Polynoncus patriciae Pittino, 1987

Costa-Silva, Vinícius, Strümpher, Werner P., Thyssen, Patricia J. & Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z., 2024, Taxonomic revision of the South American genus Polynoncus Burmeister, 1876 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Trogidae), Journal of Natural History 58 (1 - 4), pp. 14-166 : 121-122

Polynoncus patriciae Pittino, 1987

( Figures 48 , 53 )

Polynoncus patriciae Pittino, 1987: 386 (original description); Scholtz 1990: 1422 (redescription); Gómez 2008: 515 (key to Argentinean species); Zidek 2013: 14 (checklist); Zidek 2017: 106 (checklist); Costa-Silva and Diéguez 2020: 272 (records from Argentina)

Type specimens examined (through detailed photographs). HOLOTYPE. (♂ RPMI – Figure 53 ) First label [white, handwritten]: ‘Buenos Aires’. Second label [red with black frame, Riccardo Pittino’s handwriting]: ‘ Polynoncus / patriciae n. sp . / HOLOTYPUS ♂ / Det. Pittino 1987 ’. ( Figure 53e ). Type locality: ‘ Buenos Aires’, Argentina.

PARATYPE (through detailed photographs) (♂ RPMI) . First label [white, handwritten]: ‘Buenos Aires’. Second label [red]: ‘PARATYPUS’. Third label [red with black frame, Riccardo Pittino’s handwriting]: “ Polynoncus ♂ / patriciae n. sp. / Det. Pittino 1987. Fourth label [white, Riccardo Pittino’s handwriting]: ‘COLL. / R. PITTINO’.

Differential diagnosis. This species is most similar to P. bullatus and P. patagonicus (see above). It can be distinguished from P. patagonicus by lacking a raised transverse ridge connecting the medial ridges and anterolateral tubercle of the pronotum. Also, P. patriciae differs from P. bullatus by having the anterior margin of clypeus truncate in dorsal view ( Figure 4f ), while it is emarginate in P. bullatus ( Figure 4e ).

Geographic distribution. Polynoncus patriciae is recorded from Argentina and Uruguay, close to Rio de la Plata ( Scholtz 1990; Figure 48 ). Costa-Silva and Diéguez (2020) mentioned two provincial records of P. patriciae from La Rioja and La Pampa (both outside of Rio de la Plata) without further information about the specific locality. The material cited by Costa-Silva and Diéguez (2020), confirmed as P. patriciae by us, belongs to the old specimens (historical collections) housed in MACN. Additional data is necessary to confirm the record of this species to the north of Argentina.

Examined non-type material (13 specimens). ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires, Balcarce, no date, J .M . Gallardo leg . (1 CEMT); Buenos Aires, La Plata, no date or collector (1 BMNH); Quequén Salado River, no date or collector (1 MACN); Tandil , no date or collector (1 MACN); without specific locality, A . Breyer leg . (1 MACN); without specific locality, January 1977, no collector (1 MACN) . La Pampa, without specific locality or date [Bruch’s collection] (3 MACN) . La Rioja, without specific locality, A . Breyer leg . (3 MACN). Without specific locality, ‘Pampas’, 1874, C . Berg leg . (1♂ MNHN) .

Figures

Figure 4. Differential morphology in Polynoncus spp.: a, without humeral callus [P. hemisphaericus]; b, with humeral callus [P. longitarsis]. Apex of mesotibia c, with tooth [P. peruanus] and d, without tooth (white arrow) [P. crypticus]. Posterior margin of clypeus e, emarginate [P. bullatus] and f, truncate (white arrow) [P. hemisphaericus]; pronotal ridges of pronotum in g, Polynoncus argentinus and h, Polynoncus pseudogemmifer sp. n. (paratype). Scale bar: 1 mm.

Figure 48. Distribution map of Polynoncus neuquen (red circles), P. patriciae (green triangles), and P. pittinoi (blue squares) in South America. The records with a black dot in the centre indicate the type locality of the respective species.

Figure 53. Holotype of Polynoncus patriciae Pittino, 1987: habitus in a, dorsal and b, lateral view; male genitalia in c, dorsal and d, lateral view; e, labels. Photos by Alberto Ballerio. Length of specimen: 18 mm.