Ancognatha lutea Erichson, 1847

Paucar-Cabrera, Aura & Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2018, The Ancognatha Erichson (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Cyclocephalini) of Ecuador, with Description of a New Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 72 (4), pp. 665-687 : 679

Ancognatha lutea Erichson, 1847 ( Figs. 25b – 28 )

Ancognatha lutea Erichson 1847: 97 (original combination). Lectotype male at ZMHU ( Moore et al. 2018).

Redescription. Males (females unknown). Length 18.7–23.7 mm; width 9.3–11.2 mm. Color testaceous with brown or black markings ( Fig. 26 ) as follows: Frons on base with or without black area; pronotum with elongated, black vitta on humeral umbone, apical umbone occasionally with small, black spot, and small, black vitta usually present behind scutellum; scutellum testaceous, with or without brown mark on base at center; elytra testaceous with brown or piceous lateral margins. Tarsi and apices of femora and tibiae testaceous or brown. Head: Frons moderately punctate, clypeal base moderately punctate, becoming shagreened towards apex and margins, punctures moderate in size. Clypeus parabolic, apex moderately reflexed. Interocular width equals 3.7 transverse eye diameters. Mandibles slender, extended to clypeal apex, or hidden beneath clypeus. Mentum with apex deeply furrowed. Pronotum: Surface evenly convex, sparsely punctate on disc, sparsely to moderately punctate on anterior angles, punctures moderate in size. Elytra: Disc with 4 punctate striae. Intervals punctate to shagreened, 1 st interval twice as wide as other intervals; punctures moderate in size, dense. Pygidium: Surface sparsely punctate, punctures moderate in size. Disc sparsely setose, setae moderate in length; apical margins densely setose; setae long; mid-apex with distinctive tuft of long, tawny setae. Legs: Protibia tridentate, teeth subequally spaced from one another, inner apical margin angulate ( Fig. 25b ). Venter: Prosternal process moderately long, columnar, apex densely setose, flat, and with large, raised, round “button” covering most of apex; setae long, tawny. Parameres: Fig. 27 .

Distribution. Ancognatha lutea is recorded from Bolivia, Colombia, Peru ( Endrödi 1966, 1988), and Ecuador (New Country Record).

Locality Records ( Fig. 28 ). 22 specimens from QCAZ .

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CANAR (1): Shical . CARCHI (9): Bosque Arrayanes (San Gabriel), Los Laureles, Tufi ~ no (50 km W) . LOJA (10): Loja, San Lucas . PICHINCHA (1): Reserva Privada El Cedral (Calacal´ı) . SUCUMBÍOS (1): Santa Bárbara .

Temporal Distribution. January (7), February (1), April (8), August (2), November (4).

Diagnosis. Male A. lutea can be separated from other Ancognatha species in the study area by the distinctive tuft of long setae on the apex of the pygidium. The female is unknown but may resemble the females of A. humeralis or A. hyltonscottae and may not have the distinctive pygidial tuft of setae. We hypothesize that the female of A. lutea may differ from that of A. humeralis in the shape of the protibia ( Fig. 25b ) and from the female of A. hyltonscottae by the furrow of the mentum (deep in A. lutea , short in A. hyltonscottae ).

Natural History. Ancognatha lutea has been collected at lights at elevations of 800–2,800 m on both sides of the Andes.

Figures

Fig. 25. Dorsal view of protibiae of a) Ancognatha humeralis and b) Ancognatha lutea (arrow indicates angulation of inner apical margin).

Figs. 26–28. Ancognatha lutea. 26) Habitus; 27) Parameres; 28) Distribution in Ecuador.