Marmarina insculpta ( Kirby, 1819 )

Ratcliffe, Brett C., 2015, A Review of the Neotropical GenusMarmarinaKirby, 1827 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae: Gymnetini), with Description of a New Species from Argentina, The Coleopterists Bulletin 69 (2), pp. 183-201 : 188-191

Marmarina insculpta ( Kirby, 1819) ( Figs. 7–11 )

Cetonia insculpta Kirby 1819: 409 . Lectotype male and paralectotype male at BMNH. Lectotypes examined, designated by Ratcliffe (2004). Type locality: “Brasilia”.

Cetonia margaratacea Germar 1824: 132 (synonym). Type not found. Type locality: “Brasilia”.

Cetonia scutellata Perty 1830: 53 (synonym). Type not found. Type locality: “ Brazil ”.

Marmarina nigrorubra Schürhoff 1937: 64 . Type not found. Type locality: “ Brasilien ”.

Description. Length 16.2–18.8 mm; width across humeri 9.0– 11.9 mm. Ground color on dorsum and legs light to dark reddish or yellowish brown to nearly orange, rarely entirely black, opaque. Pronotum with dense, usually confluent, mostly round punctures surrounded by black to reddish brown, small to large, opaque circles ( Fig. 7 ). Elytra similar except punctures mostly crescent-shaped surrounded by round to suboval spots. Ground color of venter enamel-like, weakly shiny, pale yellowish brown or tan, with round or crescent-shaped, piceous punctures. Mesometasternal process enameled on metasternal portion, with a piceous spot on apical knob. Abdominal sternites of males completely enameled, females with center of abdominal sternites black or piceous, shiny. Setae on venter pale. Head: Frons and clypeus with punctures small to moderately large, mostly dense, unevenly spaced, ocellate, with pale, minute setae in pristine specimens. Clypeal apex reflexed, subtruncate in dorsal view, weakly emarginate in anterior view. Interocular width equals 5.5–7.0 transverse eye diameters. Antenna with 10 antennomeres, club distinctly longer than antennomeres 2–7. Pronotum: Surface with punctures moderate to large, moderately dense to dense, unevenly spaced, mostly round, crescentshaped to horseshoe-shaped along lateral margins, ocellate. Lateral margins arcuate, lacking marginal line. Elytra: Surface similar to that of pronotum except punctures mostly crescent-shaped. Sutural costa slightly elevated on apical half; apical umbone prominent. Apices at suture subquadrate. Pygidium: Surface densely rugopunctate to rugose when punctures coalesce, punctures crescent-shaped to transversely vermiform, setigerous, setae short, dense, pale. In lateral view, surface weakly convex in both sexes. Venter: Metasternum with large, moderately dense, round to mostly crescent-shaped, setigerous punctures. Mesometasternal process, in lateral view, moderate in length, projecting slightly, obliquely downwards away from ventral axis of body, apex bluntly rounded to subquadrate in largest specimens ( Fig. 8 ); in ventral view, sides tapering to rounded apex, with piceous, impressed line on each side of anterior part of metasternum not extending mesad well onto shaft of process ( Fig. 9 ); mesosternal part of process with piceous spot, not entirely piceous. Abdominal sternites 1–5 with moderate to mostly large, round to crescent-shaped punctures on lateral thirds; sternite 6 with smaller, dense punctures. Legs: Protibiae with apical tooth, occasionally with swelling behind apical tooth suggestive of a second tooth, especially in females. Femora and tibiae densely punctate; punctures round to crescent-shaped to horseshoe-shaped to vermiform, mostly moderately large. Parameres: In caudal view, form elongate, subrectangular, apices flared laterally and with prominent tooth on lateral edge ( Figs. 10–11 ).

Distribution. Marmarina insculpta is known from Bahia in eastern Brazil southeast to Argentina and Uruguay.

Locality Records. 255 specimens from AMIC, AMNH, BCRC, BMNH, CASC, CNCI, DEIC, FIOC, FMNH, JDGC, MCZC, MLUH, MNHN, RMNH, SEAB, UCCC, and ZMHU. ARGENTINA (16): JUJUY (1) : Calilegua. MISIONES (13) : Campo Viera, Cataratas del Iguazú, Concepción , Dos de Mayo , Loreto , Pozo Azul , San Ignacio , San Pedro. SALTA (2) : Orillas del Río Bermejo , San Ramón de la Nueva Orán. BRAZIL (176): BAHIA (3) : No Data. ESPÍRITO SANTO (10) : Corrego do Itá, Fazenda Jerusalem, Linhares, No data. GOIÁS (6) : Mineiros, Rio Verde , No data. MINAS GERAIS (1) : No Data. PARANÁ (36) : Caviuna, Foz do Iguaçu , Rolandia. RIO DE JANEIRO (57) : Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro , Teresópolis, No data. RIO GRANDE DO SUL (9) : Pinhal, Porto Alegre, São Leopoldo, Serra do Caraça. SANTA CATARINA (13) : Corupa, Hansa Humboldt, Nova Friburgo, Nova Teutonia, Rio Vermelho, No data. SÃO PAULO (5) : Campos do Jordão , Itanhaém, Piracicaba. NO DATA (36) . PARAGUAY (19): CENTRAL (4) : Ypané. CONCEPCIÓN (5) : Horqueta. ITAPÚA (1) : Bellavista. PARAGUARÍ (1) : Sapucaí. PRESIDENTE HAYES (1) : Río Confuso. NO DATA (7) . URUGUAY (1): MONTEVIDEO (1) : Montevideo. NO DATA (43).

Temporal Distribution. January (12), February (12), March (10), April (3), May (1), June

(1), September (8), October (3), November (20), December (25).

Diagnosis. Marmarina insculpta , along with M. maculosa , is distinguished from other species in the genus by the dense, reddish brown to black speckles surrounding round to crescent-shaped punctures on both the dorsum and venter of the body. From the nearly identical M. maculosa , M. insculpta can be distinguished by its slightly larger size (16.2–18.8 mm versus 12.3–20.0 mm); overall darker dorsum as a result of denser and more confluent spots; by the impressed, piceous line on the anterior portion of the metasternum that does not extend onto the shaft of the mesometasternal process ( Fig. 9 ); and the mesosternal part of process with a piceous spot or otherwise not entirely piceous. The parameres ( Fig. 10 ) are more laterally flared at their apices than in other species in the genus and identical with those of M. maculosa .

This species, along with M. maculosa , is remarkably similar to Gymnetis punctipennis Burmeister ( Fig. 12 ) in color and pattern of speckles, but G. punctipennis is typically larger (19–25 mm), the pronotum has a lateral marginal line, the elytral apices are acutely produced, the posterolateral corners of the metacoxa are angularly produced backwards, the protibiae are tridentate, the mesometasternal process ( Figs. 13–14 ) is narrower and more rounded apically, and the parameres ( Figs. 15–16 ) are shaped differently.

Nomenclature. Several checklists ( Schenkling 1921; Blackwelder 1944; Krajcik 1998) indicated

15–16) Parameres.

C. margaratacea was a new species described by Gory and Percheron (1833), but Gory and Percheron were simply redescribing, with correct author attribution, Germar’ s (1824) C. margaratacea , which is now a junior synonym of M. insculpta . Di Iorio (2013) elevated, without explanation, M. insculpta to species level from a former subspecies category, and I concur with this action based upon distinguishing character states.

Natural History. Nothing is known of the life history of M. insculpta . Specimens have been collected at elevations of 1,200–1,400 m.

Figures

Figs. 7–11. Marmarina insculpta. 7) Habitus; 8–9) Mesometasternal process, lateral and ventral views; 10–11) Parameres.

Figs. 12–16. Gymnetis punctipennis. 12) Habitus; 13–14) Mesometasternal process, lateral and ventral views;