1877: 136 (original combination). Holotype male at BMNH, examined. Type locality: “ Chontales, Nicaragua.”

Description. Length 17.2–20.1 mm; width across humeri 10.3–12.0 mm. Color on dorsum velutinous reddish brown or opaque dark green; top of head, venter, and legs with cupreous reflections. Setae and scales creamy white. Head: Surface with long, dense setae. Frons in males with long, slender, attenuate keel projecting forward and curving slightly downward over clypeus, apex of keel free; keel in female shorter, apex blunt and fused with clypeus. Clypeus in dorsal view subquadrate, concave; female with small, round pit near apex of frontal keel. Clypeal apex strongly reflexed into broadly triangular tooth, apex of tooth broadly acuminate. Eyes large, bulging, interocular width 3.2 transverse eye diameters. Ocular canthus punctate, punctures with slender setae. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club distinctly longer than antennomeres 2–7 in both sexes. Pronotum: Surface in males with numerous moderately large, flat, oval to teardrop-shaped scales. Sides with slender marginal bead, bead usually not reaching anterior or posterior angles. Surface in females with moder- ately dense, moderately large, shallow punctures; scales sparse to absent. Elytra: Surface of males with punctate striae and costae usually concealed by velutinous covering, otherwise surface similar to that of pronotum and with sparse to numerous scales. Surface of females punctate-striate, punctures moderate in size and density; sutural and 2 discal costae elevated, discal costae meeting at prominent apical umbone, scales sparse to nearly absent. Both sexes with dense fringe of short setae on each lateral margin. Apices at suture obtusely rounded. Pygidium: Surface in both sexes concentrically strigose, with small, dense, elongate scales. In lateral view, profile in both sexes weakly convex. Venter: Metasternites with large, dense, setigerous punctures; setae long, slender, mixed with elongate or teardrop shape scales. Mesometasternal process, in lateral view, short, subparallel to ventral axis of body ( Fig. 11 ), apex broadly rounded in ventral view. Abdominal ventrites 1–5 in males with moderately large, dense punctures with teardrop shaped scales either side of narrow, impunctate midline; females with moderately large, dense, setigerous punctures; setae slender, moderate in length. Legs: Protibia weakly tridentate in both sexes. Parameres ( Figs. 12–13 ): Form bluntly subtriangular in caudal view, median edges contiguous with each other, apices broadly rounded; in lateral view, ventral surface with long, spine-like tooth curving back towards phallobase.

Distribution. Balsameda adspersa is known from Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Locality Records. 17 specimens from BCRC, BMNH, INBC, TAMU, and USNM. COSTA RICA (15). CARTAGO (3): Turrialba. GUANACASTE (10): Estación Biológica Maritza (Parque Nacional Guanacaste), Sector Las Pailas (4.5 km SW of Volcán Rincón de la Vieja). NO DATA (2). NICARAGUA (1). CHONTALES (1): No data. PANAMA (1). CHIRIQUI (1). Cerro Tute (8 km W Santa Fé) .

Temporal Distribution. April (1), May (7), June (3), July (1).

Diagnosis. Balsameda adspersa is distinguished by the slender, long, dense setae on the frons and basal half of clypeus; the clypeal apex has a reflexed, subtriangular tooth; and the ocular canthus is punctate and roughened. The parameres ( Figs. 12–13 ) are distinctive because, in caudal view, the median edges of the apices are approximate and contiguous. Badelina adspersa resembles B. porioni but has scales generally distributed over the surface of the pronotum, whereas in B. porioni the scales are along the lateral margins only. The parameres of both B. adspersa and B. porioni are similar, although the median edge of each paramere near the apex is more separated in B. porioni .

Natural History. Nothing is known of the life history of these uncommon beetles. The little tem- poral distribution data suggests adults are most active during the rainy season.

Figures

Figs. 10–13. Balsameda adspersa. 10) Habitus; 11) Mesometasternal process, lateral view; 12–13) Parameres.