Phanaeus (Notiophanaeus) olsoufieffi Balthasar, 1939

Solís, Ángel & Kohlmann, Bert, 2023, New synonyms and records of Costa Rican and Panamanian dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), Insecta Mundi 2023 (972), pp. 1-21 : 3-4

Phanaeus (Notiophanaeus) olsoufieffi Balthasar, 1939

Phanaeus blanchardi Olsoufieff 1924: 92 (not P. blanchardi Harold 1871: 114 ).

Phanaeus olsoufieffi Balthasar 1939: 242 .

Phanaeus bothrus Blackwelder 1944: 209 .

Phanaeus panamensis Moctezuma and Halffter 2021: 36 . New subjective synonym.

Moctezuma and Halffter’s (2021) work on the endymion group of Phanaeus includes the description of a new species from Costa Rica and Panama, Phanaeus panamensis , which we here conclude is a junior synonym of P. olsoufieffi for the following reasons:

Their figure 7C (p. 28) depicts a putative paralectotype of P. blanchardi , which they regard as assignable to P. malyi Arnaud 2002 (their figure 7A and 7B). However, we believe that the specimen in their figure 7C is not assignable to P. malyi because it clearly possesses flat elytral interstriae, a feature shared with P. olsoufieffi and P. funereus Balthasar, 1939 ; P. malyi has raised elytral interstriae. We conclude that the specimen in their figure 7C is P. olsoufieffi ( P. funereus is ruled out because it has the head and pronotum dull metallic red and the major male with a keel absent in the middle of the anterior pronotal margin) and that its label locality “ Colombia ” cannot be assigned to P. malyi , a species restricted to the Pacific rainforest of Costa Rica and Panama ( Solís and Kohlmann 2012). Moctezuma and Halffter (2021: 28, fig. 7C) mention an illegible label pinned to this specimen, it says Obert which is shorthand for Oberthür, signaling the Oberthür Collection. The misapplication of elytral relief (flat vs convex) also comes to play in Moctezuma and Halffter’s (2021) key to species, couplets 10, 14–17, which confound the identities of several species, including P. pyrois .

Moctezuma and Halffter (2021) also indicated previous authors ( Edmonds 1994; Arnaud 2002; Edmonds and Zídek 2012; Solís and Kohlmann 2012; Kohlmann et al. 2018) mistakenly reported P. olsoufieffi from Panama. Using material not studied by Moctezuma and Halffter (2021) and supplied by Dr. Roberto Cambra of the University of Panama, we checked Panamanian material ( Fig. 5 ) and concluded that the specimens are indeed P. olsoufieffi . The lamella copulatrix has been studied for Panamanian and Costa Rican specimens ( Figures 3–4 ), and in all cases, it is the typical one for P. olsoufieffi , as presented by Moctezuma and Halffter (2021: 9, fig. 1J). Our study of Panama specimens has found no lamellae copulatrices resembling the one for P. panamensis , as shown by Moctezuma and Halffter (2021: 9, fig. 1L).

River Martínez (TAMUIC) has kindly provided us with photographs of the endophallite of the holotype ( Fig. 38 ; Cerro Campana, Panama), a paratype (Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, Panama), and a non-paratype (Fort Kobbe, Canal Zone, Panama) of P. panamensis . Figure 39 is the endophallite of the holotype of P. panamensis as depicted by Moctezuma and Halffter (2021, fig. 1L). Comparing the two, it is clear they do not look the same. The endophallite photographed by TAMUIC ( Fig. 38 ) is the same as a typical P. olsoufieffi ( Fig. 3, 4 ). We are at a loss to explain this photographic difference. The photographs of the male paratype and nonparatype of P. panamensis sent by TAMUIC are also P. olsoufieffi . Still, as stated before, we have not been able to find an endophallite resembling the one photographed by Moctezuma and Halffter (2021) either in Panamanian or in Costa Rican specimens at our disposal.

Moctezuma and Halffter (2021: 52, fig.16) also present a map indicating based on just one locality, Estación La Selva in Heredia, that P. panamensis extends its distribution to the northern Caribbean of Costa Rica. We have been studying the dung beetles of Costa Rica for more than thirty years, including Estación La Selva, and have not yet been able to find any P. olsoufieffi ( Fig. 1 ) in Costa Rica. Neither have we been able to detect the large areas of sympatry ( Figure 5 ) between P. malyi , P. pyrois and, P. panamensis ( Fig. 2 ) that Moctezuma and Halffter (2021: 38) write about. Curiously, Moctezuma and Halffter (2021) report only one locality for P. pyrois and P. panamensis for Costa Rica but mark two localities apiece in their text map. Similarly, we have not found any lamella copulatrix of the sort described by Moctezuma and Halffter (2021) among Costa Rica Phanaeus specimens, so it is highly likely that this taxon does not occur in Costa Rica. Up to this day, we have been able to collect P. pyrois (665 specimens) along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica ( Fig. 5 ), showing a great variety of color morphs, (see below).

Whereas P.olsoufieffi is described as a larger species by Moctezuma and Halffter (2021), with typical characteristics of large specimens (central anterior pronotal margin keeled, male pronotal posterolateral angles strongly developed and projected); P. panamensis is considered a smaller species with its concomitant characteristics (central anterior pronotal margin not keeled, male pronotal posterolateral angles weakly developed and slightly projected). However, contrary to the species’ key description of P. panamensis ( Moctezuma and Halffter 2021: 54) , with a keel always absent on the central anterior margin of the male pronotum, the diagnosis of P. panamensis by Moctezuma and Halffter (2021: 36) does indicate otherwise that major males have an obsolete keel in the middle of the anterior pronotal margin.

Along the same line, P. pyrois shows convex interstriae, whereas the holotype of P. panamensis shows them flat and the striae are not impressed basally, as is the case with P. olsoufieffi . However, the female paratype shown in the photograph has convex interstriae and striae strongly impressed basally ( Moctezuma and Halffter 2021: fig. 10B). River Martínez generously provided us with a photo of a female paratype (Fort Kobbe, Canal Zone, Panama) that clearly depicts that the interstriae are flat. We list below the material supplied by Dr. Cambra from the University of Panama that we examined.

Revised material (21). PANAMA. Coclé. El Copé, 900 m, 22–23 sept 1990, col. R. Cambra, J. Coronado ; Valle de Antón , 8 Oct 2006, J. Jaén, heces humanas ; 1 sept 1987, col. D. Quintero, R. Cambra, R. Rodríguez ; El Valle, La Mesa , 850 m, 29v–9vi 2000, D. Curoe, B. Ella cols. (7) . Colón. Pipeline Road , 20 Ago 1982, col. B. Gill (2) Darién. PN Darién Cana, 400 m, 8–15 V 02 , flight intercept trap, D. Curoe col. ; PN Darién, Pirre, Est. Rancho Frío , 80 m, 18–24 ene 2001, (hec. hum.), R. Cambra, A Santos ; 450 m, 24–26 mar 2001, A. Santos, Malaise; 3–17 oct 2002, R. Cambra, A. Santos . Los Santos. Tonosí, Res. For. La Tronosa, Los Planes , 350 m, 7°21′N 80°28′W, heces hum, 20 abr 2 may 2006 R. Cambra (1) . Panamá Oeste. Canal Area, Barro Colorado Island , 10–12 Feb 2005, E. Andresen, S. Laurence, dung bait, morphospecies 18 ; morphospecies 20; July 1992 at howler dung (6).

Figures

Figures 1–5. Phanaeus spp. 1) Elytra of P. olsoufieffi. 2) Elytra of Phanaeus pyrois. 3) Lamella copulatrix of P. olsoufieffi from Valle de Antón, Panama. 4) Lamella copulatrix of P. olsoufieffi from Barro Colorado Island, Panama. 5) Known distribution of Phanaeus malyi, P. pyrois, and P. olsoufieffi in lower Central America. Right arrow, Barro Colorado Island; left arrow, Valle de Antón.

Figures 34–39. Male paratype of hypothelic O. mesoamericanus, Rancho Redondo, Cartago. 35). Labels and genitalia slide of male hypothelic O. mesoamericanus paratype. 36). Female paratype of O. mesoamericanus, Rancho Redondo, Cartago. 37). Labels and genitalia slide of female O. mesoamericanus paratype. 38). Endophallite of the holotype of P. panamensis photographed by TAMUIC (Cerro Campana, Panama). 39). Photograph of the endophallite of the holotype of P. panamensis as depicted by Moctezuma and Halffter (2021, fig. 1L).