Guatemalica hueti ( Chevrolat, 1870 )

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 : 257-258

Guatemalica hueti ( Chevrolat, 1870) ( Figs. 26 , 33–36 )

Allorrhina hueti Chevrolat 1870: 6 (original combination). Holotype female at RMNH, examined. Type locality: “ Guatemala ”.

Description. Length 14.9–21.0 mm; width across humeri 8.9–11.8 mm. Color on dorsal surface dark reddish brown or black, rarely pronotum faint, olive green; entire dorsum usually entirely velutinous; venter and legs shiny dark reddish brown or black. Ochre or pale yellow marking present as follows: frons and clypeus with broad, longitudinal band either side of middle; pronotum with broad band on apical and lateral margins; epimeron on lateral face completely covered or not; elytra each with large, irregular spot on lateral margin just before and after middle and on apex, apical spot bifurcate medially, each bifurcation not quite reaching suture; pygidium usually completely covered except for lateral angles and spot at center of disc; metepisterna completely or partially covered; metacoxae covered on lateral edge; abdominal ventrites 1–4 and usually 5 each with large spot on posterolateral margin either side of middle; occasionally sternites 3–5 with additional band on anterior margin just either side of middle. All ochre or yellow markings may be variably reduced, one specimen entirely black. Head: Lateral margins weakly elevated. Surface of frons and clypeus slightly concave either side of weak, median, longitudinal tumescence. Surface in males with small, sparse punctures; females with punctures moderately dense and moderate in size. Clypeus with apex bilobed, each lobe broadly rounded, imperceptibly reflexed. Eyes moderate in size, interocular width 5.0 transverse eye diameters in males, about 3.5 diameters in females. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club distinctly longer than antennomeres 2–7 in both sexes. Pronotum: Surface with sculpturing usually obscured by velutinous covering; when exposed, punctures sparse, small, becoming slightly larger and denser laterally. Sides with slender marginal bead. Elytra: Surface with sculpturing usually obscured by velutinous covering; when exposed, discal costae virtually obsolete, punctures small, sparse, some in distinct rows on disc. Apices at suture obtusely rounded. Pygidium: Surface in both sexes on non-velutinous areas concentrically strigose, setigerous; setae minute, tawny in males; setae longer, stouter, black in females. Surface on ochre, velutinous areas with small, sparse punctures in males and darker, larger punctures in females. In lateral view, profile weakly convex to nearly flat in both sexes. Venter: Setae

long, dark brown to mostly black. Mesometasternal process bluntly rounded; in lateral view, protuberant and recurved ( Fig. 34 ). Abdominal ventrites in males nearly smooth in central third, lateral thirds with sparse, moderately large, crescentshaped punctures; females sparsely punctate on central third, more densely punctate on lateral thirds. Legs: Protibia slender, weakly tridentate in males, distinctly broader and tridentate in females. Parameres ( Figs. 35–36 ): In caudal view, form subrectangular, apices broadly, bluntly rounded and with minute tooth on apicolateral edge.

Distribution. Guatemalica hueti is known from southern Mexico south to Colombia and Ecuador.

Locality Records. 137 specimens from ADMC, BCRC, BMNH, CMNC, CNCI, DBTC, DEIC, FMNH, INBC, IRSNB, JMMC, JMSC, JNNC, MAMC, MGFT, MNHN, MUCR, RMNH, USNM, and ZMHU. COLOMBIA (6). ANTIOQUIA (1) : Medellín. CHOCÓ (4) : Loró, No data. NO DATA (1) . COSTA RICA (54). ALAJUELA (6) : Alajuela, La Garita, Caño Negro, Sarapiquí, Upala. CARTAGO (1) : Turrialba. GUANACASTE (3) : Estación Pillila, Tierras Morenas. HEREDIA (1) : La Selva Biological Station . PUNTARENAS (39) : Estación Esquinas, Estación Sirena (Osa Peninsula), Fila Cruces, Guacimal, Rancho Quemado, San Vito ( Las Cruces Botanical Garden ). SAN JOSÉ (2) : Estación Bijagual, San José. NO DATA (2) . ECUADOR (3). BOLÍVAR (1) : Chimbo. LOS RIOS (2) : Santo Domingo, No data. GUATEMALA (6). ESCUINTLA (1) : Santa Lucia Cotz. QUETZALTENANGO (1) : Cerro Zunil. SANTA ROSA (2) : Finca Buenos Aires, Nuevo Pueblo Viñas. SUCHITEPÉQUEZ (1) : Finca Tarrales. NO DATA (1) . MEXICO (2). CHIAPAS (1) : Tapachula. GUERRERO (1) : Grutas Acuitlapán. NICARAGUA (14). GRANADA (3) : Guadalupe. RIVAS (11) : Cardenas, Rivas, Sapoa. PANAMA (47). CHIRIQUÍ (44) : Volcan de Chiriqui , No data. PANAMÁ (3) : El Llano-Carti Road (7–13 km N El Llano), vicinity of Lake Cerro Azul. NO DATA (5).

Temporal Distribution. January (1), March (5), April (28), May (26), June (17), July (5), December (1).

Diagnosis. Guatemalica hueti is characterized by three (usually) large ochre or yellow spots on the lateral margin of each elytron (a continuous band or broken band of pale yellow in G. fuliginosa ); a subapical, bifurcate spot with bifurcations nearly meeting medially at suture so as to create an oval, dark spot surrounded by ochre or yellow at the combined elytral apices (no bifurcate spot near combined elytral apices in G. fuliginosa , instead with a marginal band of pale yellow); and pygidium with a central dark spot completely surrounded by ochre or yellow (pygidium with yellow marks but lacking a central, dark spot completely surrounded

by yellow in G. fuliginosa ). The parameres are shorter and stouter in G. hueti while proportionally longer and more slender in G. fuliginosa (compare Figs. 31 and 35 ).

Natural History. Label data indicate that specimens have been collected in rotting fruit traps (banana, watermelon, and mango) at elevations of 90–1,800 m mostly during the rainy season (at least in Mesoamerica). Chevrolat (1870), in his original description of the species from Guatemala, indicated the holotype was found inside a tree trunk covered with orchids; the specimen was inside a “shell” that resembled a seed (pupal cell?). Solís (2004) reported that adults were obtained from larvae and pupae that were found in the organic material deposited among the roots of an epiphytic orchid growing in the crown of a tree in Costa Rica. José Monzón (personal communication to BCR, August 2013) reported that the Los Tarrales, Guatemala specimen was taken from inside a bromeliad. Neita et al. (2006) reported a specimen taken at lights in the Chocó region of Colombia.

Figures

Figs. 26–28. 26) Guatemalica hueti showing recurved mesometasternal process; 27) Amithao haematopus (Schaum) showing slender, subparallel mesometasternal process; 28) Desicasta reichei Thomson showing large, oblique mesometasternal process (image courtesy of the Natural History Museum, London, UK).

Figs. 33–36. Guatemalica hueti. 33) Habitus; 34) Mesometasternal process, lateral view; 35–36) Parameres.

Figs. 29–32. Guatemalica fuliginosa. 29) Habitus; 30) Mesometasternal process, lateral view; 31–32) Parameres.