Onitis lama Lansberge, 1875

Karimbumkara, Seena Narayanan & Priyadarsanan, Dharma Rajan, 2024, Study on the genus Onitis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) of the Indian Subcontinent, with three new species from India, European Journal of Taxonomy 956, pp. 1-61 : 28-30

Onitis lama Lansberge, 1875

Figs 10C , 11I–L , 19

Onitislama Lansberge, 1875: 53, 123 (original description).

Onitis lama – Preudhomme De Borre 1881: 40 (catalogue). — Arrow 1931: 389 (key and description). — Balthasar 1935: 88 (monograph); 1963: 44 (monograph). — Janssens 1937: 72 (revision). — Mittal 2005: 46 (distribution). — Bezděk & Krell 2006: 159 (distribution). — Sewak 2009a: 36 (diagnosis, distribution); 2009b: 58 (diagnosis, distribution). — Thakare et al. 2012: 78 (distribution). — Siddiqui et al. 2014: 300 (distribution). — Gupta et al. 2015: 1037 (checklist). — Bezděk 2016: 179 (distribution). — Ghosh et al. 2020: 238 (distribution). — Schoolmeesters 2022 (online catalogue).

Differential diagnosis

Onitislama is the sole member of Group V ( Janssens 1937). It has an uninterrupted frontal carina, and a short clypeal carina.

Type material examined

Syntypes (2 specimens)

INDIA • 2 “ ♂♂; “ Lama Lansb. India bor. Typus, Ex-Musaeo Van Lansberge, Museum Paris ex Coll. R. Oberthur, A. Janssens vid., 1936: Onitislama Lansb. 1875, Type, Syntype; Polsky, Himalaya, O. lama typ. Lansbrg., Ex musaeo E. Harold, Museum Paris ex Coll. R. Oberthur, A. Janssens vid., 1936: Onitis lama Lansb., 1875 , Syntype”; MNHN EC4810–EC4811 .

Additional material examined (9 specimens)

INDIA • ♂; “ Punjab, Nevinson Coll. 1918 -14”; BMNH (E) 1237147 • ♀; “ Uttarakhand, Kumaon , W. Almora , India. H.G.C., H.G. Champion Coll., B.M. 1953 -156., Onitis lama, Lansb., G.J. Arrow det.”; BMNH (E) 1237148 • ♂; “ Onitislama, Det. J.J.E. Gillet; ZSIM • 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; Tamil Nadu, Tirunelveli , Radhapuram ”; open cow dung bait trap, 20 Dec. 2016, Chian leg.; AIMB / Co/Sc1000306 to 1000309 .

Description

MEASUREMENTS (in mm). TL=19–24, BW =11–13.

Male

Black, shining; head with an entire, strongly elevated, slightly arcuate frontal carina, clypeal carina short, curved, closer to clypeal margin; pronotum distinctly, moderately closely punctured anteriorly and extremely minutely behind; front angles blunt, sides strongly rounded, base completely margined and lobed between basal foveae; elytra with fine striae, smooth intervals, sutural intervals with few scattered punctures, posterior edge with short fringe of erect yellow hairs; pygidium smooth, opaque with very minute scanty punctures; metasternum with a narrow longitudinal groove, metasternal shield smooth in the middle and behind, flat and fairly strongly punctured anteriorly and sides, the sides of the metasternum densely punctured and hairy. Clypeus deeply excised in the middle, not very closely rugulose; posterior part of head very finely and sparsely punctured; profemur with a very sharp oblique tooth beyond the middle of its lower edge, protibia elongate, armed with four short external teeth, a strong sharp tooth on the lower face before the middle and three or four minute tubercles and an incurved apical process, hind femur rather long, straight with a tooth near the end of the lower edge, trochanter little produced at the tip and hind tibia finely serrate along its inner edge.

AEDEAGUS (in mm) ( Fig. 11I– L ). LP=3.035, Lp= 2.57; BP=1.43, BpB =0.93, BpT=0.36. Phallobase longer than parameres which are blunt, slightly sinuate near the base, curved inwards anteriorly and hooked at the tip.

Female

Clypeus closely rugulose, its front margin entire and slightly truncate, pronotum more strongly punctured anteriorly than male, protibia broad, armed with four blunt external teeth and a small articulated terminal spur.

Distribution

India: Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh. Other countries: Nepal, Pakistan ( Mittal 2005; Bezděk & Krell 2006; Sewak 2009a, 2009b; Thakare et al. 2012; Siddiqui et al. 2014; Gupta et al. 2015; Bezděk 2016; Ghosh et al. 2020; Schoolmeesters 2022).

Figures

Fig. 10. A. Onitisfeae Felsche, 1907, cotype, (image: Olaf Jäger, SNSD). B. O. humerosus (Pallas, 1771), BMNH (E) 1237143, (image: BMNH). C. O. lama Lansberge, 1875, syntype, ♂, MNHN EC4810, (image: Antoine Mantilleri, MNHN). D. O. naviauxi Cambefort, 1988, holotype, ♂, MNHN EC4807, (image: Antoine Mantilleri, MNHN). E. O. philemon Fabricius, 1801, lectotype, ZMUK Fabricius 003706, (image: Alexey Solodovnikov, ZMUC). F. O. punctatostriatus Janssens, 1937, holotype, ♂, (image: Jonathan Brecko, IRSNB).

Fig. 11. Aedeagus, lateral, dorsal, ventral and apical views. A–D. Onitiscastaneus Kollar, 1844, AIMB/ Co/Sc1000027. E–H. O. feae Felsche, 1907, AIMB/Co/Sc1000188. I–L. O. lama Lansberge, 1875, AIMB/Co/Sc1000307. (Images: AIMB).

Fig. 19. Map showing the distribution of Onitislama Lansberge, 1875; O. naviauxi Cambefort, 1988; O. philemon Fabricius, 1801; O. punctatostriatus Janssens, 1937 and O. singhalensis Lansberge, 1875 in the Indian Subcontinent.