Goliathopsis Janson, 1881

Xu, Hao & Qiu, Jian-Yue, 2020, Three new synonyms within the flower chafer genus Goliathopsis Janson, 1881 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) from China, Zootaxa 4789 (1), pp. 91-131 : 93-95

Goliathopsis Janson, 1881

Goliathopsis Janson, 1881: 609 ; Schoch 1896a: 361 (in key); Schoch 1896b: 394; Arrow 1910: 205; Schenkling 1921: 364; Mao 1937: 1096; Paulian 1961: 6; Medvedev 1964: 333; Krikken 1984: 55; Antoine 1991: 9 (key); Ma 1995: 153; Sakai & Nagai 1998: 155; Krajčík 1999: 39; Smetana 2006: 300; Krajčík 2011: 69; Krajčík 2012: 116; Bezděk 2016: 391.

Type species: Goliathopsis despectus ( Westwood, 1873) , subsequent designation by Arrow (1910)

Diagnosis. Body small sized, 11.0–13.5 mm. Body usually black, or brown; surfaces clad with sparse U-shaped, or drop shaped setiferous punctures; setae long, acicular, yellow; dorsal surface usually covered with small and large, tomentose, yellow spots; ventral surface covered with light yellow, gray, or khaki tomentum. Antennal scapus simply claviform. Anterior margin of clypeus arc, slightly raised. Frons tomentose. Prementum slightly expanded, more or less thickened or folded in front ( Fig. 4 ). Pronotum elliptical; widest near the middle; disc with a tomentose longitudinal line in median, distinct, continuous, or discontinuous, even absent in some species; setiferous punctures rounded. Elytron usually with yellow maculae on posthumeral area, mediodiscal areas near sutural costa, median portion of lateral declivity, and postdiscal areas near sutural costa; few other small maculae scattered on the rest of disc. Disc of elytron flattened; apicosutural angle not pointed. Sides of abdominal sternites exposed in dorsal view; terminal spiracle convex. Propygidial surface with tomentum in some species. Pygidium conical; with an indistinct longitudinal ridge in median portion, ridge without tomentum in some species; dorsal side densely punctate, with tomentum or not; apical portion and ventral side with dense, setiferous punctures, without tomentum ( Figs. 22–37 ). Femora and tibiae usually partly clad with tomentum; two teeth on the outer margin of protibia; tarsi slender, unmodified.

Sexual dimorphism. Genae of male with a pair of dendritic horns, outer surface glabrous, inner surface covered with tomentum or glabrous ( Figs. 13–21 ). Ventral surface of female covered with tomentum, but abdominal sternites VI–VII without tomentum in male.

Distribution. Oriental region.

Nomenclature. The genus Goliathopsis was established by Janson (1881) for his new species G. cervus , and type species of the genus was not fixed in the original publication. While one syntype of Pilinurgus despectus Westwood, 1873 was examined by Janson (1881) for comparison of female characters. It is suggested that both names can be treated as originally included species of the genus Goliathopsis (following Article 67.2 of ICZN). Arrow (1910) later designated G. despectus ( Westwood, 1873) as type species, and the accusation on subsequent designa- tion is apparently unreasonable ( Krajčík 2011). Additionally, regarding the name of the subtribe Goliathopsidina (stem: “Goliathopsid-”), Bouchard et al. (2011) indicated that the correct stem should be “Goliathopse-” and the incorrect stem formation in prevailing usage was maintained under Article 29.5 ( ICZN 1999).

Natural history. Adults of the tribe Cremastocheilini were usually believed as predaceous ( Westwood 1873; Arrow 1910; Krikken 1984). By dissecting mouthparts of an adult of Goliathopsis duponti , the slightly enlarged mentum, sparse setae on epipharynx and galea, and heavily sclerotized maxillae and mandibles were observed ( Figs. 1–4 ). These characters are generally congruous with the typical mouthparts of Cremastocheilini ( Westwood 1873; Nel & Scholtz 1990; Li et al. 2013). However, the apical portion of molar, lacinia, and galea are not shaped as that of the predaceous genera, such as Campsiura Hope, 1831 , Clinterocera Motschulsky, 1857 , and Platysodes Westwood, 1873 , but are blunt and somewhat similar to that of phytophagous scarabs ( Nel & Scholtz 1990; Li et al. 2013; Qiu et al. 2015; Xu et al. 2018). Adults of G. despectus , G. duponti Antoine, 1991 , and G. ferreroi Antoine, 1991 have been reported as flower visitors indeed ( Gestro 1891; Sakai & Nagai 1998), especially the latter two species are known from a large series of specimens ( Antoine 1991; see material examined in the present work). These facts suggested that adults of Goliathopsis are phytophagous species. Unfortunately, most species of this genus were rarely collected in the past three decades, and all the most recent collected adults ( G. velutinus Pouillaude, 1913 from Yunnan and G. lameyi Fairmaire, 1893 from Guizhou) were caught on leaves of broadleaved trees, no any feeding behavior was observed (personal observation, authors, May 2013; Ji-Hui Liu, June 2014; Ren-Zhi Zhang, July 2015; Lu Qiu, June 2019). Their immature stages are still unknown.

Some Goliathopsis species seem to mainly occur in Karst forests at low elevation ( Figs. 165–166 ), such as the type specimens of G. capreolus , which were captured near a limestone cave in southern Myanmar ( Gestro 1888), and the known distributional localities of G. esquiroli and G. lameyi in China are mostly located in the limestone area of Guangxi, Guizhou, and Hunan (see map, Fig. 164 ). While specimens data of G. velutinus show that this species lives at elevations of about 1,000 to 2,500 m in Yunnan. Ecological information on other species is unknown.

Figures

FIGURE 164. Known distribution of Goliathopsis Janson, 1881 species. Syncretic markers indicate identical or very close localities; type localities of the known species are marked, that of G. despectus (Westwood, 1873), G. cervus Janson, 1881, and G. esquiroli Pouillaude, 1913 are missing because the precise type localities are unknown.

FIGURES 1–12. Characters of Goliathopsis Janson, 1881 species. 1–4, mouthparts of Goliathopsis duponti Antoine, 1991: 1, epipharynx; 2, mandibles; 3, maxillae; 4, labium. 5–12, setiferous punctures on the disc of elytron: 5, G. cervus Janson, 1881; 6, G. despectus (Westwood, 1873), paralectotype of G. capreolus Gestro, 1888 in BMNH; 7, G. duponti Antoine, 1991; 8, G. esquiroli Pouillaude, 1913; 9, G. ferreroi Antoine, 1991; 10, G. gressitti Ruter, 1978; 11, G. lameyi Fairmaire, 1893; 12, G. velutinus Pouillaude, 1913.

FIGURES 22–37. Pygidium of Goliathopsis Janson, 1881 species (male in left, female in right; posterior view). 22–23, G. cer- vus Janson, 1881; 24–25, G. despectus (Westwood, 1873), lectotype and paralectotype of G. capreolus Gestro, 1888 in MSNG; 26–27, G. duponti Antoine, 1991; 28–29, G. esquiroli Pouillaude, 1913; 30–31, G. ferreroi Antoine, 1991; 32–33, G. gressitti Ruter, 1978; 34–35, G. lameyi Fairmaire, 1893; 36–37, G. velutinus Pouillaude, 1913.

FIGURES 13–21. Cephalic horns of Goliathopsis Janson, 1881 species (dorsal view). 13, G. cervus Janson, 1881; 14, G. despectus (Westwood, 1873), paralectotype of G. capreolus Gestro, 1888 in MNHN; 15, G. duponti Antoine, 1991; 16, G. es- quiroli Pouillaude, 1913; 17–18, G. ferreroi Antoine, 1991; 19, G. gressitti Ruter, 1978; 20, G. lameyi Fairmaire, 1893; 21, G. velutinus Pouillaude, 1913.

FIGURES 165–168. Habitat of Goliathopsis Janson, 1881 species. 165–166, a living male of G. lameyi Fairmaire, 1893 from Gengzao, Jia’ou, Libo County, near the Maolan Nature Reserve (Guizhou, China; photograph by Lu Qiu); 167–168, a living male of G. velutinus Pouillaude, 1913 from Liuku, Lushui County, in the valley of Nujiang River (Yunnan, China).